A new traveling exhibition, “Waging Peace In Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War,” is opening at the University Libraries on October 30 in Norlin Library’s Underground West Gallery on the first floor.
Curated by Ron Carver—photographer, social justice and labor rights activist with roots in the American civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s—the exhibition documents the GI anti-war movement and their profound effect on the war through first-hand accounts, oral histories, posters, photographs, essays, underground newspapers and material from the U.S. National Archives.
A series of events will accompany the exhibition inviting veterans, scholars, authors and leaders of the anti-war movement to the CU Boulder campus.
An opening reception is on October 30 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. in the Center for British and Irish Studies (CBIS) on the fifth floor of Norlin Library (room M549). The reception will feature several speakers including a keynote address by Susan Schnall, national president of Veterans for Peace and former US Navy Lieutenant who led hundreds of sailors and soldiers on a peace march on October 12, 1968.
Other opportunities to get involved include film screenings, panel discussions, poetry of war and its consequences, and a student essay contest judged by Nick Ut, Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer of "The Terror of War," a photograph depicting a naked, fleeing nine year-old, often referred to as The Napalm Girl.
“We are so pleased to be able to bring this exhibit to campus,” said Freddy Carey, history and philosophy librarian. “While not often detailed by historical memory, the anti-war resistance from within the U.S. military significantly impacted U.S. Armed Forces’ engagement in Vietnam. The ‘Waging Peace in Vietnam’ exhibit highlights the voices of veterans who took part in the resistance, and we at the Libraries are excited to share these voices and provide our community with the opportunity to engage directly with underrepresented narratives from the Vietnam War.”
The exhibition will be on view until December 15, 2023.