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In
1980 Howard Zinn published a seminal work, The People’s History Of The
United States. The book had the goal of a “silent revolution”, by
infiltrating the academic sphere with alternative, radical history. It
went through a gave a history of Columbus massacring Natives and how
America's founding fathers instigated revolution to gain control. This
book shook the academic world and was only one part of the idea of
promoting Radical History. This idea of Radical history seeks to tell a
narrative that is separate from the mainstream ideas. All points of
historical significance have multiple angles and perspectives. Radical
comes from a Latin term meaning “root”, Radical history then has the
ultimate goal of going for the root of history, in this case people’s
history. Radical history is guided by the idea that people’s experiences
and struggles are of utmost importance. Radical history also throws
away the idea that history must be objective, and commonly uses
historical experience to denounce and discredit the status quo. To this
end radical history often can be used to tell the story of those who
resist oppression and domination especially against empire and capital.
Locative History can be defined as history rooted in location. In the
American experience, Gettysburg is known for this. Seen for
commemorating the dead, the space is kept sacred. There is a power to
sites of historical significance. Washington DC is extremely good at
this sort of back and forth with meaning and importance of certain
spaces. Ford’s Theater, where Lincoln is especially good at preserving a
slice of time, from the actual theater that functions both as a theater
and as a memorial of this president, to the room across the street that
still holds the pillow stained with blood. This sort of memorial
quality is a sort of historical haunting, reminding people of history of
the experiences of the dead. This is where radical history is
divergent. Radical history is less about the experiences of the dead,
and more about how past experiences have affected processes to result in
our current situations. Due to the ability for radical history to be
left out of mainstream history, the locations are often left
un-commerated, to be built over and forgotten. Its also the case that
when radical history is celebrated, such as the 1960s anti war movement,
it is “othered” and seems distant to present day participants. Radical
history is put in a light of an unobtainable situation, that everything
was “just right” to allow for these past situations, therefore can not
be repeated or even approved upon. The radical narrative is also too
often told by those who denounce the past or were on the opposite side
of struggle.
In Oakland, California, there is a rich radical history that is based
in people’s struggles. One of the major events was the 1946 General
Strike. The general strike lasted for 3 days as workers all over Oakland
walked off their jobs to protest the continuing resistance of
unionization at Hastings and Khan’s department stores. Today that same
area of Oakland is known as “Oaksterdam” due to the density of pot
clubs. What exists to commemorate this is a faded plaque at the corner
of Telegraph and Broadway. This is a rare occurrence, as most locations
of historical significance don’t have any of this official recognition.
Other situations of Labor history in Oakland have lead to national
change in the railroad industry. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
in the 1930s and 40s was based in West Oakland, and became a strong
hold for African American working class people. This union later became a
part of the AFL-CIO. Yet nothing at their former office at Wood and
5th streets says anything to remember these events.
Due to high concentrations of marginalized communities especially
African Americans, The Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s had even more
impact of Oakland communities. For example, The Black Panther Party was
started in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale when they were at
Merritt community college in North Oakland. The party’s goal was to
forward the protection of African Americans from police brutality. They
also set up food programs in West Oakland that focused on getting
hungry school children breakfast and food for their families. This sort
of self sustaining and dismissive attitude of the police eventually lead
to their demise, yet the history influenced politics in Oakland for
years to come. Locations where the panthers had conflicts with police or
where they served the community are largely forgotten. Members of the
current black panther party have hosted Legacy Tours of spots of
significance. A Major one being Little Bobby Hutton Memorial Park, or
as the city calls it DeFremery Park. When the Black Panthers started
their food programs and sickle cell testing every weekend, they renamed
the park to commemorate Recently slain Panther Bobby Hutton. The park
sat as a strong hold for rallies and protests for the party, yet today
the park does nothing to remember the panther history. Even after years
after the Black Panther Party’s heyday, the city has done little to hold
this history. The tours mentioned above seem to be the only instance of
this, and are completely unaffiliated with city government.
These are just a few examples of specific instances of radical history.
But why does this matter? In the book “Wobblies and Zapatistas” a
concept is presented of “Guerrilla History”. This history, similar to
radical history, denounces the existential dilemmas of the
intellectual. History needs to be done by those involved in struggle.
History for it to be effective for enabling the telling of change must
come from the bottom up. History is never objective, mainstream
historical recounting have a goal of enforcing the current order.
Alternatives to mainstream history challenge this notion and therefore
challenge the power structures that exist. This is not always for the
better, but it is what it is. This is seen most commonly in the United
States with regards to history of the civil war. In Arthur Schlesinger’s
book Age of Jackson
was a radical text, but the hero, President Andrew Jackson, was one who
supported slavery and the killing of Indians. There is always
resistance by current social orders to alternative and radical history,
For example black panther history is one that is deeply rooted in
affirming power of individual communities over government policing. The
annoyance of this is obvious. Radical history is important if one wants
to change the current social order. Locative Radical History, gives the
history teeth and allows people to not only tell their stories but break
the spell of control. When people can look out their window and see
where people took power, they can be inspired to do the same when that
time comes. Using history in this way is much similar to a foucauldian
analysis, there is no historical necessity, things can always be and are
often different than mainstream perceptions. Foucault argues that there
is nothing more human to man than history.
Radicalhistory.org seeks to do just this. Through the oral tradition
and utilizing the web and QR codes, everyday people are given the tools
to tell their stories. With the increased pervasiveness of smart phones,
these small gestures can be accessed by people walking down the street
to find out what happened there. Also, using google maps, people who
want to know more can create their own audio tours, around different
struggles. From Labor to Race struggles, these DIY audio tours open up
neighborhoods to people’s struggle. The project will start in Oakland,
but the platform is built as such to encourage anyone to post their own.
Right now very few avenues exist to post tours likes these in a central
location. Through the recounting of Radical History, radicalhistory.org is a way to give power to the people who make history happen, and hopefully towards a better understanding of our world.
Works Cited
DelVecchio, Rick. "Tour of Black Panther Sites / Former Member Shows How Party Grew in Oakland - SFGate." Featured Articles From The SFGate.
San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Oct. 1997. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
<http://articles.sfgate.com/1997-10-25/news/17759525_1_black-panther-party-david-hilliard-battle-with-oakland-police>.
"Five Views: An Ethnic Historic Site Survey for California (Black Americans)." National Park Service Cultural Resources Discover History.
National Park Service, 17 Nov. 2007. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/5views/5views2h20.htm>.
Flagpole.
"THE CONSCIENCE OF THE PAST." Flagpole Magazine, 28 Feb. 1998. Web. 07
Dec. 2011.
<http://web.archive.org/web/20010525003828/http://www.flagpole.com/Issues/02.18.98/lit.html>.
Lynd, Staughton, and Andrej Grubačić. Wobblies & Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism and Radical History. Oakland, CA: PM, 2008. Print.
O'Farrell, Clare. "Key Concepts." Michel-foucault.com. 2007. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.michel-foucault.com/concepts/index.html>.