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Recent Posts
- New Interview for the GRPS Uncovered podcast
- New GRPS Uncovered podcast for 7/7/2025
- Radical Grand Rapids: Places, Dates, Actions and People
- New book by long time community activist Paul Mayhue: Another Brother in The Struggle
- New Grand Rapids podcast sheds light on the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools
Author Archives: Jeff Smith (GRIID)
New Interview for the GRPS Uncovered podcast
GRPS Uncovered is a project started by Professor Leanne Kang, who currently teaches at GVSU and is the author of the book, Dismantled: The Breakup of an Urban School System: Detroit, 1980–2016. In this episode, Dr. Kang interviews Betsaida Valdivia. … Continue reading
New GRPS Uncovered podcast for 7/7/2025
GRPS Uncovered is a project started by Professor Leanne Kang, who currently teaches at GVSU and is the author of the book, Dismantled: The Breakup of an Urban School System: Detroit, 1980–2016. In this episode, Dr. Kang interviews Dennis Miller, … Continue reading
Radical Grand Rapids: Places, Dates, Actions and People
My new book, Radical Grand Rapids: Places, Dates, Actions and People, which is a companion to, A People’s History of Grand Rapids, is now available. You can purchase the book from Schuler Books, directly from sjeff987@gmail.com. Below is an image … Continue reading
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New book by long time community activist Paul Mayhue: Another Brother in The Struggle
Paul Mayhie recently reached out to us and asked us to post something about his new book, Another Brother in The Struggle. Here is the description that comes with the book: From the raw fields of Arkansas to the tumultuous … Continue reading
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New Grand Rapids podcast sheds light on the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools
A new podcast called, GRPS Uncovered, takes a critical look at the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools, through interviews with people who went to school in this district. GRPS Uncovered is a project started by Professor Leanne Kang, … Continue reading
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New article on the anti-Apartheid Movement at Grand Valley State College
We got permission to post this article, which was written by Eric Covey, who teaches in the History Department at GVSU. The article originally appeared in Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies. “The history of the anti-apartheid … Continue reading
A People’s History of Grand Rapids book is now available
After years of research, interviews and archival materials, A People’s History of Grand Rapids is finally available. Since Howard Zinn wrote A People’s History of the United States, there have been numerous books that have used his model to address … Continue reading
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Revolutionary Anarchist Youth zine highlights benefit show in Grand Rapids for political prisoner Geronimo Pratt in 1996
The following post is the second in a series using archival documents from Cole Dorsey, a longtime activist/organizer in Grand Rapids and the Bay Area in California. Below is a page from one of the many zines created by the … Continue reading
Revolutionary Anarchist Youth flyer on the Amway co-founders
Editor’s note: A dear friend and comrade, Cole Dorsey passed away recently and one of his family members passed along some of the archival materials he saved, which is what this post is about. In the mid-1990s, the group Revolutionary … Continue reading
Just after the Depression years, the Grand Rapids City Government provided direct relief and created a public works project for those unemployed
The great depression that began in 1929, happened all across the globe. Grand Rapids was not immune to the devastation brought about because of the economic catastrophe. However, during the depression years, there was one elected official who implemented New … Continue reading
Grand Rapids People's History Project 