History Workshop

How cool, my grandmother was a Freedomite Doukhobor and I always carry that with me.

Great hidden #CdnHist moment and song!

BME Small Grants: 2026 Recipients We are delighted to announce the results of the latest round of the BME small grants funding scheme. This scheme is administered by SHS in partnership with the Economic History Society, History UK,…

📣We are delighted to announce the 2026 recipients of the Joint BME Small Grants!

This scheme is supported by @histedsocuk.bsky.social; EHS; History UK; @historyworkshop.org.uk; @royalhistsoc.org; @sslh.bsky.social and @womenshistnet.bsky.social!✨

socialhistory.org.uk/2026/02/17/b...

I loved editing this piece which sheds light on such a fascinating piece of women's history.

Radical Object: A Song Born of Women's Protest How did a protest by a group of women from a Christian anarchist movement inspire a 1960s American folk song? Victoria Peretitskaya explores the origins of the song, the protest and its feminist legacy.

'If you have a protest no one wants to hear / Just attend a rally where the big shots meet / Strip to your hide and walk down the street’.

Victoria Peretitskaya explores the history of a 1960s folk song and the protest that inspired it.

"Malvina Reynolds (1900-1978), a[ Jewish] American songwriter and political activist[...] went on to write a song inspired by the group, titled Do as the Doukhobors Do. The song was part of the American folk revival scene of the 1960s."

This is a wonderful article - and beautifully illustrated by Amber Winthrop of @uninorthampton.bsky.social!

Radical Object: A Song Born of Women's Protest How did a protest by a group of women from a Christian anarchist movement inspire a 1960s American folk song? Victoria Peretitskaya explores the origins of the song, the protest and its feminist legacy.

How did a protest by a group of women from a Christian anarchist movement inspire a 1960s American folk song?

Victoria Peretitskaya explores the song's radical origins:

www.historyworkshop....↗

Oral Histories of the Environmental Movement: Making an Activist Archive Abstract. This article considers the making of an archive of environmental activism through the life histories of 100 campaigners involved in environmental

This is a companion piece to Felix Driver, Barbara Brayshay and Toby Butler’s recent article 'Oral Histories of the Environmental Movement: Making an Activist Archive' which is available Open Access in Issue 100 of History Workshop Journal.

The Archive as Activism How can we use oral history to capture the diverse history of the UK environmental movement?

How can we use oral history to capture the diverse history of the UK environmental movement?

Barbara Brayshay (@bbrayshay.bsky.social) and Saskia Papadakis (@sazpaps.bsky.social) introduce the OHEM archive which is now available @britishlibrary.bsky.social

The Archive as Activism How can we use oral history to capture the diverse history of the UK environmental movement?

'Stories of personal and collective action demonstrate that positive change is possible, in ways that scientific facts and data often fail.'

Barbara Brayshay and saskia papadakis introduce the OHEM archive which is now available British Library

delighted to share publication of our article today!

Oral Histories of the Environmental Movement: Making an Activist Archive Abstract. This article considers the making of an archive of environmental activism through the life histories of 100 campaigners involved in environmental

This is a companion piece to Felix Driver, Barbara Brayshay and Toby Butler’s recent article 'Oral Histories of the Environmental Movement: Making an Activist Archive' which is available Open Access in Issue 100 of History Workshop Journal.

The Archive as Activism How can we use oral history to capture the diverse history of the UK environmental movement?

How can we use oral history to capture the diverse history of the UK environmental movement?

Barbara Brayshay (@bbrayshay.bsky.social) and Saskia Papadakis (@sazpaps.bsky.social) introduce the OHEM archive which is now available @britishlibrary.bsky.social

Medieval Kherson and Ukraine In the tenth century, a powerful leader ruled over the medieval kingdom of Rus. Today, the modern nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine all claim Kievan Rus' as their cultural ancestors. Christian R...

OTD in 2022 Russian forces announced that they had seized the city of Kherson in Ukraine.

From the HW archives, Christian Raffensperger argues that the roots of the war can only be understood through looking at the medieval history of the region.

Read History Workshop Journal's 100th Issue.

History Workshop Journal just published its 100th issue—a landmark celebration of critical, community-driven history!

From archival recoveries to new interpretations of protest, gender, & empire, HWJ reshapes how we think about the past: oxford.ly/46iUcd2 @historyworkshop.org.uk

Amazing photos+ 1st hand account. This happened 5 years before I was born, but am sure changed the course of my life - being myself, working, life of the mind, partner changing career to raise our kids, all trails blazed before me. Thankyou.

Taking Photos of the First Women's Liberation Conference What was it like to take photos at Britain's first Women's Liberation conference? Chandan Fraser shares her memories and pictures with us.

OTD in 1970, the first Women's Liberation Conference was held in Oxford. A watershed in the British feminist movement, attendees discussed equal pay, 24-hour childcare and free contraception.

In this piece from the archive, Chandan Fraser shares her memories of the event.

This is a companion piece to Catherine's longer article, which was recently published Open Access in Issue 100 of History Workshop Journal.

This is a companion piece to Catherine's longer article, which was recently published Open Access in Issue 100 of History Workshop Journal.

Questions of Race and Repair The idea of making amends for slavery has a long genealogy in Britain. Catherine Hall examines this history alongside vital questions of race and repair for our present moment.

How might the wrongs of slavery be properly acknowledged, and redressed in Britain? What could each of us do?

Catherine Hall considers both historical and contemporary questions of race and repair.

Questions of Race and Repair The idea of making amends for slavery has a long genealogy in Britain. Catherine Hall examines this history alongside vital questions of race and repair for our present moment.

How might the wrongs of slavery be properly acknowledged, and redressed in Britain? What could each of us do?

Catherine Hall considers both historical and contemporary questions of race and repair.

Few in this country have worked to promote the understanding of race and class as historical phenomena in Britain as long, or as well, as Catherine Hall.

None of it is a fad. It is all politics, in the hard, real sense.

Questions of Race and Repair: Then and Now Abstract. Knowledge about a history, it is beginning to be recognized, is a first step in reckoning with the long-term legacies of Britain’s role in the ma

This is a companion piece to Catherine's longer article, which was recently published Open Access in Issue 100 of History Workshop Journal.

Questions of Race and Repair The idea of making amends for slavery has a long genealogy in Britain. Catherine Hall examines this history alongside vital questions of race and repair for our present moment.

The idea of making amends for slavery has a long genealogy in Britain.

Catherine Hall (@cslbs.bsky.social) examines this history alongside vital questions of race and repair for our present moment.

Vital for any ‘national’ moral integrity. Acknowledgment and reparative justice is imperative and a huge indicator of where we are as a society that values humanity, equality and progress. Resistance and equivocation towards the impact and legacies of systemic slavery and racism is wholly repugnant.

Questions of Race and Repair: Then and Now Abstract. Knowledge about a history, it is beginning to be recognized, is a first step in reckoning with the long-term legacies of Britain’s role in the ma

This is a companion piece to Catherine's longer article, which was recently published Open Access in Issue 100 of History Workshop Journal.

Questions of Race and Repair The idea of making amends for slavery has a long genealogy in Britain. Catherine Hall examines this history alongside vital questions of race and repair for our present moment.

The idea of making amends for slavery has a long genealogy in Britain.

Catherine Hall (@cslbs.bsky.social) examines this history alongside vital questions of race and repair for our present moment.

Martyrdom, Misrepresentation and the ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Why has commemoration tended to deprive the Tolpuddle martyrs of their political acumen and capable militancy? To coincide with the annual Tolpuddle Martyr's Festival, Tom Scriven explores omissions from the 'martyrdom narrative' of the six…

OTD in 1834, six farm workers from Tolpuddle were arrested for forming a union. The story became a founding myth of the labour movement, but it often ignores the radical world in which they lived.

In this article from the archive, Tom Scriven revisits the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

The Seeds of Scotland’s Highland Clearances In the eighteenth century, landlords in the Scottish Highlands began to exert greater control over what their tenants planted and how they planted it. Cat Scothorne shows how these 'reforms' actually disrupted resilient ecological practices.

'Scotland’s reform-minded landlords, styling themselves as improvers, sought to reshape Highland society by controlling what their tenants planted and how they kept and processed it.'

Cat Scothorne on the tensions between capitalism and local ecological knowledge.