Background to the Strikes at SFSU and UC Berkeley
George Murray, a graduate student instructor in English at SFSU and the Black Panther Party's Minister of Education, was dismissed from his teaching post for giving a rousing speech at Fresno State. He urged the audience to pay attention to the connections between US imperialism abroad--the Vietnam War--and the subjugation of people of color both internationally and at home.
November 1968 - March 1969: 5-month strike at San Francisco State University demanding the reinstatement of George Murray and the creation of an Ethnic Studies program at SFSU. The strike inspires a similar series of demonstrations at UC Berkeley in 1969.
After numerous arrests and physical violence against demonstrators, SFSU administration agrees to form the College of Ethnic Studies, the first ethnic studies program in the country. Courses focusing on Black Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano/a Studies, and Native American studies become part of the standard curricula at SFSU, and students can major in these academic disciplines.
At UC Berkeley across the Bay, Black students, Asian American students, Chicano/a students, and Native American students banded together to put forward demands for ethnic studies programs.
