Wednesday May 26, 7pm
This May marks the 40th anniversary of the 1970 student strike in which thousands of UW students demonstrated to protest the war in Vietnam in the wake of the Kent State shootings. Two years earlier the Black Student Union at UW occupied administration buildings in a successful campaign to increase opportunities for minority students. These were just a few high points from the exciting history of activism on the University of Washington campus.
As a new generation of activists organize against the budget cuts and other issues affecting us, come hear the inspiring stories from those who helped build the movement during this high point of student activism, discuss lessons for today, and get involved in the myriad of campaigns for social justice that are being organized on campus by the event's sponsors!
As a new generation of activists organize against the budget cuts and other issues affecting us, come hear the inspiring stories from those who helped build the movement during this high point of student activism, discuss lessons for today, and get involved in the myriad of campaigns for social justice that are being organized on campus by the event's sponsors!
Speakers:
Aaron Dixon was co-founder and Captain of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party and played a key role in the formation of the Black Student Union (BSU) and the Seattle Chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Watch an interview with Aaron Dixon on the The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project website.
Steve Ludwig was a member of the University of Washington chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and helped organized the May 1970 student strike and many other protests on campus. Watch an interview with Steve Ludwig on the The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project website.
Larry Gossett was active in Seattle’s Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1967, and co-founded the University of Washington Black Student Union (UW BSU) in 1968. Through the BSU, Gossett helped push the UW to create a Black Studies Program. Watch an interview with Larry Gossett on the The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project website.
Dean Patton came to campus in 1970 and worked at the UW Daily during the first half of that tumultuous decade. He was Daily editor in 1975 and spearheaded an antiwar action with the UW football team that is chronicled in A People's History of Sports in The United States.
Moderated by Jessie Kindig UW History PhD student and Associate editor of PNW Civil Rights and Labor History Projects
Dean Patton came to campus in 1970 and worked at the UW Daily during the first half of that tumultuous decade. He was Daily editor in 1975 and spearheaded an antiwar action with the UW football team that is chronicled in A People's History of Sports in The United States.
PY BATEMAN was a member of SDS and later joined a nascent women’s liberation movement that made great strides in making it possible for women in this state to obtain abortions legally. She founded the Anna Louise Strong Brigade with other women who left the Seattle Liberation Front (SLF). Py went on the found the Feminist Karate Union.
Moderated by Jessie Kindig UW History PhD student and Associate editor of PNW Civil Rights and Labor History Projects
More Speakers TBA.
Raffle and Silent auction
As part of the historic occasion of the 40th anniversary of the UW student strike we will be holding a raffle and silent auction featuring items from the exclusive photo collection of SDS activist Steve Ludwig. Ludwig’s photos—documenting everything from the struggle for Black studies, the 1970 student strike, and the women’s rights movement—vividly capture the determination of a young generation of activist struggling against racism, war, and oppression. Proceeds will be used to help today’s UW activists in their many struggles for social justice. So bring your cash and checkbooks --you don’t want to leave without a memento of the some of the greatest struggles our campus has ever known!
For more info or to endorse: isouw@uw.edu
UW International Socialist Organization, UW Black Student Union, UW Campus Antiwar Network, UW Students Organizing for LGBT Equality (SOLE), UW College Greens, The Q Center, ASUW, MEChA de UW, First Nations, UW Student-Worker Coalition
Download Posters:
People's History of UW - half sheets
People's History of the UW 5/26 - 11x17
Download Posters:
People's History of UW - half sheets
People's History of the UW 5/26 - 11x17
