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2 Documents Found
![Day of the Gun](images/fileicons/nodigital.png)
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: V 131Format: VHSProducers: KRONCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
KRON’s description:
In the fall of 1970 George Jackson skyrocketed to international fame with the publication of his book, "Soledad Brother, The Prison Letters Of George Jackson".
By the next year, he was dead.
The story of George Jackson is a story of the dark side of America.
In August of 1971 when Jackson was a 29 year old inmate at California's San Quentin Prison he became the central figure in the prison's bloodiest day.
Jackson obtained a gun and in less than 30 minutes a murderous rampage turned the adjustment center into a slaughterhouse. Six men, including Jackson were killed.
During his prison life, George Jackson was a polarizing figure, hated as much as he was loved.
In the end when George Jackson's cause had been lost, and the cult of hero worship contaminated his heart and soul, Jackson sought comfort in a few loyal friends... Marx... Lenin... And Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese revolutionary who predicted...'When the prison gates fly open, the dragons will emerge.'
On a hot August day with gun in hand Jackson would tell the world just that.
The ascendancy of George Jackson came at a time when America's soul and its people were coming apart.
The turbulent decades of the 1960's and 70's merged as one. The country's democratic institutions were severely challenged. Some advocated revolution.
The unpopular war in Vietnam had become the longest and most divisive in American history. The bitter struggle for civil rights confirmed the failed promise of equality for all. Riots turned American cities into burning embers.
The political assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy deepened the country's paranoia.
Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party wanted justice beyond the streets of Oakland.
The prisons of California had become a target for revolutionary change as well. The 'new left' viewed the growing convict population as symptomatic of the country's deeper social ills. Inmates were championed as political prisoners, vanguards of the coming revolution, victims of their fascist, capitalist oppressors.
When George Jackson emerged as the new god and leader of the left, those on the right saw him as the most powerful threat in the prison system.
![Day of the Gun](images/fileicons/nodigital.png)
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: CD 720Format: DVDProducers: KRONCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
KRON’s description:
In the fall of 1970 George Jackson skyrocketed to international fame with the publication of his book, "Soledad Brother, The Prison Letters Of George Jackson".
By the next year, he was dead.
The story of George Jackson is a story of the dark side of America.
In August of 1971 when Jackson was a 29 year old inmate at California's San Quentin Prison he became the central figure in the prison's bloodiest day.
Jackson obtained a gun and in less than 30 minutes a murderous rampage turned the adjustment center into a slaughterhouse. Six men, including Jackson were killed.
During his prison life, George Jackson was a polarizing figure, hated as much as he was loved.
In the end when George Jackson's cause had been lost, and the cult of hero worship contaminated his heart and soul, Jackson sought comfort in a few loyal friends... Marx... Lenin... And Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese revolutionary who predicted...'When the prison gates fly open, the dragons will emerge.'
On a hot August day with gun in hand Jackson would tell the world just that.
The ascendancy of George Jackson came at a time when America's soul and its people were coming apart.
The turbulent decades of the 1960's and 70's merged as one. The country's democratic institutions were severely challenged. Some advocated revolution.
The unpopular war in Vietnam had become the longest and most divisive in American history. The bitter struggle for civil rights confirmed the failed promise of equality for all. Riots turned American cities into burning embers.
The political assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy deepened the country's paranoia.
Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party wanted justice beyond the streets of Oakland.
The prisons of California had become a target for revolutionary change as well. The 'new left' viewed the growing convict population as symptomatic of the country's deeper social ills. Inmates were championed as political prisoners, vanguards of the coming revolution, victims of their fascist, capitalist oppressors.
When George Jackson emerged as the new god and leader of the left, those on the right saw him as the most powerful threat in the prison system.
2 Documents Found