Comments on: The Battle of Ann Arbor: June 16-20, 1969

By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:17:02 +0000

Photographer Andy Sacks has a collection of 1969 Ann Arbor photos on his site Saxpix: link to photos with some good shots of Sheriff Harvey in action.

By: Fred Zimmerman

Fred Zimmerman — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:50:23 +0000

Re #6 — Ed, the “People’s Plaza” for the area next to the fortress-like Fleming building (with its all-brick first floor) strikes me as a sardonic reference to the Protect-the-Establishment architecture of the Fleming building!

By: Ralph P.

Ralph P. — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:10:42 +0000

Great article. Brought back alot of memories of the revolution.

By: Gregory Fox

Gregory Fox — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:37:03 +0000

I was an undergrad at the time and was present for at least one of the nights in the article. My recollection regarding the arrests for “contention in the street” is that charges were ultimately dropped when the court concluded that there is no such crime.
In recent years I have seen the AAPD respond to unauthorized marches by closing off street to traffic so that no-one would get hurt – a welcome change in tactics.

By: Jim Rees

Jim Rees — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:10:25 +0000

The University never wanted to turn South U into a pedestrian mall. They did want to turn East U into a mall, and succeeded many years later, just as they did on Ingalls and part of Monroe and are now trying to do on another part of Monroe.

Jefferson Plaza was renamed Regent’s Plaza at some point, but The People (as in “Power to The People”) renamed it People’s Plaza. At that time there were weekly rock concerts in the Plaza, usually with The Up.

By: mr dairy

mr dairy — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:34:07 +0000

There’s a great picture of student protesters on South U inside Hole Foods near the east side door.

By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:41:18 +0000

I’ve heard the Regent’s Plaza (near the Fleming Buildng) called the People’s Plaza; don’t know the origin of that.

By: Al Feldt

Al Feldt — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:51:06 +0000

In Ithaca, New York, around this same period in 1969 a group of Cornell students also sought to establish a “Peoples Park” on Eddy Street, a few blocks from campus. As I recall it, this park only meashured about 10 by 10 feet next to a local drinking establishment, Maurie’s. Ithaca’s mayor, a former Marine, Jack Keily, learned of the event and quickly visited the location. After hearing the students demands, he read a short proclamation declaring the designated plot as Ithaca’s Peoples Park and later had a resolution introduced in Common Council to that effect. After a few drinks, the crowd broke up and everyon was pleased with the result. I think that little square of conrete and grass still sits open today and a few locals still know it as the People’s Park.

By: Mike Garrison

Mike Garrison — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:43:31 +0000

Wow. That was a very interesting article! I really enjoyed reading it.

By: Devon Persing

Devon Persing — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:09:32 +0000

Amidst Ann Arbor’s current socio-economic troubles, and those of the state, it’s very easy to forget that Ann Arbor was the birthplace of a lot of democratic (with a lowercase d) and civil rights activism and history, particularly with the recent demonization of 1960s left-wing activism and its founders. Looking forward very much to the documentary.