Jan. 23, 1969: 55 years ago, January 22 1969, students at UC Berkeley began a three-month [...]
55 years ago, January 22 1969, students at UC Berkeley began a three-month strike. Led by the Third World Liberation Front, a coalition of Black, Mexican-American, Asian-American, and Native American student groups, the strike led to the creation of the Ethnic Studies Department
Berkeley students were inspired by the then-ongoing Third World Liberation Front strike at San Francisco State University. Berkeley TWLF’s key demand was for a “Third World College,” to include student-led departments of Black, Asian, and Chicano studies
The first day of the strike saw scuffles break out as strikers interrupted classes. Students walked out along with a number of teachers affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. Tensions ratcheted up the following day as an unknown person firebombed Wheeler Hall
In addition to SF State and UC Berkeley, students and workers took strike action at Oakland’s Merritt College, San Jose State, UC Santa Cruz, and San Francisco’s Mission High in the following weeks. In February, Gov. Reagan declared a state of “extreme emergency” in Berkeley
Citing violence by “dissidents and criminal anarchists,” Reagan deployed Highway Patrol and the National Guard to crush the strike. Despite expulsions, beatings, and teargas, students eventually won an Ethnic Studies Department, though not the “student control” they had demanded
