Author Archives: Jeff Smith (GRIID)

A History of Anarchism in Grand Rapids

Several years ago, Sprout Distro published a 4 part series of zines on the history of Anarchism in Grand Rapids. These four zines not only are well written and well researched, they make it clear that there has been an … Continue reading

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Newly archived Labor Press available at the Grand Rapids Public Library

Thanks to longtime local labor historian Michael Johnston, the Grand Rapids Public Library now has both hard copy and digital archives of several different labor press sources from 1955 to the present. The archived labor press sources are the Grand … Continue reading

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How the press reported on an 1891 Labor Strike in Grand Rapids

I was recently reading Sidney Harring’s, Policing A Class Society: The Experience of American Cities 1865 – 1915,  and came across a brief description of a labor strike in Grand Rapids in May of 1891.  I decided to look up … Continue reading

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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