Revolutions Are Made of Love: The Story of James Boggs and Grace Lee Boggs

Revolutions are made out of love for people and for place.

This was a core belief of activists and married couple James Boggs and Grace Lee Boggs. James Boggs was a worker from rural Alabama in the segregated South. Grace Lee Boggs was a philosopher from urban Rhode Island and New York City. Both found their life’s work—and each other—in Detroit. James and Grace were drawn to civil rights, as well as the labor, social, and political organizations through which people struggled for better living conditions for all.

What they created together was more than a marriage; it was a partnership. They fought alongside others for fair housing, jobs, food access, labor unions, urban gardens, and more, all in pursuit of a more just world.

Their wide-ranging activism spanned the second half of the twentieth century. Authors Sun Yung Shin and Mélina Mangal present the lives and ideas of James and Grace Boggs in an inspiring collection of paired poems, brought to life with bold mixed-media artwork by debut picture book illustrator Leslie Barlow.