In the middle of the last week of election craziness a very important person passed away, Studs Terkel - a devoted acitvist, author, radio host, actor and representative of Chicago.

There has been a lot of great coverage of the man, but I feel like I should direct you to 2 main places:

GreenCine Daily’s internet round-up and

The New York Times obit

Read up on a great man and takepart to get involved with an awesome local group that documents oral histories, StoryCorps.

* photo of Studs Terkel @ StoryCorps from trustynick’s Flickr Stream (creative commons)

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Debra Winger and Rights Camera Action!

James Byrd Jr. and the Struggle for Tolerance

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Nicole Hughes:

Green Video of the Week: 5 Tips for Reducing Your Garbage

The Week in Green Politics

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Andy Kondrat:

Disappearing Destinations: Visit Before They Vanish

Chuck Norris Wants America to Start Drilling for Oil Here and Now!

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Jon Popham:

NASA Plans Voyage to the Sun

The Girl Effect

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Giulia Rozzi:

Gay Discrimination at Seattle Baseball Game

Bison Brucellosis

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Gina Telaroli:

Fathers Day Celebration of Movie Dads #1

My Father’s Gift of Tecumseh!

James Byrd Jr., a black man, was a 49 when three white men beat him, chained him by the ankles to the bumper of a pickup truck, and dragged down three-miles of country road in Jasper Texas. Byrd’s head, limbs, dentures and wallet were found along the road where Byrd was tortured, dismembered and killed. That was 10 years ago. Today, this unspeakable episode of racism and hatred continues to haunt the town of Jasper. And yet, out of this “modern day lynching” reconciliation and healing has occurred, thanks to the Byrd family. Days after his son was killed, then 73-year-old James Byrd Sr. announced “We may be hurting, but we’re not hating.” To prove that they were choosing healing over hating, the family created the James Byrd Jr. Foundation for Racial Healing, which conducts diversity workshops, awards scholarships to students of color and helped pass a hate crime bill in Texas. The foundation also runs an oral history project which has collected over 2,600 people’s experiences of racism.

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Not sure how to celebrate Black History Month? Consider seeing A Rose Among Thorns, Ella Joyce’s once-woman show paying tribute to Rosa Parks in an effort to keep her oral history alive, celebrate her brave and exemplary character, and honor the civil rights movement by inspiring action and social change in both young and old alike. The show is touring various cities throughout the country, including Joyce’s hometown in Detroit and at the Rosa Parks Museum in Alabama. and find out when the production will be coming to your area.

Everyone has a story, and the StoryCorps oral history project has made it its mission to record as many of them as possible. Since 2003, StoryCorps has been recording the life stories of tens of thousands of individuals from coast to coast, shaping a growing history of who we are as Americans. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD for the storyteller, and another is sent to the Library of Congress.

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