Interview

What Do 800-Year-Old Magna Carta & Black Lives Matter Have in Common? A People’s Historian Explains

The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day

Peter Linebaugh on Democracy Now!

June 15th, 2015

The Magna Carta turns 800 years old today. Known as the “Great Charter,” it is widely considered the foundation of parliamentary democracy, human rights and the supremacy of the law over the crown. As dignitaries including the queen of England and Prime Minister David Cameron commemorate the sealing of the historic text, we go to Lincoln Castle in England, where the finest originals of the Magna Carta and the charters of English liberty are kept in a lockstone vault, and speak with people’s historian Peter Linebaugh, author of “The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberty and Subsistence for All.” He is attending the event to draw connections between the Magna Carta and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Back to Peter Linebaugh’s Author Page