Claiming Our Shared Histories and Struggles: Radical Solidarities in the Kochiyama Archives celebrates the official launch of the Yuri and Bill Kochiyama Papers at the Rare Book & Manuscripts Library. Co-sponsored by the Yuri Kochiyama Solidarity Project and The Lehman Center for American History and presented in partnership with the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Claiming Our Shared Histories and Struggles will be a 3-day interdisciplinary conference (May 16-18, 2025) featuring presentations, panels and performances, access to the Kochiyama Papers and community-building opportunities. 

Conference sessions will focus on some of the richest areas of the Kochiyama Papers (including Yuri Kochiyama's support of and work with united struggles for liberation and human rights over the last half of the 20th century). Claiming Our Shared Histories and Struggles will enable students, educators, activists, artists and community organizers to engage with examples of radical solidarity movements and struggles for liberation past and present and also to connect, share and learn about ways to support and sustain each other’s work.