Tag Archives: Radical Theatrics: Put-ons

Beyond “I Have a Dream”: Reading for MLK Week

As we head into the national Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday and African American History Month, we are rounding up a selection of readings from the archives which celebrate the vital and varied contributions of black Americans today and throughout US history. These guest posts and books address social justice organizing and activism around issues of race, gender, sexuality, and difference in keeping with Dr. King’s life, work, and lasting legacy.

Stars for Selma (Guest post from Emilie Raymond, author of Stars for Freedom: Hollywood, Black Celebrities, and the Civil Rights Movement | Read an excerpt)

Before #BlackLivesMatter: A History Lesson from the Black Panther Party (Guest post from Craig J. Peariso, author of Radical Theatrics: Put-Ons, Politics, and the Sixties)

Talking about Critical Mixed Race Studies in the Wake of Ferguson (Guest post from Laura Kina, coeditor of War Baby / Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art)

Uncovering African American History in the Pacific Northwest (Guest post from Lorraine McConaghy and Judy Bentley, authors of Free Boy: A True Story of Slave and Master)


Other books of note:

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If you are located in Seattle, Bothell, or Tacoma, don’t miss the MLK Week 2016 calendar of events and social media tool-kit. This year, the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center, the Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity, and the Carlson Leadership & Public Service Center at the University of Washington have partnered on this suite of collaborative events inspired by past and current social justice work in the UW community around the MLK Day holiday (#UWMLKWeek).

Behind the Covers: Radical Theatrics

Final cover design

Final cover design

As part of a series of guest posts, UW Press Designer Dustin Kilgore walks us through the various design concepts that eventually brought him to a book’s final cover:

Craig Peariso’s Radical Theatrics: Put-ons, Politics, and the Sixties analyzes the theatrical actions of the 1960s counterculture movement and finds that, contrary to popular belief, their over-the-top antics were more than attention-seeking displays. From Occupy Wall Street and Flood Wall Street to the creative Keystone XL pipeline protests, such theatrics are still considered effective by the diverse groups within American society expressing political dissent.

To mirror the book’s approach of using contemporary 1960s source materials in its analysis, I thought the book’s overall design should feel as much from that time period as possible without being nostalgic or resorting to tired stock protest imagery.

The image research included print ephemera  and documentary photography of protests as diverse as the October 21st March to “Levitate the Pentagon” to humble Quaker pray-ins in front of the White House.

Selected image research.

Selected image research.

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