The 1960s Berkeley protests were a series of events at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. Many of these protests were a small part of the larger Free Speech Movement, which had national implications and constituted the onset of the

counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It began in the early 1960s, and continued through the early 1970s. It is ofte ...

. These protests were headed under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio, Jack Weinberg, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and others.

Overview

The events at Berkeley can be generally defined by three single yet interrelated social topics: the Civil Rights Movement, the Free Speech Movement, and the Vietnam war protests in Berkeley, California.Seymour M. Lipset, and Philip G. Altbach. " Student Politics and Higher Education in the United States." Comparative Education Review, 10 (1966): 320-49. The Berkeley protests were not the first demonstrations to be held in and around the University of California Campus. Since before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, students had demonstrated at the university. In the 1930s, the students at Berkeley led massive demonstrations protesting the United States ending its disarmament policy and the approaching war.Kathleen E. Gales. " A Campus Revolution." The British Journal of Sociology, 17 (1966): 1-19. Throughout the course of World War II, these demonstrations continued with the addition of strikes against

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

; however, they were largely symbolic in form. This can be inferred, as the student groups leading these demonstrations did not necessarily seek, nor did they expect, their demonstrations to result in change. Nevertheless, this passive approach to demonstration changed in the 1950s at the height of the McCarthy era. From 1949 to 1950, students and teaching assistants at UC Berkeley rallied against the anti-communist loyalty oath that professors were forced to take at the university. Until the Berkeley riots, these demonstrations were the largest student protests witnessed in the United States. Considering the relatively high presence of demonstrations on the Berkeley campus in its history, and the fact that it had already been the site of the largest student demonstration in the United States, it provided a perfect site to nurture the Berkeley riots.

Events

The Berkeley protests ultimately occurred in and around the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

Campus.

Sheraton Palace Demonstration

The Sheraton Palace Demonstration was essentially the first event. The protests were in response to the racially discriminatory hiring practices used by the hotel. The protesters sought equal hiring practices, and for the hotel to have black individuals in executive positions. Approximately 4000 people were involved with the protest and occupation of the hotel. Although the demonstration was organized by the Ad Hoc Committee to End Discrimination , a high percentage of individuals involved in the protest were members of the student population of the Berkeley campus.Berkeley in the Sixties. Dir. Mark Kitchell. DVD. 1990.Jo Freeman. "From Freedom Now! to Free Speech: How the 1963-64 Bay Area Civil Rights Demonstrations Paved the Way to Campus Protest ." http://www.jofreeman.com/sixtiesprotest/baycivil.htm

Free Speech Movement

Ban of tables on Bancroft and Telegraph

The UC Berkeley administration believed that on-campus political advocacy was partially responsible for the high percentage of student involvement in the widely publicized Sheraton Palace demonstration. In response to such student political activity, on September 16, 1964, Dean of Students Katherine Towle released a letter stating that political organizing was no longer permitted on the corner of Bancroft and Telegraph. That intersection had served for years as a gathering place for students to hand out pamphlets and organize for political causes. In protest, members of the campus chapter of the

Congress of Racial Equality The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about ...

(CORE), a leading civil rights group, set up a table with literature in front of

Sproul Hall Sproul Plaza is one center of student activity at the University of California, Berkeley. It is divided into two sections: Upper Sproul and Lower Sproul. They are vertically separated by and linked by a set of stairs. History Sproul Plaza as ...

Arrest of Jack Weinberg

On Thursday October 1, 1964, Jack Weinberg, the chairman of Campus CORE, was sitting at the CORE table in front of Sproul Hall and was arrested for violating the University's new rules regarding student political activism. Before the police car containing Weinberg could leave the plaza, students around the car sat down, preventing it from leaving. Throughout the night and into the next day, students, including Mario Savio, gave speeches from atop the car calling for free speech on campus. During that time, as many as 7000 people (mostly students) congregated in the plaza watching the spectacle and listening to the speeches.California Monthly. "Free Speech Movement Chronology." http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/FSM/chron.html . On the evening of October 2, 1964, approximately twenty-four hours later, representatives of political groups on campus signed an agreement with the administration regarding student free speech, which was dubbed the Pact of October 2.

Occupation of Sproul Hall

The student occupation of Sproul Hall on December 2, 1964, was the largest single demonstration organized by the Free Speech Movement. The demonstration was in response to the proposed expulsion of Jack Weinberg and other members of the Free Speech Movement and other student political groups for their involvement in the recent protests on the Berkeley campus, as well as for the University's refusal to drop charges against student political group leaders. The initial plan was to occupy the hall for a single night; however, the protesters were prepared for a two- to three-day demonstration and siege of Sproul Hall. Ultimately, 1500 students occupied Sproul Hall before being removed by police. In all, 773 student activists were arrested for their involvement in this event.

Vietnam Day march

The

Vietnam Day Committee The Vietnam Day Committee (VDC) was a coalition of left-wing political groups, student groups, labour organizations, and pacifist religions in the United States of America that opposed the Vietnam War during the counterculture era. It was formed in ...

was formed on May 22, 1965, during a two-day-long protest of the Vietnam War on the Berkeley campus, with the ultimate goal of organizing a large-scale march against the war at a later date. After several failed attempts due to blockades by police and the National Guard, the Vietnam day committee was able to organize a march on November 21, 1965 through the streets of Oakland, California. With over 10,000 participants, it was the first large-scale demonstration of negative public opinion of the Vietnam War.

Other notable events

* March down Telegraph Avenue - October 15, 1965 Berkeley, CA * March on Oakland Army Terminal - November 1965 Berkeley & Oakland, CA * Stop the Draft Week - October 1967 Oakland, CA * Third World Liberation Front Strikes of 1968

Organizations

Vietnam Day Committee

The

(VDC) was a coalition of left-wing political groups, student groups, labor organizations, and pacifist religions in the United States of America that opposed the Vietnam War. It was formed in Berkeley, California, in the spring of 1965 by activist Jerry Rubin, and was active through the majority of the Vietnam war, organizing several rallies and marches in California as well as coordinating and sponsoring nationwide protests.

SLATE

Stemming from TASC (Towards an Active Student Community),

SLATE Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

was the main "

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

" student group for the Berkeley campus throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Founded in February 1958, the SLATE Coordinating Committee aimed to promote students running for the Associated Students of University of California (ASUC) who were committed to engage in issue-oriented political education both on and off campus. SLATE was involved with both on-and off-campus issues such as "fair bear" minimum wages for students and affordable housing for students. SLATE led protests against compulsory

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

, demonstrations against the death penalty, protests against the California House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and protests against racial discrimination.SLATE Archives. .

CORE

The

(CORE) is a U.S. civil rights organization that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement from its foundation in 1942 to the mid-1960s. Membership in CORE is stated to be open to "anyone who believes that 'all people are created equal' and is willing to work towards the ultimate goal of true equality throughout the world." From 1968 until his death in 2017, CORE was led by Roy Innis.

Movements

Free speech

The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a student protest which took place during the 1964–1965 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio, Jack Weinberg, Brian Turner, Bettina Apthecker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and others. In protests unprecedented at the time, students insisted that the university administration lift a ban on on-campus political activities and acknowledge the students' right to free speech and academic freedom.

Anti-war

The idea was that if enough Americans believed the war was wrong, they could end it. This was the central driving goal of the movement as a whole. Through marches, protests, and riots the protesters aimed to bring awareness to injustices happening in the war with hopes to end it permanently. Common events were protests around the drafting/induction centers and marches through town, which were often accompanied by speeches against the war in Vietnam. These protests were often met with police force in full riot gear which in turn sparked more angry riots. At one point the National Guard was called in to assist the local police force in riot control. Tear gas was used to control the crowds and left a haze of gas over the campus for days at a time. Classes were canceled, or sometimes held in off-campus sites including students' apartments.

Women's rights

As women became more involved in the inner workings of the Berkeley protests, they began to move up in the ranks of the positions as well. However, as time progressed they began to face opposition, even from their peers. An organization based upon promoting the advancement of human rights was now rejecting women the opportunity to lead. This created a new branch of advancement for the

Women's Rights Movement Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

Influences

Antinomianism

Traditionally,

antinomianism Antinomianism ( [] 'against' and [] 'law') is any view which rejects laws or Legalism (theology), legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (), or is at least considered to do so. The term has both religious and secular meaning ...

has been used to refer to the idea that members of a Christian religious group are under no obligation to obey the

laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

as presented by religious authorities. However, a few scholars began to use the term in a secular context. During this era, many people were influenced by the "antinomian personality", a behavioral style which "places characteristic emphasis on intuition, immediacy, self-actualization, transcendence, and similar themes familiar with

Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

conduct," said Lawrence Chenoweth.Chenoweth, Lawrence. "The Rhetoric of Hope and Despair: A study of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Jefferson Airplane." American Quarterly 23 (1971): 25-45. JSTOR. University of Arizona Library, Tucson. He said that those settled into this psychological state embrace the present, while rejecting the past and "fearing" the future. Chenoweth claims that the antinomian takes on a holistic attitude which results from the "confusion as to whether he is an agent or an agent to be acted upon and serves to compensate for the isolation he suffers." The antinomian often confronts "forces which make the individual aware of his impotence." Chenoweth says that all of these traits then combine into the stereotypical hippie persona, as the antinomian "treats his mind as if it were completely malleable, devalues reality, rejects reason and understanding, and selects certain experiences to create a fantasied, dogmatic cosmic view of the world." In doing so, says Nathan Adler, "the individual internalizes an objective world which he perceives to be reliable and consistent."Adler, Nathan. "Kicks, Drugs, and Politics." Psychoanalytic Review 57 (1970): 432-41. Periodicals Archive Online. Proquest. University of Arizona Library, Tucson. As the individual now views the world in this fashion, he or she is easily agitated when the outside world deviates from his or her ideal and seeks to control its movements.

Black Panther Party

The

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

, founded by Bobby Seale and

Huey P. Newton Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African American revolutionary and political activist who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. He ran the party as its first leader and crafted its ten-point manifesto with ...

in late 1966, aimed to improve civil rights of

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

and to rid police brutality against African Americans, especially in the Oakland area. Through their ''Ten Point Program'', the Black Panthers were able to establish a foundation for their organization as a whole. The Black Panther Party used the technique of social agitation, in the form of

vigilantism Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

, their survival programs, and more broadly their resistance to accept and conform to influence the Civil Rights Movement. Their organization and establishment inspired the Berkeley students, and led to cohesion between the two groups. The event epitomizing this cohesion was the Sheraton Palace demonstration, in San Francisco, California. The Berkeley Students involved in the various student groups (I.E. SLATE & CORE) and the members of the Black Panther Party united to protest outside the hotel while meetings between the administration board were being conducted inside. The goal of the protest was to advance the job opportunities of African Americans within the hotel through the use of social agitation. The protest proved successful, as the Hotel eventually signed an agreement allowing African Americans opportunities to not only advance but also to be hired into managerial positions.

SNCC

The

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and later, the Student National Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emer ...

(SNCC) was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. There is evidence that many of the students involved in the Berkeley protests acquired their spirit of dissent and learned techniques of civil disobedience through prior involvement in civil rights groups.

Music

Many of the musicians during this era contributed widespread influence on the young people. This led to a young

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

that questioned authority and its ability to set boundaries around them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley Protests Counterculture of the 1960s 20th century in Berkeley, California University of California, Berkeley Politics of the San Francisco Bay Area 1960s in California Riots and protests at UC Berkeley Protests in the San Francisco Bay Area