Remembering the courageous and visionary activist David Hartsough

An activist’s activist. David Hartsough stirred up a lot of “good trouble” before his death from cancer last month at age 84.

Arrested more than 150 times, David’s first civil disobedience action took place in 1960 at a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Virginia. His last such protest occurred in November 2024 at Travis Air Force Base in California while attempting to block weapons shipments to Israel to conduct its genocide in Gaza.

Between these bookends, David got busted for aquatic blockades of aircraft carriers going to Vietnam, obstructing construction of a nuclear power plant on an earthquake fault on the Pacific coast, blocking streets in San Francisco to protest the war in Iraq, conducting nonviolent training in Kosovo and engaging in die-ins at nuclear weapons facilities in California.

He details these actions — and many, many others — in his 2014 memoir, “Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist,” which has inspired thousands of activists throughout the world. 

“I chose my parents well,” is how David often explained his lifelong commitment to peace and social justice. When David was 10, his mother Ruth went to Washington to demonstrate against legislation that would reintroduce the military draft. She fasted for a week while lobbying Congress.

His father Ray, a Congregational minister, worked on the staff of the American Friends Service Committee for many years, starting with a stint helping refugees in Gaza in 1949. In his role at AFSC, Ray organized speaking tours for social change activists such as Bayard Rustin, A.J. Muste and Ralph Abernathy. Many of them came to dinner with the Hartsough family. They lived outside Philadelphia in a cooperative community that had been founded by World War II era conscientious objectors.

When David was a teenager, his father took David and his brother Paul to Montgomery during the bus boycott where they met Martin Luther King Jr. He often saw King during his college years at Howard University, where David was one of the few white students at the historically African American institution.

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The ordinary, extraordinary life of David Hartsough

To say that King inspired David would be an understatement. It would be more accurate to say that David was a lifelong disciple. One of his prized possessions was a set of audiotapes of King’s speeches and sermons which David listened to several times a year. In “Waging Peace,” David includes an appendix outlining the principles of Kingian Nonviolence, values that he exemplified over seven decades of activism.

David recalled that once, in a meditation, he heard and felt Martin Luther King come from behind, put his hands on his shoulders, and say, “David, I know that working for peace and justice can be a lonely struggle.  I want you to know that I will be with you.” 

Two other figures played central roles in David’s life. When David was a teenager, his father Ray gave him a copy of Gandhi’s “All Men Are Brothers.” David read many of Gandhi’s writings and used examples from them in various nonviolent campaigns he organized over the years.

The teachings of Jesus, especially the Sermon on the Mount, also profoundly shaped his outlook. In fact, he was reading the passage about “Love your enemies…” in his pocket New Testament when confronted by a neo-Nazi during a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. The man had a knife and threatened to kill David if he didn’t leave the store. David responded “Friend, do what you think is right, and I will still try to love you.” The man dropped his hand, turned around and left the store.

David later wrote that it was the most powerful experience of his young life: “It confirmed my belief in the power of love, the power of goodness, the power of God working through us to overcome hate and violence. I had a profound sense that nonviolence really works. At that moment nonviolence became much more than a philosophical idea or a tactic that worked in Gandhi’s India. It became the way I wanted to relate to other human beings, a way of life, a way of working for change.”

Indeed, David preached the gospel of nonviolence all over the world, as much by his actions as by his words. He was always driven by his sense of injustice. He had great empathy for those who suffered from oppression, especially the victims of American militarism and imperialism, whether in Vietnam or El Salvador, in Gaza or the Philippines, in Sri Lanka or South Sudan. He got involved in struggles in all these countries among many others.

David often cited September 1, 1987, as the worst day of his life. For several months, he had helped organize people to block trains and trucks at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, where arms were to be put on ships bound for Central America to support the U.S.-backed Contras in Nicaragua.

Normally, the police removed and arrested demonstrators blocking the trucks or trains. But that morning, a weapons-loaded train did not stop. Instead, it literally ran over David’s friend Brian Willson, severing both legs, slicing a hole in his skull among other injuries. David, who had been knocked down by the train, rushed to Brian’s side and held his head while others called for medical help.

Fortunately, Brian survived. Rather than stopping the campaign, the group held a rally four days later with 10,000 protesters. And for the next few years, they maintained a 24/7 presence at the tracks, and about 2,000 were arrested. Among those arrested were David’s parents.

David’s contributions to the peace movement went beyond direct action. He believed that it was not enough to protest wars, but thought that there should be a nonviolent army to protect civilians and deter violence in conflict zones. So, in 2002, he co-founded Nonviolent Peaceforce. The organization has grown to more than 400 full-time peacekeepers on the ground in 10 countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Iraq and South Sudan. It is funded by the United Nations, the governments of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, as well as the European Union and a variety of nonprofits.

In 2014, Hartsough co-founded World Beyond War dedicated to the abolition of war. Since then, the group’s Declaration of Peace pledge has been signed by tens of thousands of individuals. The organization now has 46 chapters in 35 countries and 111 affiliates around the world, which try to educate the public about the weapons industry and engage in nonviolent direct actions for peace.

Despite spending more than seven decades on the frontlines of struggles for justice, David enjoyed a full life outside of the trenches. He married Jan Hartsough in 1967. She has been quite active in social justice work herself and has been arrested with David numerous times. Their two children, Peter and Heidi, each have two children. Along with David’s brother Paul and his children, the extended Hartsough family spends a lot of time together, especially in nature, particularly at their cabin near Echo Lake in the Sierra mountains.

When at home in San Francisco, David took walks almost daily in the Arboretum in Golden Gate Park, where he marveled at the beauty of the flowers. He would even spontaneously clap when he came across especially lovely ones. Even after getting a terminal diagnosis four years ago, David insisted on hiking in the Sierras and the Grand Tetons. Some of these mountain hikes were as long as 10 miles. He also enjoyed sailing with friends in the San Francisco Bay.

No remembrance of David is complete without mentioning his love of music. After his diagnosis, he and a group of friends met weekly to sing folk songs at Baker Beach with a glorious view under the Golden Gate Bridge. (David played the guitar.) He credited those sessions for helping him outlive the predictions of his doctors.

On the evening before his passing, David enjoyed participating virtually in a singalong of Broadway musicals led by his longtime friend George Lakey.

Though not with us anymore, David will be long remembered for his persistence and commitment to justice and his belief that one day “We shall overcome.”