Oct. 19, 1966: 57 years ago, October 19 1966, a 3-day boycott of junior and senior high [...]

57 years ago, October 19 1966, a 3-day boycott of junior and senior high schools in Oakland began, organized by the Ad Hoc Committee for Quality Education. Instead of attending city schools, students, teachers and parents were encouraged to attend the Ad Hoc’s Freedom Schools

Over 1,000 students across Oakland attended the Freedom Schools in churches, community centers, union offices, and nightclubs. Focusing on the civil rights movement, the labor movement, African history, and Black Power, programs included job training, college prep, and legal aid

Many students aired grievances about their schools and the abuse and harassment they constantly face from the administration, principals, and police. Teachers and parents who attended remarked at how much more engaged their kids and students seemed at the Freedom Schools

The Ad Hoc Committee for Quality Education formed that March through organizing that Mark Comfort and others were involved in with the Oakland Direct Action Committee (ODAC), itself formed after the collapse of the Ad Hoc Committee to End Discrimination https://t.co/SYJ4dRokb2

After months of failed attempts to reform school programming and air grievances through the School Board, and amplified by several episodes of police brutality against young students over the summer and fall, the Ad Hoc Committee for Quality Education announced the school boycott

The Ad Hoc’s Freedom Schools were incredibly successful, inspiring a variety of radical education and free school movement projects that would later take place in Oakland and across the Bay Area.