Radical Object: The Common Man’s Gandhi Cap
The current Indian election has seen a re-invention of the country’s most politically iconic headwear. The old Gandhi cap, a symbol of India’s non-violent pursuit of self-reliance and independence, has been revived – not, as Andrew Whitehead explains, by the Congress party with which Gandhi was once associated but by a new, insurgent political party
Radical Objects: The Black Fist Afro Comb
Sally-Ann Ashton on the evocative symbol of the black fist Afro comb
Radical Objects: April Ashley’s Birth Certificate & Birthday Card
The birth certificate and birthday card of transgender activist, actress and fashion model, April Ashley, whose life is celebrated in an exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool until 21 September 2014
Radical Objects: Photo of Mewa Singh’s Funeral Procession 1915
Melanie Hardbattle on a discovery from the history of Asian immigration into Canada, made in the Special Collections and Rare Books department at Simon Fraser University Library
A Menu for Change – The South African Deputation to London, 1909
Radical Objects: A menu of a meal at the House of Commons in London in 1909, hosted by the Labour Party leader James Keir Hardie, with Labour MPs and a South African deputation led by W. P. Schreiner
General Will, Radical Theatre Company Memoirs
Jo Stanley from the Unfinished Histories project, writes on the contents of a piece of paper recording a moment in the history of alternative theatre
Radical Object: ‘Topic Songbook’
Alan Dein writes of his discovery of a ‘Topic Songbook’ from the 1950s, and its window into the Socialist century
Radical Object: Casts of Joseph Arch’s Hands
An exploration of the plaster casts of the first labouring man to enter Parliament, and founder of the National Agricultural Labourer’s Union, Joseph Arch, written by Karen Sayer
Radical Object: Radical and Less Radical Effigies of Garibaldi
The Italian patriot and exile, Giuseppe Garibaldi, enjoyed legendary fame in mid-Victorian Britain. Marcella Pellegrino Sutcliffe explores some artefacts from this period that bear his image
Radical Object: John Lilburne and John Wilkes
This political tract ‘The Tryal of Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburn’ links indelibly two of the most commanding figures in English radicalism, both of whom won key legal victories against the executive and so helped to establish greater freedom to publish and propagandise
Recent Comments