Coming Together
October 1, 2021 | Toward Solidarity
The following photographs are from moments in history when working people came together across lines of race to both challenge racism and build a socialist future. All of these pictures were black and white in their original form but are brought to life in color here with a colorizing program I recently found. They comprise only a small window into the long legacy of multiracial resistance in this country, one that has been both stigmatized and hidden from our view.
We can find meaning, strength, and political direction by forming a connection with what Howard Zinn called these "hidden episodes of the past" where ordinary people "showed their ability to resit, join together, and occasionally, to win." When seen in color, this legacy can feel all the more real. Hopefully these photos can help us feel less alone, remind us that change is possible, and reveal ancestors who want to guide us as we do the work that we must do today.
Communist Party Members in New York City / 1935
All of these pictures were black and white in their original form but are brought to life in color here with a colorizing program I recently found. They comprise only a small window into the long legacy of multiracial resistance in this country, one that has been both stigmatized and hidden from our view.
“If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even in the brief flashes people showed their ability to resist, to join together, and occasionally to win.”
— HOWARD ZINN
“If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even in the brief flashes people showed their ability to resist, to join together, and occasionally to win.”
— HOWARD ZINN
“In human history there is always something beyond the reach of dominating systems, no matter how deeply they saturate society, and this is obviously what makes change possible…”
— EDWARD SAID
“The more I study history, the more I seem to find
That in every generation there are times just like that time
When folks like you and me who thought that they were all alone
Within this honored movement found a home.”
— SI KAHN, "THEY ALL SANG BREAD AND ROSES"