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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)
Zoned Out: Again the City Votes to Demolish Homes in Grand Rapids (1995)
This article is from the Independent newspaper, the FUNdamentalist, November of 1995. Just weeks after the Grand Rapids City Commissioners voted to destroy some 70 houses on the westside to make way for parking, they voted again in August to … Continue reading
The 8 Hour Work Day Battle and May Day in Grand Rapids
It is easy for us in the present to take for granted the 8 hour work day. However, organized labor spent decades fighting this battle all around the world, in the US and right here in Grand Rapids. The Knights … Continue reading
Julian Bond’s 1969 anti-war and anti-racism message in Grand Rapids
In October of 1969, former Georgia legislator, SNCC founder and NAACP President, Julian Bond, spoke at Aquinas College. The best article on Bond’s visit to Grand Rapids in 1969, was written by John Ottenhoff with the Calvin College student newspaper. … Continue reading
GR Press Coverage of Stokley Carmichael visit to Grand Rapids – 1967
On May17, 1967, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Black Power advocate, Stokley Carmichael, spoke at Fountain Street Church to a standing room only crowd. Since we do not have a transcript of what Carmichael said, we must rely … Continue reading
The 1916 City Charter change in Grand Rapids was nothing short of Class Warfare
During the 1911 Furniture Workers Strike and its aftermath, the business community and leading industrialist, began to develop a plan that would significantly alter the way electoral politics was done in Grand Rapids. The 1911 Furniture Workers Strike revealed several … Continue reading
Residents ignored again as Grand Prix Committee pushes to convert downtown GR streets into racetrack – 1996
Since as early as 1992, a DeVos and two others have been talking about holding Grand Prix races in downtown Grand Rapids. These races are held elsewhere in the country, although generally not on city streets. The noise is outrageous … Continue reading
Grand Rapids Heartside Park threatened by off ramp -1996
The linked article on the Heartside Park is re-published by the FUNdamentalist newspaper, which was published from 1991 – 1998 in Grand Rapids. The Heartside Park almost didn’t happen. As the linked article suggests, there were lots of political and … Continue reading
The Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives: An Interview with George Bayard
Something very exciting is underway, something that is critical to the history of Grand Rapids. The Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives project. If is very fitting that the acronym, GRAAMA, is rooted in the person that tells the … Continue reading
To say anything further would only give comfort, or possibly discomfort, to white racists: The Grand Rapids Press Coverage of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassination – 1968
It has been 50 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Much has been written about his murder, but what did the Grand Rapids Press have to say about the incident when it happened? There was front … Continue reading
From Chicago to Grand Rapids, Lessons in Liberation: An Interview with Jose Cha Cha Jimenez & the Young Lords
The other day we had the opportunity to sit down with Jose Cha Cha Jimenez, one of the founders of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary groups, the Young Lords. Jimenez reflects on the fact that the Young Lords were formerly a … Continue reading
Grand Rapids People's History Project 