Book Talk with Norman Hill and Velma Murphy Hilll

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr Day, AFT and Shanker Institute President Randi Weingarten sat down with civil and labor rights icons Norman Hill and Velma Murphy Hill to discuss their memoir, Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain: The Extraordinary Story of Love, Civil Rights, and Labor Activism, a first hand account of their decades of  work with Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Al Shanker to name a few.

Married for more than 60 years, Norm and Velma have been lifelong activists and leaders in the Civil Rights and labor movements. Among their accomplishments, Norman Hill was national staff organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and led the A. Philip Randolph Institute for more than 40 years. Velma Hill organized and led the United Federation of Teachers’ Paraprofessionals Chapter in New York and was a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers. 

Norm and Velma Hill contributed so much to both the civil rights movement and the labor movement. In this interview with Randi Weingarten, their energy for a more just world is contagious. Their story is worth learning and their hope for the future is worth hearing for all of us who share their vision for justice and freedom.