African Americana

8pp. supplement, ("A Special Eight Pages on Soledad"), folio, 11 1/2 x 17 in. (Central horizontal fold, some toning at fold and in margins, light edge/corner wear.) Front page headed, "Free the Soledad Brothers," with image of George Jackson and Fleeta Drumgo, two of the three "Soledad Brothers," exiting a building followed by prison guards, purportedly signed by Angela Davis. 

The National Guardian was a long-running radical newspaper operating out of New York City. It was started in 1948 by a small group of radical journalists and lasted until its peaceful demise in 1991. Much of the time, the newspaper aped the Communist Party while never having a formal association. In 1968, the newspaper came under new leadership, changing its name to The Guardian and styling itself a workers' collective. 

Liberated Guardian was founded in the Spring of 1970, when a group of Guardian workers went on strike and decided to start a new, collectively-run newspaper. There were allegations of sexism and exploitation, as well as strong political differences between the offended faction and the mother publication. Guardian offices were seized in the dispute, and the front page of the premiere issue (the "Liberation Issue") features a large photograph of the staff standing in the fire escapes waving clenched fists. Liberated Guardian took a strong, armed-struggle line, as evidenced by the variety of domestic and international causes it supported and covered: Black Panthers, the Castro regime, struggles in Indo-China, North Africa, and the Chinese cultural revolution, et al. As with many UPS papers from the period, the publication was irregular due to disputes, infighting, and ideological differences; publication ceased in 1973 due to a second split.