Radical History Blog

In 1846, when the US invaded Mexico, Henry David Thoreau stopped paying his taxes. His essay explaining why went on the change the world. Deep in the woods near Concord, Massachusetts, there’s a quiet lake called Walden Pond.

Our latest tea towel design honours the late Harry Leslie Smith, one of the staunchest modern advocates for our National Health Service.

For generations of American changemakers, our country's idealistic origins have held the key to its renewal. We put together a quiz to remind people about America's radical roots.

In 1960, the Congolese people, after breaking free from the Belgian Empire, elected Patrice Lumumba as their first Prime Minister.

In June 1969, America’s besieged LGBTQ community battled homophobic cops at the Stonewall Inn in New York, kicking off the modern day gay rights movement.

The anniversary of the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing marriage equality is a moment to acknowledge our place in history.

As opportunistic politicians and xenophobic media outlets continue to scapegoat and demonize those who have lost everything we take for granted, it's worth taking a moment to reflect on what it means to be a refugee – and what it means to stand with our human brothers and sisters.

The Battle of Orgreave remains one of the most harrowing moments in the history of the British labour movement.

91 years after his birth, Che Guevara’s motorbike journey across Latin America as a young medical student remains a huge moment in the history of anti-colonial resistance. It would lead Guevara to Cuba and to revolution.

Have you ever wondered why aprons were invented? Deriving from the French word ‘naperon’, meaning a small table cloth, aprons have been symbolic of different things throughout history.