"Student Teachers: Support the Fight Against Racism" UC Berkeley Student Activist Broadside Advocating for Anti-Racist Education and an "Autonomous Third World College", 1969

UC Berkeley; Anti-Racism

Publication Date: 1969

About this Item

[Student Activism][Anti-Racism] UC Berkeley student organizing broadside advocating for Third World Studies and against racist education policy. "Third World students" voice a demand for "an autonomous Third World college," and the rejection of a Black Studies department "under the control of the administration." The broadside ties those demands to the School of Education and the political responsibilities of future teachers, naming "the suppression of Eldridge Cleaver" as an example of how the university functioned within "the perpetuation of racist exploitation." Its argument is built section by section through "What Is Racism," "Education and Racism," "The University and Racism," "Third World Fight Against Racism," "Student Teachers," and "The Education Caucus," moving from campus labor and admissions policy to housing, wage inequality, Vietnam era military service, and public school teaching. Student Teachers: Support the Fight Against Racism. Education Caucus. Berkeley, circa 1969. Mimeographed leaflet, 2 pages on one sheet, printed recto and verso, 8.5 x 14 inches. The text opens by stating that "for nine months, Third World students on the Berkeley campus have been negotiating with the administration," then argues that administrative concessions left control of curriculum and hiring in university hands. Subsequent sections sharpen that claim through specific figures and institutions, asserting that Black people make "on the average $2,500 less a year than do white workers," that "44% of black people live" in inadequate housing, and that "over 70% of the combat deaths of California in Vietnam are chicano and black." The School of Education material is especially pointed, arguing that future teachers receive "no courses dealing with the basis of racism or with ways of realistically combatting racism in the public schools," and calling on student teachers to "boycott all classes on campus" and join picketing "at the Sather Gate picket line from 11:00-2:00 every day." The leaflet closes with meeting information for the Education Caucus and three telephone numbers for organizing support. The piece belongs to the Berkeley strike wave that produced the most consequential campus battle over Third World Studies and Ethnic Studies in the United States. By directing an appeal to student teachers, invoking New York teachers' strikes, and proposing "a 199 course next quarter" and ultimately "a permanent course on racism and teaching Third World students," it documents a concrete goal of anti-racist student protest to improve the training and awareness of educators in racial inequality. Light toning and a few light ink marks; clean and sound overall; overall very good condition. A Berkeley student broadside linking the Third World Liberation Front strike to teacher training, curriculum, and the formation of anti-racist educational practice.

Seller Inventory # 23262

Bibliographic Details

• Title: "Student Teachers: Support the Fight Against Racism" UC Berkeley Student Activist Broadside Advocating for Anti-Racist Education and an "Autonomous Third World College", 1969
• Publication Date: 1969
• Seller catalogs:
  • Civil Rights
  • African American History
  • Social Activism & Protest