April 4
Civil Rights and Black Power
This button commemorates the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, and the militant awakening his murder inspired. In the immediate aftermath of King's killing, urban rebellions erupted in dozens of U.S. cities.
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. 1968
Button
Physical Object
Sirhan Lives
RFK Assassination
Convicted in April 1969 of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, Palestinian-American Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death. In 1972, the California Supreme Court, the The People of the State of California vs. Robert Page Anderson, prohibited the use of capital punishment in the state of California on the basis of cruel and unusual punishment. This button is inscribed with the words, “Sirhan Lives,” noting the commuting of his sentence in 1972 to life imprisonment.
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1972
Button
Physical Object
Thanks for the Dream Dr. King
Civil Rights Movement
This button includes a black and white profile photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. over a red, white, and blue field. The button reads, “Thanks for the dream Dr. King’’ in commemoration of the assassinated civil rights leader, placing his legacy in a patriotic context.
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
unknown
Button
Physical Object
ca. 1968
RAT Subterranean News, February 14-20, 1969
New Left
RAT Subterranean News was published in New York, starting in March of 1968 and was edited by Jeff Shero, Alice Embree and Gary Thiher, who had come North from Austin, Texas, where they worked on The Rag, another important underground paper. Whereas the East Village Other represented the counterculture point of view, RAT had a left political orientation. This issue covers a wide range of topics, including a student demonstration in Linden, New Jersey; a protest against Playboy by the Women's Liberation Front at Grinnell College in Iowa; a Yippie reply to Jerry Rubin; and an article with the complete transcript of the indictment against Clay L. Shaw for conspiring to kill John F. Kennedy. A portion of the issue also highlights local poetry readings and includes advertisements for "swinger" services.
R.A.T. Publications, Inc.
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
February 14-20, 1969
underground press
Liberated Guardian, November 25, 1970
New Left
The National Guardian was a radical, left newsweekly published out of New York City from 1948-1992. The paper was established by James Aronson, Cedric Belfrage, who were committed activists for the Progressive Party and Henry Wallace presidential campaign, as well as John McManus and Josiah Gitt, both liberal newspaper men, though Gitt quickly dropped out. In addition to the Progressive Party, the newspaper also held ties with American communists and the labor movement. The Cold War took a toll on the newspaper, with the decline of the Progressive Party and the rise of McCarthyism in the U.S. During the post-WWII era, the newspaper focused coverage on opposition to the Cold War and militarism, support for emerging anti-colonial struggles around the world, defense of those targeted by McCarthyism, advocacy for the black freedom movement. The newspaper continued to hold a cozy relationship with the Communist Party U.S.A., though it did break with the group over some issues, particularly support for independent political action beyond party control. The 1960s-era brought a new period of political rancor within the editorial ranks of the newspaper. In the end, the periodical changed leadership and renamed itself The Guardian. The Guardian took an increasingly Maoist line, supporting armed struggles against colonialism. During this period, the newspaper attempted to forge ties with SDS and SNCC, writing that "The duty of a radical newspaper is to build a radical movement.” "We are movement people acting as journalists," the Guardian′s staff now proudly declared. The Liberated Guardian formed out of a workers strike at The Guardian newspaper in New York City in the Spring of 1970. The Liberated Guardian was notable for it strong stand in favor of armed struggle. An ideological and political split within the ranks of the Liberated Guardian staff led to the newspaper’s demise in late-1973. The original Guardian pressed on and took on a more hard-line Marxist-Leninist ideology in the late-1970s, eroding that newspaper’s reputation for investigative journalism. Readership and support for The Guardian declined through the 1980s and the paper ceased publication in 1992.
In this issue, articles focus on Malcolm X’s assassination; Black Panther Party; Timothy Leary and armed struggle; the privatization of imperial intervention; local short reports on revolutionary struggle in the U.S.; liberation struggle in Uruguay; draft counseling; the Seattle Liberation Front; the War Measures Act in Canada; Quebec independence movement; police repression in Canada; Palestinian liberation; lessons from the Jordan wars; the CIA in Israel; review of the film Finally Got the News, on the League of Revolutionary Black Workers; labor strike at Fiat in Italy; black workers in the auto industry; corporations that make antipersonnel munitions; report on peace talks in Paris; tenants rights; local briefs; indigenous people in Columbia and armed struggle; letters to the editor.
Liberated Guardian Worker's Collective
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
November 25, 1970
underground newspaper