With My People

Name: With My People
ISBN: 9798889835622

by Jonathan Pulphus

Publisher

Broadleaf Books

Publication

Sep 16, 2025

Format

Paperback/Softback

Illustrated

Price

19.99

Dimensions

5.5 x 8.5 in

ISBN

9798889835622

Pages

214

Age

Adult 18+

Rights Sold

🌍 World Wide Rights Available

Description

A memoir of hard-fought lessons and the price for justice.

When the local government in Ferguson, Missouri, and federal authorities failed in their duty to serve justice in 2014, college sophomore Jonathan Pulphus committed to being in the streets and battling for justice in the wake of Michael Brown Jr.'s murder. This story traces a nine-month journey toward justice. Despite mistakes, student activists made extraordinary strides toward transforming the community. Many people aspire to fight for something larger than themselves and to make an impact. Few understand what it takes to sustain a movement. Even fewer know the expenses at which gains are made.

People would like for you to believe protest is an ineffective tool for change, but history tells us that student activism has been a formidable force leading to substantive change throughout history. Student activism has played a large role in societal transformation--consider the 1964 Mississippi Delta or Apartheid Soweto. Today's students continue this legacy but tell a new story, like that of the Ferguson Uprising.

We know why people, especially students, become involved in community organizing. But how should students organize? With My People answers this fundamental and crucial question by bringing together ethnography and notes on community-building, taking readers on a yearlong journey from the front lines of Ferguson to undergraduate campus life at Saint Louis University. Using Pulphus's account of events and notes to students, With My People reveals how youth can navigate setbacks to resist state violence and create opportunities for justice to prevail.

Awards & Endorsements

Fred P. Pestello, PhD, president, Saint Louis University

"As I approached the protesters, social justice activist Jonathan Pulphus saw me struggling to begin ascending the amphitheater. He sprang from the upper steps and moved down to me. His extended hand met mine, and he assisted my climb to engage with the group. It was a simple gesture of decency that instantly signified the human connection that Jonathan, the student protest leader, and I, the university president, had forged as we worked to define key social justice commitments to end a multi-day encampment on our St. Louis campus. With My People reflects the care I've witnessed from him and documents his path to social activist and protest leader, and the lessons he learned along the way."

Author(s)

Jonathan Pulphus

Jonathan Pulphus (he/him) is an equity advocate and organizer. He is from St. Louis, Missouri, and graduated from Saint Louis University in 2017 with a BA in African American Studies and a minor in Women and Gender Studies. While in attendance, he was awarded the James D. Collins Award for academic excellence and the Jamala Rogers Young Visionary Award for community service. Pulphus's commitment to service and organizing helped lead to the signing of the Clock Tower Accords, an agreement from SLU to work and equity. He served as the president of Saint Louis University's Black Student Alliance and was cofounder of Tribe X, a community organization.