Your Speakers for Archives Crawl 2019

As in years past, we are welcoming local subject experts to speak on various aspects of our theme. This year, three local historians will speak to Sacramento activism in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Their presentations - lasting roughly 40 minutes each - will be held in the Sacramento Public Library's Tsakopoulos Galleria, located at 828 "I" Street. Here's the lineup and the times:

11:30 a.m. - "A Failure of Preservation: The Settler’s Uprising" by Andrew McLeod
What happens when the struggle is not preserved? Early Sacramento was a hotbed of activism, including everything from direct action in the streets, to the Settlers' bloc in the assembly, to the rise of the Vigilantes. Our city’s land struggle would continue through the 1860s, with innovative organizing that evolved to address persistent ownership controversies. Although some recall the “Squatters’ Riot” we mostly forget the larger context of that uprising, and a deep silence obscures its terrifying aftermath.

1:00 p.m. - "The Criminal Syndicalism Trial of 1935" by William Burg
The 1935 "Criminal Syndicalism" trial was an attempt to prosecute members of the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Union (CAWIU) for their involvement with the Communist Party. But what was "criminal syndicalism"? The Sacramento District Attorney's case against eighteen CAWIU members was based on a 1919 law passed in response to the Industrial Workers of the World, an anarcho-syndicalist union whose actions included strikes, riots, sabotage, marches, and, allegedly, bombing of the Governor's Mansion. Historian William Burg will tell the story of the longest criminal trial in California history, and the decades of struggle between labor and capital that preceded it.

2:30 p.m. - "VietSac: Protest and the Vietnam War in California's Capital City" by James Scott Sacramento’s capital status made it a hub of activism during the Vietnam War, a conflict that claimed the lives of nearly 200 Sacramento County servicemen. Stop the Draft Week, Students for a Democratic Society and frequent protests at Sacramento State College highlighted an era of dissent quite unlike any other in the Capital City’s history.