History Carnival

Walter Crane's
portrait of May Day's martyrs.

Since 1890, workers around the world have taken May 1st off for parading, celebrating, and demonstrating - first in support of the eight hour day, and still in support of fair conditions for working people. May 1st was chosen to commemorate the conviction of eight men accused of throwing a bomb at a May 1886 Chicago rally for the eight hour workday. (A reasonably good history of the affair can be found here.) This May Day if you're here in the San Francisco Bay Area, you're invited to celebrate with your fellow workers (and students) by joining the International Longshore Workers Union who are shutting down 29 West Coast ports in protest of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or by joining the immigrant rights marches and rallies happening in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and elsewhere. If your boss won't give you the day off, call in sick! And when you get home from all those marches please take a look at the rest of this post:

I'm please to present this month's History Carnival. A blog carnival is a collection of posts aggregated into one and rotated periodically among various blogs. I'm hosting this month and you can check out the next one at Progressive Historians on June 1st.

I'm opening this carnival with the music history posts I've been feeling: Comb and Razor introduces guitarist and producer Jake Sollo, a major figure in 80s Nigerian pop music, crud crud gives a brief history of bootlegs, and Soul Detective seems to have closed the case of Six James Duncan.

Moving on, here are my overall favorite history posts this month:

Axis of Evel Knievel posts about the Civil War era bread riots, when a crowd of women armed with clubs, rocks and guns took to the streets of the Confederate capital and demanded “bread or blood".

Zenobia: Empress of the East presents an eye opening portrait of the 19th Century lesbian sculptor Harriet Hosmer, complete with a cool photo of Hosmer made miniature in contrast to one of her enormous sculptures.

On Military History and Warfare you can read about the bloody incursion of Mongol armies into Europe during the mid-1200s. The key pull quote here is: After the battle, the Mongols cut off an ear from every fallen Christian warrior to make an accurate body count. Nine bags of ears were eventually sent to Batu as tribute.

Edge of the West revisits a horrific massacre of Apaches in 1871 and explores how even contemporary non-Indian historians fail to acknowledge the bloody history of manifest destiny.

Undercover Black Man posts a series of audio and video clips showing period reaction to the Martin Luther King assassination: Robert Kennedy's speech, Walter Cronkite's report, Jesse Jackson's reaction (when interviewed about the murder in 1976), and James Brown's April 5th, 1968 show which purportedly helped cool the rage in Boston's black communities.

Some of this month's other very readable history posts include:

Yonkerman's amazing Tuberculosis cure wasn't amazing nor was it a cure, but it did come with some aggressive and impressive marketing. Read about it on the Virtual Dime Museum.

Abnormal Diversity has begun translating Hans Asperger's 1944 description of autism and finds some of herself in his descriptions.

In his post, The Goddess of Mount Tai, The China Beat explores a transformation in popular Chinese spiritually 1,000 years ago.

Rustbelt Intellectual theorizes that the mostly unrecognized history of working class feminism might explain why working class white women gravitate towards Hillary Clinton. And while you're on the subject, find an illuminating if depressing breakdown of how Bill Clinton's administration ended the Democratic Party as we knew it at Progressive Historians. And don't miss Part II.

Peripherally connected, Tenured Radical reviews WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, an exhibit of visual art borne from the women's movement and on exhibit in Long Island City until May 12th.

The execution of Alexander Arbuthnot and Richard Ambrister as ordered by general and future president Andrew Jackson is recounted at executed today. Arbuthnot and Ambrister, a Scotsman and an Englishman, were accused of collaborating with Creek and Seminole fighters and were executed without much of a trial. Sounds familiar.

History is Elementary discovers some history beneath the Augusta National Golf Tournament: and to think this ground has been lying here all these years waiting for someone to come along and lay a golf course upon it.

The Picket Line presents a history of Quaker war tax resistance, excerpting from Isaac Sharpless’s 1898 book A Quaker Experiment in Government. But April 15th is not just for taxes: trivial, yet historical events also transpired on this day as you can see at Our Great Southern Land.

If you thought the Great Exhibition of 1851 (housed in London's incomparable Crystal Palace) was cool, you should check out the competition at the Victorian Peeper. A much more recent bit of the English experience is described at Scandalous Women where you can read about a notorious British sex scandal.

Rwarrr!! Lycanthropy on Providentia.

View a pictoral history of computer data storage from pingdom. (I liked the enormous 10 kb drum memory machine!) And metafilter links to a history of recording technologies.

Also geeky in the best sense, Language Log introduces us to Dr. Syntax and in a totally different vein, Appalachian History has a short and sweet post about Hobo Nickels.

So what? you ask? Easily Distracted suggests some historians' answers.


Thanks for all your submissions folks and also thanks to Sharon Howard for keeping this project together. Submit your history posts for next month's carnival here.

Crash!

I love Oakland Geology blog.

More Suffling

Here's a mini follow up to that book review of Suffled How it Gush: It looks like Shon has a blog that elaborates on his Balkan ruminations. (Shon is so anti-self promoting that even when I emailed to tell him I loved his book he replied without mentioning the blog.) Shon's just set off to teach English to Roma folks in refugee camps in Kosovo, so I bet he'll have some interesting stuff to say in the coming months.

April History Carnival

This month’s History Carnival is up at The Vapour Trail. Lots of really awesome looking posts especially about women’s history are highlighted.

The next carnival will post on May Day right here at Bay Radical. You can submit stuff to me using the submission form and if you’ve got questions just email bayradical at gmail dot com.

History Carnival

A blog carnival is a collection of blog posts on a given subject. This month's history blog carnival is up and full of interesting links worth clicking.

Oakland Memorials

This project ended with the close of the year but it's worth checking into: blogger nic b. documented the site of every homicide in Oakland in 2007 on his site Oakland Makeshift Memorials. Especially heartbreaking are the comments left by loved ones of the deceased.

More Carolina Chocolate Drops

A couple weeks ago I posted some videos from the adorably old-timey Carolina Chocolate Drops. Today blogger Undercover Black Man posted about them including a link to their cover of Hit 'Em Up Style.

And speaking of Undercover Black Man aka: David Mills, writer from some of TVs most favorites including The Wire, he's promised to do a bunch of Black History Month posts and if you're interested in good writing and history I suggest checking him out. He's never shy about addressing controversy, as his inaugural Black History Month post demonstrates.

Bearings Blog

I'm pretty much out of commission research-wise until my finals are over in two weeks. In the meantime, I'll keep up the links to sites that are a)Bay Area related, b)history related, c)activist related, and/or d)just really awesome.

Under the heading of Just Really Awesome and Bay Area History Related: Bearings A Geographers Blog. Bearings looks at our "built environment", often at the portions of that environment which have been abandoned in our ever forward moving rush towards wealth and progress. There's a strong emphasis on the West and on history, and there are lots of beautiful photos, both historical and contemporary. I was extra interested in a recent series of Bearings posts about sugar beet factories in Colorado because I watched Burn! last night, and now I want to learn everything I can about the changes and tragedies of the sugar industry.

Filter presses to purify liquid beet sugar, from Bearings.

Bearings is the creation of author and photographer Jon Haeber. He's got a great Flickr page too (recently profiled on Boing Boing). Maybe if I'm very nice he'll be my new best friend.

Week of Links! Shorpy!

Since some folks will be off work this week, meaning, you may not want to fritter away your hours reading long posts, I'm going to do a week of links. Every day, I'll link to one of my favorite history resources.

First up is the link that may already be a chestnut to you internet history junkies out there, but it's one of the best: Shorpy.

Minor mill on Warren Creek by Arcata, California. Mack is the engineer, taken mid 1880s. Photographer unknown –from Shorpy.com

Shorpy posts historical photos. That's it. Explanations are minimal, but often unnecessary. When I look at the pictures on Shorpy, I think about how often a few photos can tell a story way better than a 2000 word analysis.

Shorpy also runs a comics subsite which is worth checking out too. Enjoy!

Resource re: Pakistan

I just discovered Chapati Mystery - a blog about South Asia, history, and politics. It's well-written and smart, and lately its all about the current state of Martial Law in Pakistan. I'll be reading there to keep up with the state of the dictatorship.

Thanks to Surf Putah, (one of my favorite semi-local bloggers), for pointing out this blog!

Good news for history nerds (like me)

History Nerds Rejoice! The New York Times is making their Times Select features including a large portion of their archives available for free to all. I could give a hoo-ha about reading the Times columnists, but the archives – all the archives from 1851 to 1922 and some content from 1923 to 1986 available online for free! I never have to leave the comfort of my computer screen again! Unfortunately, you still need to register (for free) to read the article about it.

(Just watch out for giants!)

History is a Weapon

How could it be that I'm only now discovering this site?

History is a Weapon has transcribed and uploaded dozens of original books, flyers and other texts related to the history of radical activism. They have a blog too! Plus, imperialist history maps!

One gem from the site - John Brown's last public speech made to the judge and jury that convicted him:

...Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.


Bay Radical recommends:

More endorsements: The Organic City & Deep Oakland

While I deal with moving, starting my fall semester (I'm taking microbiology – wish me luck!), and helping my kids transition into a new school too, I'll be mostly reviewing other people's Bay history resources. Look for research-based posts from me again starting mid-or-late-September (hopefully including info on the farmworkers movement, underground queer scenes, and more on the Panthers). But for now, here are two of my favorite sites dealing with my favorite town:

The Organic City is some kind of awesome hybrid of mapping software and community blog. Or something. Clearly, I don't understand the technicalities, but I can tell you that the heart of the site is an interactive map which you can click on to hear, read, or watch stories based in corresponding Oakland neighborhoods. Part of the charm is the brevity of the stories – each small enough to give you a flavor, an impression. This home movie of bird-chasing at Lake Merritt is one of the best examples. I can almost feel my Oakland childhood in some of those shots. (Although mine was probably much less-hip than the little girl in the clips - her name is Song, and actually, I even knew another kid named Song when I was growing up here!) There are also some fine videos of Oakland history walking tours. William Wong, who has his own great Oakland Chinatown History site is a featured 'tour guide'. Here's a clip.

In a similar vein is Deep Oakland. Also organized by neighborhood (but including a wider range of 'hoods), and with a beautiful interface, Deep Oakland includes stories, photos, and audio clips. There are some real gems – particularly the interviews with long-time Oaklanders. My favorites so far is the snipped of an interview with Lewis Mahlmann, the now-retired master puppeteer at Children's Fairlyland. If you haven't had the chance to take in a show at Fairyland, here's a taste – with Mahlmann voicing the greedy Oswald Bear (warning: intense moralism ahead):

Next up: local history zines!

Endorsements part II: Sparkletack

Sparkletack, Sparkletack, Sparkletack. Sparkletack. Sparkletack is a podcast about San Francisco history. It's also a blog and a website. Richard Miller produces the in-depth, well-researched, stories on an irregular basis (it takes a lot of time to research this stuff) but it is worth the wait for each new episode. For money, he's a designer, and you can tell because Sparkletack has a beautiful and accessible interface. But he's a natural historian, with an audible love for his hometown.

From Sparkletack, I learned who really invented blue jeans. I understood why California stayed out of the Civil War. And I discovered that my father's countryman, Robert Lewis Stevenson, lived in SF's Chinatown, and was a vocal critic of anti-Chinese racism.

When I started this blog a couple months ago I sent out emails to everyone I could think of to promote it, and I sent a cold email to Richard who was a total stranger to me. He wrote back right away and was beyond encouraging. He even added an enthusiastic endorsement for Bay Radical on his links page. If you're into San Francisco, or you're interested in history, listen to Sparkletack. Why is it called Sparkletack? I don't know. Why aren't you listening to it right now? I don't know that either.

Sparkletack. It's awesome.