Longtime tenant activist Eleanor Walden of Berkeley passed away Friday, April 7, 2023

Longtime tenant activist Eleanor Walden of Berkeley passed away Friday, April 7, 2023

By Lynda Carson - Oakland, CA, April 12, 2023

It is with deep sadness that I am reporting that my longtime dear friend and tenant activist Eleanor Walden of Berkeley, passed away last Friday, April 7, 2023.

Eleanor Walden of Berkeley, a mother of 5 children, and grandmother, a long time folk singer, tenant activist, civil rights and social justice activist, former Board Member of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, member of the East Bay Gray Panthers, member of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT), member of the Save Section 8 Tenants Group in Berkeley, a member of the Resident’s Council at Redwood Gardens in Berkeley, and other groups, will be missed by many of those who knew her, and were friends with her through the years.

Eleanor Walden of Redwood Gardens in Berkeley, was very active in the tenants movement, and she had a passion for advocating for tenant's rights, and protecting tenants from eviction.

Eleanor Walden was around 92 years of age when she passed away...

Sorry to hear of your passing Eleanor... I will miss all the wonderful discussions we have had, and will never forget the events to protect tenants that we were at, and the stories we worked on through the years regarding tenant's issues.

May you rest in peace!

Your longtime friend,

-Lynda Carson
Oakland, CA

See a few links below…

Eleanor Walden - obituary

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/eleanor-walden-obituary?id=51619176

ELEANOR WALDEN OBITUARY

Eleanor Walden's passing on Friday, April 7, 2023 has been publicly announced by Harris Funeral Home Legacy Center in Berkeley, CA.

Legacy invites you to offer condolences and share memories of Eleanor in the Guest Book below.
The most recent obituary and service information is available at the Harris Funeral Home Legacy Center website.

Published by Legacy on Apr. 12, 2023.

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Eleanor Walden sings "Freedom Song Man'

Click below to listen to Eleanor sing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdrpLY-zRQI

Performed at Redwood Gardens in Berkeley CA on 1/22/14. Original words to the tune of "Mr. Tambourine Man"

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Eleanor Walden

https://www.crmvet.org/vet/walden.htm

A little history about her past, according to Eleanor Walden…

I come from a revolutionary family. My father was an organizer for the IWW, Industrial Workers of the World. He was one of the men who brought Joe Hill's body back from Utah to Chicago in 1915. My lullabies were the songs from the Wobblies' Little Red Songbook. As a cultural activist I was simply continuing the" family business".

I was born in Greenwich Village, New York. In the late 1940's I met Pete Seeger and others in Washington Square Park and the authentic folk songs and contemporary political songs they sang so passionately influenced me. These singers and songwriters maintained, in their songs, a culture of resistance. My first $5 as a singer came from Seeger's People's Songs. This was the beginning of a national movement known as the Urban Folk Revival. The political culture in which I grew up now seemed to have deeper roots and wider branches.

In 1956 I moved with my five children, to Atlanta Georgia. My first time in the south I saw a fountain that said "Colored only"; I turned the spigot, believing that colored water would flow from that font. A cross was once burned on our lawn because we had Black musicians at the house, and I learned that being idealistic is one thing, but that being ideologically naove could get someone killed.

During the years of the Civil Rights Movement I was at the right place at the right time to sing with the Movement. Bernice Johnson Reagan and I organized the Atlanta Folk Music Society and then a " folk festival" that including authentic folk cultural artists as, Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and new songwriters such as Peter LaFarge, Len Chandler, and Buddy Moss. We were officially thanked in a letter from then Gov. Jimmy Carter for, "Peacefully integrating the Georgia State Parks". With the Student Non-Violent Organizing Committee, SNCC, and SSOC, white Southern Students organizing Committee, I went with, a first of its kind, integrated southern college cultural tour. In 1974, when black and while solidarity had been destroyed by the FBI's Cointel Program, I left Atlanta for Berkeley, California. My essential disappointment with the Civil Rights Movement was that it did not develop the capacity to fight capitalism, which, by its nature of exploitation for profit, is the root of racism.

After the destruction of black and while solidarity by the FBI's Cointel Program, I left Atlanta for Berkeley, California. I received a BA and Master's Degree in folklore from UC Berkeley. In 1982 I helped organize the Freedom Song Network; a loosely defined group of singers and songwriters who perform in support of labor, civil rights, civil liberties, social justice and economic equality causes. I am active in the development of a Juneteenth festival in Sacramento to commemorate the date in 1864 when the slaves of Texas learned that they had been emancipated by a proclamation that gone into effect on January 1, 1863.

I have continued the cultural work that has been the hallmark of my life. I helped organize the Freedom Song Network, a group of singers and songwriters who perform in support of social justice causes. I've worked to promote the Western Workers Labor Heritage Festival which has emphasized Labor Culture. I received a Master's Degree in folklore from UC Berkeley and a Master's in Arts Education from San Francisco State University. I'm working to build an integrated chorus for the "Juneteenth" commemoration at Negro Bar, meaning dunes not saloon, in Sacramento. On that date, June 17th, 1864, the last slaves in Texas learned that they had been emancipated by the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. This fact has always been honored within the African-American tradition, now it is gaining more widespread acknowledgement.

I am currently engaged in a project of Community Works, a Berkeley based organization, called The Long Walk to Freedom, a public art project that explores a crucial time when ordinary people did extraordinary things. The exhibition features photographs, archival materials, quotes, an interactive DVD and a 15 minute video that highlights the contributions of 12 civil rights activists who, together with hundreds of others, changed the face of the nation. The example of their lives provides a blueprint for future activism for young people today. The project honors Robert Allen, Frances Beal, Janel Clinger, Bettie Mae Fikes, Jon Fromer, Matt Herron, Phil Hutchings, Yuri Kochiyama, Carlos Munoz, Willie Wazir Peacock, Eleanor Walden, Cecil Williams.

Social activism is a lifetime engagement not a seasonal fashion. I know which side I'm on, I know where I stand, and I know how to keep on keeping on!

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Berkeley Historical Society

Preserving and sharing Berkeley's unique history

http://hammond-love.net/index.php/oral-history/

Eleanor Walden‘s lullabies were the songs from the Wobblies’ Little Red Songbook. In the late 1940s, she met Pete Seeger and other singers in Washington Square Park. Her first $5 as a singer was earned performing with Seeger’s People’s Songs during the Urban Folk Revival. Born in Greenwich Village, Eleanor received BA and Master’s Degrees in folklore from UC Berkeley, and continued singing. In 1982, she helped organize the Freedom Song Network, singers and songwriters supporting civil rights and social justice. (Interview August 15, 2015, by Berkeley High School seniors Nava Bearson and Haley Gee)

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National Alliance of HUD Tenants - March 13, 2019

AddsEleanor Walden, 88, a long time civil rights and social justice activist living in senior housing inBerkeley, California,“Trump’s budget and other actions criminalize immigrants, poor people and people of color while subsidizing division and hate among the American people. Trumps budget is a recipe for war, inequality, racism, and fear.

https://www.chn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NAHT-press-statement-on-Trump-2020-Budget_.pdf

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REPORT BACK FROM THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF HUD TENANTS CONFERENCE
July 21, 2018 at 9:19 am.

Posted by LaborSolidarityCommittee

https://occupyoakland.org/event/report-back-from-the-national-alliance-of-hud-tenants-conference/

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Eleanor Walden - Berkeley, CA

https://www.facebook.com/eleanor.walden.9/

Eleanor Walden

About
Work


Campaign manager at ArtsWork!

Berkeley, California

Production of performance arts are central to promoting historical identification. The memory of images and sound are more imbued than the written word. That is what arts work and ArtsWork! does.

College


Studied Folklore at UC Berkeley

MA·Also studied American radical Labor movement and Centralia WA massacre of Nov. 11,1919·Class of 1986

High school


Went to Washington Irving High School
This HS is in New York City. I have never been to W. Va.
Photos

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Eleanor Walden

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanor-walden-182a0716

Experience

•  Housing Chair 
Gray Panthers 
2010 - 2013 3 years 




•  singer 
Freedom Song Network 
1982 - 2011 29 years 




•  singer and producer 
Folk Revival Movement 
1961 - 2011 50 years 




•  cultural activities consultant 
ArtsWork! 
1963 - 2010 47 years 



Education

•  University of California, Berkeley 
MA Folklore 
1977 - 1986 
Activities and Societies: American Folklore Society, Interdepartmental Folklore Alliance 





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