For Immediate Release: September 23, 2025
Public Relations Office
Dawnie Slabaugh
Phone: (530) 938-5373
Email: slabaugh@siskiyous.edu
Weed /COS – Showcasing powerful stories of the fight for freedom and equality in California from the Gold Rush to the post-9/11 eras, a new exhibition, "Wherever There’s a Fight: A History of Civil Liberties in California," opens on Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at College of the Siskiyou Library. The traveling exhibition, rich with narrative and photographs, animates the history of civil liberties focusing on the hidden stories of unsung heroes and heroines throughout California who stood up for their rights in the face of social hostility, physical violence, and economic hardship. This exhibition runs through November 20, 2025, and is open for viewing Monday – Thursday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and Fridays, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm (closed weekends). The community is invited to attend an opening reception to be held at the Library on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, from 3:00 to 6:00 pm. There is also a virtual exhibition that may be viewed .
"Wherever There’s a Fight" is part of California Council for the Humanities' Searching for Democracy, a thematic program designed to examine the meaning of democracy today. The exhibition is based on the Heyday Books publication "Wherever There’ a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California," by Elaine Elinson and Stan Yogi (2009), and is presented by Exhibit Envoy and curated by Elinson and Yogi.
Said Ralph Lewin, past President and CEO of California Council for the Humanities, "It has been said that democracy and liberty require vigilance. Fundamental questions of freedom — what it means in different contexts and for different people and how it can be exercised and protected in a country such as ours — are as important and controversial today as ever. The stories presented are of moments when individuals have stood up for democracy. These stories remind us of important episodes in our past and provide us with windows into current, ongoing debates around the civil liberties that are central to democracy."
In both the book and the exhibition, four central themes are evident: civil liberties are essential for democracy; while civil liberties struggles repeat over time, targeted groups change; civil liberties are in perpetual flux; and while the Constitution promises rights, every generation must fight for equality and justice to make them meaningful.
Thirteen interpretive panels of photographs and texts tell the stories of ordinary people capable of extraordinary acts, who fought violations of their civil liberties in California, reflecting the prejudices and political winds of the times.
These include Paul Robeson, who told the House Un-American Activities Committee, "You are the Un-Americans, and you ought to be ashamed of yourselves." Anton Refregier's colorful murals, targeted for destruction by a 1953 Congressional inquisition but declared historically protected, depict the true stories of Indians at the missions, anti-Chinese riots, and labor strikes. And in 1939, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned John Steinbeck's instant best-seller Grapes of Wrath, though 600 readers had already put it on reserve. "Banning books is so utterly hopeless and futile," says Kern County's librarian Gretchen Knief. "Ideas don’t die because a book is forbidden reading."
Exhibition Support: Support for this exhibit is provided by the , whose thematic program initiative animates a public conversation on the meaning of democracy today through a series of local, regional, and statewide humanities-inspired activities.
Funding is also provided by (formerly California Exhibition Resources Alliance), which provides travel exhibitions and professional services to museums throughout California. Its mission is to build new perspectives among Californians, create innovative exhibitions and solutions, and advance institutions in service to their communities.
