George Dolph (1948-2005) was one of the most dedicated social activists in the history of northeastern Pennsylvania. His service in the cause of justice for poor and oppressed peoples took him to many states and countries. He lived in North Carolina, Boston, Milwaukee, Denver, and Philadelphia. In each of these communities he helped workers unionize and supported progressive candidates whose roots were with poor and working-class people rather than with the wealthy and their well-paid lobbyists. George allied himself with racial minorities, the unemployed, and the underpaid. Some of his major accomplishments, in addition to helping unionize workers, were in the fields of women's rights as well as self-determination for small nations whose leaders had been forced to shape policies that benefitted global, militaristic world powers. For example, during the 1980s, in support of the cause of Nicaraguan independence, he spent months in the heart of that country helping farmers harvest coffee. During his time in Philadelphia, he was one of the leading anti-apartheid activists, and could be heard on local TV interviews in support of the Temple University faculty's right to unionize.
George graduated Mansfield with a B.A. in English in 1971. At MU, he was president of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Without his leadership and courage in the face of personal and ideological attacks from biased and misinformed journalists as well as from local KKK-garbed bigots, Mansfield students would have been largely unaware of the political complexities and ugly realities of the Vietnam War.
George's scholarly side was evident in his collection of books on hobos and wandering outsiders. His artistic side blossomed late in life, in the form of constructing "memory jars." These are complex art objects made by decorating putty-covered discarded jars with artifacts from one's life. George's art pieces focus on movements for social justice. It was not a hobby: it was an expression of passionate desire.
Throughout the 1990s, George was active in the Green Party in Philadelphia and in the Green Alliance in Washington, D.C. He served as treasurer of the Philadelphia Greens, and as delegate to the state party. He was a Regional Third Party 1996 Coordinator and founded and chaired the first Transportation Working Group for the Greens in 2001. He was an active member of the Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Committee, the Democratic Socialists of America, numerous other organizations.
George Dolph earned a graduate degree from Temple University. He taught sociology there, as well as at Philadelphia Community College, University of the Sciences, and LaSalle University. He was an extraordinary teacher, more interested in understanding what was in students' minds than in filling them with conventional interpretations. He was highly successful and much loved.
The Department of English and World Languages maintains a Friends of George Dolph scholarship award. This award is presented to an English major who, in George's spirit, demonstrates devotion to social justice as well as academic excellence in language and literature studies