Madison
has been home to a vibrant community of radical activists since at
least the 1950s. The stories of their struggles against racism and
imperialism and for social justice at home and abroad remain largely
unrecorded. It is imperative that we record and store their memories
now, so that we can benefit from their collective experience in
contemporary struggles. We are activists, and we are motivated to
initiate this project by a desire to use lessons learned in the past
to improve our activism in the present. Collecting, transcribing, and
analyzing the local histories of the left in Madison well help us
adapt our efforts, as activists, to the particular dynamics of this
city.
We
are primarily interested in political organization and movement
building. We will seek out individuals who actively participated in
radical left organizations, and we want to uncover the role played by
such organizations in the development of mass social movements—in
particular, the civil rights, organized labor, anti-war movements.
The history of the radical left in Madison—and all of the US—has
been silenced. Our project will help to restore the radical left to
its rightful place as a highly influential force in the social,
political, and cultural history of the US.
