Ohio Citizen Action will honor Alice and Staughton Lynd with the organization’s highest recognition, the Howard M. Metzenbaum Award

Ohio Citizen Action will present the Howard M Metzenbaum Award to Alice and Staughton Lynd in Cleveland on Saturday, February 18. Staughton Lynd, a renowned attorney, historian, and activist, was principal administrator of the  Freedom Schools in the Mississippi Summer Project of 1964 and chaired the first anti-Vietnam war march in Washington D.C. in 1965.  Alice Lynd has been a tireless advocate against the death penalty and, during the Vietnam War, counseled hundreds of young men facing the draft.  They have worked side-by-side with people facing injustice in communities throughout the world, from Vietnam to El Salvador.

The Lynds have authored many books, including four collaborations- Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians; Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History; Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers and most recently their joint autobiography, Stepping Stones: Memoir of a Life Together.

The Lynds moved to Youngstown in 1976, where they both worked for Legal Aid and were deeply involved in campaigns against the closing of the steel mills and on behalf of people harmed by toxic chemical exposures.  When a Supermax prison was built in Youngstown, they devoted themselves to fighting injustice in the prison system and uncovered the root causes and stories behind the 1993 Lucasville Prison riot. 

“It’s that sort of commitment, not only to a group or a cause, but to a place and the ideal of justice that has characterized their lives and their partnership for more than 50 years,” says Ohio Citizen Action Executive Director Sandy Buchanan.

The event will begin with a wine and dinner-by-the-bite reception at 6pm, followed by presentation of the award. The program will be a forum, featuring a discussion led by the Lynds entitled 'Occupy Now, But What's Next?'