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Recent Posts
- During the Depression, 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
Category Archives: Anti-War/Anti-Imperialism
Anti-Afghan War organizing – 2001 Grand Rapids
As we mentioned in a post from February 11, 2019, after September 11, 2001, for many people it became difficult to actively speak out against US foreign policy, whether that was war or economic policy None of the traditional anti-war … Continue reading
1991 Resistance to the Gulf War in Grand Rapids: Part II
In Part I of this article, we looked at how people in Grand Rapids resisted the US military attack on Iraq in the early part of 1991. In today’s post we will look at the aftermath of that US war … Continue reading
1991 Resistance to the Gulf War in Grand Rapids: Part I
In the summer of 1990, it began clear that the US government was beginning to marginalize Iraq, with the intent of going to war with the Middle Eastern nation. The US was claiming that Iraq’s border dispute with Kuwait was … Continue reading
New Print captures the anti-war organizing during the 2003 US invasion/occupation of Iraq
In 2003, there was a group called the Grand Rapids People’s Alliance for Justice, which was the main anti-war organizing group in Grand Rapids opposing the US invasion/occupation of Iraq. This group had begun to organize in response to the … Continue reading
Haiti and Grand Rapids: Part 3 (1993)
This is the third part of three articles from 1993, written about the Haiti/Grand Rapids connection, a series which appeared in the Independent newspaper, The Fundamentalist. Part 1 looked at a Grand Rapids-based company, H.H. Cutler, which had moved their … Continue reading
Resisting the Vietnam War: Interview with Paul Milanowski
This interview was conducted in December of 2016 by the Grand Rapids People’s History Project. Fr. Paul Milanowski talks about how he got involved in doing anti-Vietnam War work in the mid-1960s, his involvement with doing draft counseling, doing tax … Continue reading
Anti-Nuclear Resistance in Grand Rapids: Part II
Last week we shared Part I, where I had been arrested in an anti-nuclear action in the summer of 1990 at Wurtsmith Air Force Base near Bay City in Michigan. After being arrested, I refused to go to the court … Continue reading
Anti-Nuclear Resistance in Grand Rapids: Part 1
In 1990, several people from West Michigan participated in an action at Wurtsmith Air Force base near Bay City, Michigan. This action was part of a multi-year campaign that targeted the military base because it was a Strategic Air Command … Continue reading
A.J. Muste: radical pacifist, labor organizer and former Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation spent his formative years in Grand Rapids
One never knows how our lives evolve and what impact we will have on social issues and the various movements for radical social justice. Abraham Johannes Muste, also known as AJ, was one of those people who had and continues … Continue reading
Several Arrested in Grand Rapids in 1917 for passing out anti-draft information
In May of 1917, several members of the Socialist Party, two clergymen and Feminist/Labor supporter Viva Flaherty were arrested in Grand Rapids for distributing anti-conscription pamphlets near downtown Grand Rapids. This seemingly mild act of informing people about their rights … Continue reading
