Overview

The most effective and long-lasting student strike in U.S. History took place at San Francisco State College in 1968. The first Black Student Union, the first Black Studies Department, the only College of Ethnic Studies, and the admission of thousands of students of color resulted from this four-and-a-half-month strike which shut down 80% of the campus. It has been called the movement which “changed academia forever.” Black students were only a small percentage of those on campus, but they managed to engage thousands of white, Latino, Asian, and indigenous students; SDS and the Third World Liberation Front; the faculty union; and a huge portion of the San Francisco Community. In the end, they were able to win most of their 15 demands. The book is written by two participants in the strike, one a member of the BSU leadership. Oral histories of strike leaders are integrated with discussion of the events and significance of this movement. What were the politics and strategies? Why was the strike successful and what are the insights for today’s mass movements?

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9781975502713

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Changing Academia Forever explains how we in the Black Student Union were able to fundamentally change universities in America. We organized a strike, we worked closely with our communities, and we made a coalition with students of every racial group. This is the kind of organizing we need now to save humanity and the planet. - Danny Glover, American actor, film director, and political activist Told in the voices of those who made it happen, Changing Academia Forever provides a vivid and fascinating account of a campaign to bring racial equity to college campuses. - Julia Sass Rubin, Associate Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University

"Changing Academia Forever explains how we in the Black Student Union were able to fundamentally change universities in America. We organized a strike, we worked closely with our communities, and we made a coalition with students of every racial group. This is the kind of organizing we need now to save humanity and the planet."""" — Danny Glover, American actor, film director, and political activist """"Told in the voices of those who made it happen, Changing Academia Forever provides a vivid and fascinating account of a campaign to bring racial equity to college campuses."""" - Julia Sass Rubin, Associate Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University"

Author Information

Kitty Kelly Epstein is an academic, an author, the host of a radio show, and an urban activist. She taught high school; earned a doctorate at U.C. Berkeley; then taught teachers and graduate students. Kitty led a thousand-person participatory action process for the incoming mayoral administration of Ron Dellums, and then served on his Oakland policy staff. Financial analyst and political activist Bernard Stringer is a lifelong advocate of educational empowerment as an instrument for change. A political activist since his student days, he became a member of the nation’s first Black Student Union at San Francisco State College in 1968, and participated in the movement that led to the founding of the first Black Studies Department and School of Ethnic Studies in the country. He has worked as a college classroom teacher, youth counselor, and program planner, and recently retired as an inventory manager/financial analyst for the City of Atlanta.

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