[act-ma] 7/29 ‘Radical’ gathers activists from ’60s, today to look at the history and future of protest

[Charlie Welch]

  Radical at the Cambridge Public Library

Saturday, July 29, 2017 11:30am - 3:30pm

*‘**Radical**’ **gathers activists from **’**60s, today**
**to look at the history and future of protest*

/Historians show what Cambridge and Somerville were like in the day/

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Activists from the 1960s and today and Cambridge and 
Somerville historians gather for “Radical: Cambridge and Somerville 
activism in the ’60s and today,” to be held from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 
July 29 at the lecture hall of the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, 
Mid-Cambridge. Cambridge Community Television will be on hand to get 
panelists’ and audience members’ stories from the 1960s on video. The 
event is free.

“By all accounts, Cambridge and Somerville were wild 50 years ago, and 
the energy in these cities drew amazing people who did extraordinary 
things,” said Cambridge Day editor Marc Levy, co-organizer and moderator 
of the event. “The goal here is to get those voices and their stories 
recorded, so we don’t lose them, but also to connect with our latest 
generations of activists to understand how the work of the 1960s affects 
what they’re doing today.”

There’s one more treat in store: In addition to panel discussions, there 
will be a free custom ice cream flavor from Toscanini’s made in honor of 
the 1960s.

“Radical” brings to the stage 1960s activists such as: Ti-Grace 
Atkinson, the radical feminist who took on The New York Times; Bill 
Cunningham, local housing activist and historian; Saundra Graham, who 
fought Harvard expansion; Laury Hammel, who went from Students for a 
Democratic Society to advocating for sustainable businesses; Carol Hill, 
who went to jail for defying a grand jury; and Ken Reeves, who applied 
the ideals of the 1960s to city government as a city councillor and mayor.

Participating activists from more recent generations include Mari 
Gashaw, a young activist who chained herself to City Hall as part of a 
Black Lives Matter protest over affordable housing; Klara Ingersoll, who 
fought for change at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School by organizing a 
walkout against a culture of sexual harassment; and state Rep. Mike 
Connolly, who went from being an Occupy Boston lawyer to the State House 
with inspiration from Bernie Sanders.

Presenting first in the day to explain what Cambridge and Somerville 
were like in the heady days of the 1960s and early 1970s are local 
historians Charles Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge 
Historical Commission, co-author of “Building Old Cambridge: 
Architecture and Development”; and Tim Devin, artist, librarian and 
author of “Mapping out utopia: 1970s Boston-area counterculture, book 1: 
Cambridge.”

  http://www.harvardsquare.com/events/radical-cambridge-public-library

For information, send email to events at cambridgeday.com 
<mailto:events at cambridgeday.com?subject=Radical:%20Cambridge%20and%20Somerville%20activism%20in%20the%20%E2%80%9960s%20and%20today>.