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Recent Posts
- Just after the Depression years, the Grand Rapids City Government provided direct relief and created a public works project for those unemployed
- Some examples of the conditions for blacks in Grand Rapids and what types of discrimination blacks faced on a daily basis in the early part of the 20th Century
- “Maybe America has forgotten how smoke smells”: The state of Black Grand Rapids from the perspective of Paul I Phillips in the mid-1970s
- African Americans from Grand Rapids who were part of the US Civil War
- 1970 document sheds light on the housing crisis in Grand Rapids and the lack of political will to solve it
Author Archives: Jeff Smith (GRIID)
New Prints celebrate the Animal Rights/Animal Liberation Movement in Grand Rapids
As we have noted in previous posts, there has been an organized effort fight on behalf of animals in West Michigan since the 1980s. One of the first groups that came together was West Michigan For Animals. This group was … Continue reading
New Print Celebrates the Central American Sanctuary Movement in Grand Rapids during the 1980s
A new print from GVSU student Michaela West celebrates the fact that Grand Rapids had a formal sanctuary for Central Americans who were fleeing US-backed death squad violence in the 1980s. The Grand Rapids People’s History Project has several postings … Continue reading
Anti-Iraq War Organizing in Grand Rapids 2002 – 2008: Part X – resistance lost out to electoral politics
In our tenth and final post covering the anti-Iraq war organizing in Grand Rapids, we look at the final year of resistance in 2008. The group ACTIVATE organized an End the Occupation demonstration on the fifth anniversary of the beginning … Continue reading
Anti-Iraq War Organizing in Grand Rapids 2002 – 2008: Part IX – Counter-military Recruitment
In Part VIII of this series, we looked at all of the organizing efforts to confront Congressman Vern Ehlers, who supported the war in Iraq and voted every year to finance the US occupation of Iraq. In today’s post, we … Continue reading
New Print focuses on the Immigrant Justice Movement in Grand Rapids
GVSU student Bailey Becksvoort has created a wonderful print that reflects the power of the immigrant justice movement in Grand Rapids. The print, depicts immigrants with signs in Spanish that say, Families Deserve to be United! The text that accompanies … Continue reading
New Print Celebrates First Pride in Grand Rapids – 1988
The annual Pride Celebration is coming up in Grand Rapids, so what better way to celebrate Pride then to post a new print we received. The following print is from L Schippers, a GVSU student, celebrates the first Pride celebration in … Continue reading
Anti-Iraq War Organizing in Grand Rapids 2002 – 2008: Part VIII – Confronting Congressman Ehlers
In Part VII of this series, we looked at all the times that President Bush or Vice President Cheney came to Grand Rapids after the US occupation of Iraq had begun in March of 2003. In today’s post, we will … Continue reading
Cars and the Cost of Driving Study from 1997 in Grand Rapids
It is impossible to ignore the increased traffic congestion in Grand Rapids. While some may cite the road construction projects, the main factors are the increase in population and the overwhelming reliance on the use of cars. In 1997, several … Continue reading
Anti-Iraq War Organizing in Grand Rapids 2002 – 2008: Part VII – What kind of organizing happened after the US invasion/occupation in Iraq had begun?
In our last post in this series, we looked at demonstrations agains the Grand Rapids-based news media, their cheerleading of the US occupation of Iraq and a report on how the dominate daily news media was reporting on the US … Continue reading
Anti-Iraq War organizing in Grand Rapids 2002 – 2008: Part VI – Local media reporting on the US war in Iraq and hyper-nationalism on the air
In Part I, we looked at the early organizing that took place in the fall of 2002, where various groups were organizing resistance to the possible US invasion of Iraq. In Part II, we talked about how some groups went to DC … Continue reading
Grand Rapids People's History Project 