“History From Below” is a corrective lens with which to look back for lessons for the present day: where “from below” means all the rest of us, the 99% if you will, who toil below the minority ruling class. This is a historiography which runs counter to the “Great Men” narrative – that exclusive, dominant history written by oppressors, victors of war, colonialists, industrialists, racists, urban developers and re-developers.
History From Below is people’s history, labor history, social history, folk history.
Learn it, teach it, share it, feel it and live by it!
This is a new, hand-screenprinted edition of a poster I designed in 2014 for the Justseeds education-themed portfolio, Liberating Learning. The original, two-color edition was printed on a Risograph machine. This new edition features a third background layer, updated lines, and is printed on much thicker, acid-free paper stock. All three color layers were created by hand using a combination of cut paper, cut Rubylith, and opaque marker on transparent film.
In December 2014, I painted a giant 4'x8' version of this image as part of the ongoing Sidewall mural project in Pittsburgh.
