Bill Ayers

Bill Ayers is an American educator and former leader of the Weather Underground, a radical group active in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Bernardine Dohrn: Bernardine Dohrn is an American lawyer and former Weather Underground leader. Dohrn was Ayers’s partner and fellow leader in the organization.
Students for a Democratic Society: Students for a Democratic Society was a major New Left organization in the United States during the 1960s. Ayers entered radical politics through SDS before its fragmentation.
Weather Underground: The Weather Underground was a clandestine American far-left organization that carried out bombings and issued political communiqués. Ayers was among its founders and leaders.
Chicago Annenberg Challenge: The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a school-reform initiative that funded partnerships between Chicago public schools and community organizations. Ayers helped lead this project, which later figured in political attacks linking him to Obama.
John Jacobs: John Jacobs was an American activist and Weather Underground member. Jacobs helped shape the group’s turn toward underground militancy.
Port Huron Statement: The Port Huron Statement was a 1962 manifesto outlining the political aims of Students for a Democratic Society. Its participatory-democracy ideals framed the movement Ayers joined.
Weatherman (organization): Weatherman was the militant faction of Students for a Democratic Society that became the Weather Underground. The group’s transition from public faction to underground organization shaped Ayers’s political life.
University of Illinois Chicago: The University of Illinois Chicago is a public research university in Chicago. Ayers taught education there and became a prominent scholar of urban schooling.
Barack Obama: Barack Obama is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States. Ayers became a focus of political controversy because of his past neighborhood association with Obama.
Vietnam War: The Vietnam War was a conflict in Southeast Asia involving North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the United States. Opposition to the war drove Ayers and others toward increasingly confrontational tactics.