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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)
Necessary Radical Thought: Network forum in 1992 demonstrates the importance of constant reflection on where the LGBTQ community is going
When we produced A Grand Rapids People’s History of the LGBTQ Community, we were inspired by all the people who came forward to tell their story and demonstrate the rich history of organizing in West Michigan for collective liberation. In … Continue reading
What Grand Rapids Pride looked like in 1988
Despite the lack of government support, members of The Lesbian and Gay Community Network of Western Michigan and other area LGBT groups organized the first Pride Celebration in Grand Rapids in 1988. The video below is 90 minutes of the … Continue reading
Anti-gay businesses and the defeat of the anti-discrimination ordinance in 1991
In Grand Rapids, the campaign to get an LGBT-inclusive ordinance passed took several years and two attempts to get the City Commission to adopt the ordinance. The campaign to pass an ordinance began in 1991 after the Community Relations Commission … Continue reading
Which Local Mayor Supported the early Pride celebrations in Grand Rapids?
One of the benefits of doing a project like the People’s History of the LGBTQ community in West Michigan is that you get an opportunity to see where we have been in order to makes some determinations about where we … Continue reading
What kind of response did a Grand Rapids CRC Pastor get from the Prime Minister of South Africa in 1954 when asking about the system of Apartheid?
Since December of 2014, we have been engaged in research on the movement in Grand Rapids to end the system of Apartheid in South Africa. Like most of the international anti-Apartheid movement, Grand Rapids engaged in education, confronting government and … Continue reading
A People’s History of the LGBTQ Community in Grand Rapids film to be shown as part of Pride Weekend
If you haven’t had the opportunity to see A People’s History of the LGBTQ Community in Grand Rapids, you can come to the Apartment Lounge on Friday, June 19 at 5:30pm, as part of the 2015 Pride Weekend. The film, … Continue reading
Interview with Margi Derks Peterson: From Model to Anti-Nuclear Activist
GRPHP – When did you first get involved in the Nuclear Freeze Campaign? and what motivated you to get involved? Margi – Let’s see, Chuck and I got married in 1984, and I met my Best Woman, Kathy Connolly through … Continue reading
Part II of Interview with Mark Kane on the West Michigan Nuclear Freeze Campaign in the early 1980s
This is the second part of a two part interview with former Director of the Institute for Global Education Mark Kane. Part I In this second part of our interview with Mark Kane, Mark addresses in more detail the kinds … Continue reading
Part I of Interview with Mark Kane on the West Michigan Nuclear Freeze Campaign in the early 1980s
This is Part I of a two part interview with former director of the Institute for Global Education Mark Kane. In the United States, awareness about nuclear weapons was relatively marginal, until people like Dr. Helen Caldicott and Jonathan Schell … Continue reading
The Kent County Commission was complicit in South African Apartheid
Last week we posted a piece on the campaign to get the Grand Rapids Public School Board to take a stand against South African Apartheid in 1985. The School Board, in this instance, voted 7 – 2 in favor of … Continue reading
Grand Rapids People's History Project 