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The Third World Liberation Front and the Origins of Ethnic Studies and African American Studies at UC Berkeley

A guide to library and online resources on the Third World Liberation Front and the history of Ethnic Studies and African American Studies at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University

Selected Videos

 

  • Agents of Change / produced and directed by Frank Dawson and Abby Ginzberg. 2016 "From the well-publicized events at San Francisco State in 1968 to the image of black students with guns emerging from the takeover of the student union at Cornell University in April, 1969, the struggle for a more relevant and meaningful education, including demands for black and ethnic studies programs, became a clarion call across the country in the late 1960's. Through the stories of these young men and women who were at the forefront of these efforts, Agents of Change examines the untold story of the racial conditions on college campuses and in the country that led to these protests" --http://filmswithapurpose.net.

  • Decolonizing the university [videorecording] : fulfilling the dream of the third world college / produced by Mattie Harper. 2010. The idea of a Third World College called for epistemological, pedagogical, institutional, and social change, to be facilitated by the creation of departments of Asian Studies, Black Studies, Chicano Studies, Native American Studies, and any other Ethnic Studies programs as they developed. Since then, there is only one College of Ethnic Studies in the nation (at SFSU), and only some universities with ethnic studies departments or programs. The purpose of this conference is to have collective dialogues about fulfilling the dream of the Third World College and decolonizing the university at large. Also available online at: https://vimeo.com/15729523​

  • Black Panther and San Francisco State: On Strike. Newton, Huey P.; Cleaver, Eldridge, 1935-1998.; Seale, Bobby, 1936-; California Newsreel (Firm) 2004. Interviews with founding members of the Black Panther Party and documentary footage of the organization's meetings and marches. Minister of Defense Huey P. Newton describes the origins of the Black Panthers in an interview from jail; Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver explains their appeal to the Black community and Chairman Bobby Seale lays out their 10-point program.

  • San Francisco State on strike [videorecording] San Francisco, CA : California Newsreel, [2004] Documentary film of a five month long strike in the Fall of 1968 at San Francisco State College in which the Third World Liberation Front mobilized students to call for "the power to change the racist nature of education." They succeeded in creating the very first Ethnic Studies Department in America and prefigured many of the debates over affirmative action, ethnic separatism and multicultural curricula embroiling campuses today.

  • On strike! Ethnic Studies, 1969-1999 [videorecording] / directed and produced by Irum Shiekh. 1999. A historical presentation of the struggle to create and maintain a Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Includes interviews with participants in the 1969 demonstrations when the program was first established, with the 1999 demonstrators when the funding for the program was threatened and with Ethnic Studies faculty at U.C.B.

  • Student films from Documentary Class, Spring 1993 [videorecording] Struggle, a fight for education / Eric Meyer (16 min.) -- Wasted / Michael Miller (46 min.) -- Comes love: institutions, love, marriage, sex? / Donna Lee (34 min.) -- [Untitled piece] / John Martinez (26 min.) Struggle examines faculty and students attitudes towards the Third World Strike at UCB in which students demonstrated hoping to force the university to commit to a multi-racial, multi-cultural learning process. Wasted is an expose of alcohol abuse among college students. Comes Love presents Asian, Jewish and East Indian women students discussing their expectations of marriage and the conflicting expectations for women in their various cultures. Untitled piece by J. Martinez explores the financial difficulties experienced by students at UCB and students experiences seeking financial assistance from the Financial Aid Office. Also includes interviews with Financial Aid Office personnel.
  • Confrontation an analysis of the San Francisco State Strike,1968-69. The strike at San Francisco State College is seen as a microcosm of the fragmentation of American cities. Examines the strike as a reflection of the "sickness in American cities".
  • Twenty Years after the third world strike, panel discussion. Muñoz, Carlos, 1939-; Garcia, Anthony Maes.; Romano-V., Octavio Ignacio, 1923-; Duster, Troy.; University of California, Berkeley. Department of Ethnic Studies. 1989