I was invited to present on A People’s History of Grand Rapids at Calvin University last night

It has been an exciting year, since I first published my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids. I have had numerous opportunities to speak about the book and about some of the history in this community, especially history that is not widely known.

I spoke at Calvin University last night, as the result of an invitation from someone in the Sociology and Social Work Department.

I talked a little bit about my own background and how I came to be interested in history from below in Grand Rapids, along with the years I have spent teaching a popular education class on the history of US Social Movements, using Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States.

I then began talking about the history of Settler Colonialism in Grand Rapids and why it is important that this is a starting point when talking about the history of this city. Settler Colonialism is the foundation of the founding of this city and you can’t really talk about the history of Grand Rapids without talking about Settler Colonialism.

I then addressed some of the history of the African America fight against Systemic White Supremacy throughout the 20th Century, including the 21st Century. People were shocked to learn about the KKK parade in Grand Rapids on July 4th, 1925 – pictured above. In additionally we talked about Institutionalized White Supremacy in Grand Rapids over the passed century, along with the Black-led resistance to it.

I also spoke briefly about the 1911 furniture workers strike, the documentation of that strike and the response from the Grand Rapids furniture barons.

However, the rest of the presentation centered on some people’s history that was specific to Calvin College/Calvin University. I talked about one of the earliest critiques of the Amway Corporation, which was written by a Calvin student in 1971, entitled Cleaning Out the Third World.

Next, I spoke about the robust anti-Vietnam War organizing that took place on the Calvin campus, by both students and faculty. According to archives of the student paper, The Chimes, Calvin students and faculty hosted numerous lectures, debates and forums on the war, with an emphasis on Christian moral responsibility. In March of 1968, forty seven Calvin Professors ran an anti-war ad in the Grand Rapids Press.

Students organizing against the war were involved in organizing Teach-Ins, rallies and informational resources for students on the draft, as is seen in the picture. In addition, students at Calvin participated in the national Moratorium Campaign against the Vietnam War, with rallies on campus and organizing buses to DC. Go to this link for all of the archival anti-Vietnam stories in The Chimes. 

Lastly, I presented information on the well organized campaign by Calvin students and faculty regarding the divestment campaign against South African Apartheid. Beginning in the early 1980s, students and faculty members began investigating the issue, especially since the Christian Reformed Church was directly involved in the historical dynamics that contributed to Apartheid policies in South Africa.

One thing that made the Anti-Apartheid campaign get off the ground was the presence of Allan Boesak, a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and one of the leading Anti-Apartheid activists from South Africa. Boesak not only spoke at Calvin College in 1983, he was invite to be a visiting professor.

This relationship with Boesak was important for the longevity of the Anti-Apartheid Movement on Calvin’s campus, because now students and faculty had a relationship with someone who was the target of South African government harassment. Evidence of how the Calvin community was engaged around this personal relationship with Boesak is evidenced by a letter sent and signed by dozens of Calvin faculty (pages 1 – 10), which was addressed to then South African President Botha. The letter, like so many others from that movement put pressure on the South African government to end their abuse of those involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Coverage of the Anti-Apartheid efforts at Calvin can be found in the student newspaper, The Chimes, over a several year period.  One can see that there were ongoing efforts to educate the campus community on the issues centered around South African Apartheid, but most of the coverage was about the actual campaign of divestment.

Students and faculty had begun a campaign to get Calvin College to divest from any company profiting off of racist Apartheid policies. The Student Senate had done the research looking into how much money Calvin College had invested in companies doing business in South Africa and in a letter to the college president in October of 1985, they provide a breakdown of this money. (page 13) 

This well organized campaign paid off, when the finance committee of the Board of Trustees decided to divest Calvin College funds from two companies in November of 1986. The Chimes article (page 9) on this action states,  According to President DeWit, “These two companies were right on the verge of the legitimate classification in the Sullivan system. It was proper, rather than to press the point, to sell them.” 

It was the efforts of people at institutions such as Calvin College, using the tactic of divestment, which eventually dismantled the Apartheid policies of South Africa.

The discussion afterwards was lively and people were very animated when learning about this rich history in Grand Rapids and on the Calvin campus.