His diligence and ambition towards social change is very admirable. His book, You Can't Be Neutral on an Moving Train, is an autobiography about his experiences in several social movements and his intricate part in fighting for his beliefs. He chronicles his experiences beginning with his working class background from his tour of duty in World War I, to tenure at Spelman College, and to his disposition of the Vietnam War.
Going south to Atlanta was an eye opener to the oppression and Jim Crow south were he was not in his environment of the north in New York City. He was not concerned that he would be working at a Negro school, but it was just another job that paid the bills. He did not go there expecting to play a role in the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movements. His presence at Spelman brought a new spirit to the women that urged them to fight for what was right and that was their basic human rights as a citizen in this country. .
His first encounter he writes on was a trip to a Georgia State Legislature session where he and his students were forced to sit in the colored section in the balcony when they purposely sat on the area reserved for whites on the main floor. They reluctantly moved, but this bold action would be followed by more and more resistance to express their confidence in fighting for change. They proceeded to fight the segregated public library system where the whites had access to many more resources than blacks. The students did it non-violently by many of them walking in one at a time insisting that some historical documents that shaped our country on democracy like An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, On Liberty, and Common Sense, be available to them. They did this for a period of time as the pressure on the libraries built up and a lawsuit was in question. This small but huge action desegregated the Atlanta public library system. .
During his time at Spelman he helped organize sit-ins, writing campaigns, and student collectives.
