For the first time, a comprehensive list of Oregonians arrested for Sedition during the World War One era has been compiled. It will appear here at michaelhelquist.com in mid-April 2017.
 
My research into how Oregon aggressively embraced the federal Espionage and Sedition Acts documents the individuals who were charged, their alleged offenses, and the outcome of their prosecutions.  Who were the two physicians arrested for sedition and why? How many women were arrested and who was the one woman convicted? You might expect political radicals to be under suspicion but the postmaster of the small town of Ten-Mile in Oregon? Was the University of Oregon in Eugene a hotbed of dissension and resistance?
 
On Wednesday, April 19, 2017 from 7pm – 8:30 pm I will present my research at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland. It’s free and open to the public. The program includes Michael Kazin, a professor of history at Georgetown University and award-winning author, will discuss his new book War Against War: The American Fight for Peace 1914-1918.

More information at the OHS website 

 I hope you can join us. Also check here for summaries of the OHS presentations. 
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Marie Equi: Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions, Michael Helquist, Oregon State University Press. 

How do you stay committed to the struggle when political assaults occur almost daily? Marie Equi kept up a steady stream of dissent and protests for seven years. During strikes, free speech fights, demands for women’s rights, and peace, she persisted and fought for justice. How did she manage to stay engaged maintaining a profession and a personal life?

“Marie Equi: Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions” tells it all. Selected as a 2016 Stonewall Honor Book for Nonfiction by the American Library Association. Available at bookstores and online.  

I wrote the biography of Marie Equi because I was drawn to her passion for justice, her status as an outsider (she was working class and a lesbian), and her determination to live independently. If you’re new to her story, check out the book video and my website, www.MichaelHelquist.com.

Authors love to hear from their readers, and I’m happy to share a few recently published reviews of my biography, Marie Equi: Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions. Available in bookstores and from online outlets.  These four readers all gave the book Five Star ratings – as did 26 others -- on Amazon.
 
“Five Stars”
“An extraordinary history that belongs in every American history and history of medicine curriculum.”
- Mike  

“A great read about a great activist”
“I loved learning of Marie Equi, such a brave and exciting character. Mr. Helquist provides full support for his commentary on her life and relationships. His research feels so solid. I loved reading her intimate lesbian relationships during a time when any inkling of such was so dangerous. I was inspired by her dedication to the rights of the poor and disadvantaged, her fight for access to birth control and family planning and her support for the rights of workers. A lot was crammed into her life and we are fortunate that her life has been told in this very readable book.”
- Carolyn Confer
 
“But is it good for the nonhistorian?”
“Yes it is. I planned to read it over several days but finished it in two. Equi’s story is compelling from the start, and remains continuously eventful – or so it comes across in Helquist’s straightforward and authoritative telling.”
- David Hathwell  

“Must read for radicals in the Pacific Northwest”
“Read this book while travelling from Idaho to Portland. It was amazing to visit the locations that Equi lived. We were even able to find where she whipped her partner’s boss. Highly recommend this book for people interested in radical politics and queer politics, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Although primarily a historical text, it reads like a novel.
- Bob Goise

One of the milestones in gaining global awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic was the launching of the annual World AIDS Day observance on December 1, 1988. Every year since, communities around the world recognize the progress with HIV prevention and services while acknowledging the persistent gaps in research and treatment options. Jim Bunn, one of the key players in implementing World AIDS Day, tells the story of how it all came about in this first-person report:
 
“How What Happened in San Francisco Led to World AIDS Day,” November 29, 2013 for KQED News.
 
Within the last few weeks and months, the ABC-TV series “When We Rise” and the new book “How to Survive a Plague” by David France have illuminated the struggle and enormous loss during the fight against AIDS in the United States. It’s essential to get this history right – for the public record, to inform future activism, and to inspire activists and agitators for justice in health care.
 
I had the privilege to work with Jim Bunn while he served as the Communications Director for the United Nation’s Global Programme on AIDS. At the time I was stationed in Washington, DC while helping develop the U.S. AIDS Communication Project for developing countries. I appreciated Bunn’s strong voice for AIDS awareness, his journalistic expertise, and his down-to-earth, cut-through the crap maneuvering through the UN bureaucracy continually pushed the needle forward for effective activism.

Is there any doubt this has been our “Winter of Discontent”? The Trump tumult roils the body politic almost daily with assaults and threats to social and economic justice and hard-won civil rights. It’s difficult enough to keep a focus on the present. Is there some benefit from looking back to see how oppression and erosion of values were confronted and resisted in the past? I think there is – for insight on governmental manipulation, for understanding of what tripped up dissenters, for inspiration of those who persisted, and, sometimes, for specific tactics, even those employed 100 years ago.
 
Less than a month from now, on April 7, we will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ill-fated day when the United States entered World War One. What had been the “European War” for three years expanded to engulf much of the globe in conflict. For more than a year and a half WWI dominated every facet of American life. The federal government, with the cooperation of the states, mounted surveillance campaigns to bolster war fervor and to demand allegiance. Protest and the most casual dissent became criminal acts, lumped together under charges of sedition. For questioning the conduct of the war, objecting to the president’s actions, Americans were arrested. Many were prosecuted, convicted, fined, and sentenced to prison.
 
The nature of resistance and dissent both today and 100 years ago are the focus of my current research. I’m looking at the impact and outcomes of the Sedition Act, and I’ve begun a study of WWI dissent in Oregon. My initial findings will be presented on two upcoming occasions:

• April 19, 2017, 7-8:30 pm

Dissent and WWI in the United States and Oregon
Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR
Free and open to the public

• Summer 2017

Resistance, Dissent & Punishment in WWI Oregon
Oregon Historical Quarterly, Special World War One Issue
My article will be one of a series that explores the impact of WWI and lessons for today
 
Look for highlights of my sedition and dissent research here on my website: Michaelhelquist.com
 
Marie Equi: Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions, Oregon State University Press
Available at bookstores and online outlets