Chris Smalls is a nationally recognized labor organizer and co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union, which made history by becoming the first independent union to successfully organize an Amazon warehouse in the United States. Rising from the shop floor at Amazon’s Staten Island facility, Smalls helped lead a grassroots campaign that challenged one of the most powerful corporations in the world and reshaped national conversations about worker power, corporate accountability, and democracy in the workplace.

Beyond labor organizing, Smalls has drawn national and international attention for his engagement in global solidarity efforts, including participation in the Gaza Global Flotilla, reflecting a broader commitment to human rights, moral courage, and principled dissent in moments of crisis.

As the 2026 Ellsberg Activist-in-Residence, Smalls will be on campus February 22–27, meeting with students, faculty, and community members; visiting classes; and participating in workshops and conversations focused on organizing, democratic participation, and civic courage. His public lecture will reflect on organizing at a moment when democratic norms are under attack—when concentrated corporate power, political repression, and global conflict raise urgent questions about who has power, whose voices are heard, and what democracy demands beyond the ballot box.