Bristol Radical History Group
Bristol Radical History Group was formed in 2006 and we organised the first Bristol Radical History Week in Oct/Nov 2006 with the following aims:
- To open up some of the ‘hidden’ history of Bristol and the West Country to public scrutiny and challenge some commonly held ideas about historical events.
- To approach this history from ‘below’ by examining the actions and perspectives of those involved rather than the views of the contemporary establishment histories.
- To recognise that the history of Bristol is inexorably linked to that of the Atlantic and former British colonies through its seafaring and trading activities.
- To engage academics, local historians and the general public (including children) in the process through lectures, public debates, films and other events.
The events were a resounding success and showed that there was a significant public interest in radical history. Since then we have organised well over 100 events attended by several thousand people. Bristol Radical History Group group now operates within a much wider network of footballers, artists, techies, drunks, rioters, publicans, ranters, ravers, academics, Cancan dancers, anarchists, stoners and other ne’r do wells.
Over the years we have accumulated a large amount of material that we have archived on our website. Most of the talks and lectures that we have held exist in video and audio form, we also host a broad range of articles and image galleries that relate to the subjects that we have covered during our events.
Bristol Radical History Group events are organised by local people from Bristol and are NOT funded by Universities, Political Parties, Business or Local Government. To break even we rely on donations from the audience at meetings and the sale of books.