This paper examines archival activism, from the originators of this line of thinking to the most recent conjectures. Adding some important concepts and thoughts about how archives and archivists can evolve an activist approach, making it evermore substantial by actively engaging in the public arena. I will take a more in depth look at how an activist lens and mindset affects diversity and identity formation, accountability and
social justice, in order to ultimately bring change through awareness and action. I will anchor these claims with examples from the considerable work that has and is being done by communities and archivists, both in America and abroad. But first I would like to share some of the scholarship on archival power and activism that has been done since Howard Zinn, as to provide a bit of a backdrop for the concept of archival activism.