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• 1 media/Black Power.jpg 2017-04-21T12:41:42-07:00 Race Relations 27 plain 427450 2017-05-02T11:24:04-07:00

  The Puget Sound campus has traditionally been a largely white community, and this was reflected in its news coverage. While occasional mentions of racial tensions or accusations of discrimination did surface, news in The Trail generally focused on either campus events or administrative matters. When wider political themes did appear in 1967 and early 1968, they tended to focus on the Vietnam War and the draft.

  In early 1968, a major change occurred. Likely due to a change in The Trail's editing staff, social issues became much better covered, with race receiving particular emphasis. The March 22 issue in particular had both an explanation and manifesto of the Black Power movement on the front page. A list of demands from the school's Black Student Union came not long after in the April 18 issue, and the abundance of student responses showed that problems of race were a major concern for the campus community. [A&SC 28].

  “Now since we have realized the necessity for brotherhood, the black man must be granted his self-dignity so rightfully his as a human being. Recognition of his history to be passed down to his descendants stimulates this pride—giving him a belief in his worth as a man." [A&SC 28].

  Not all of these responses were supportive, however, and angry letters appeared in The Trail accusing Black Student Union of everything from intimidation to black supremacy. Of course BSU was hardly intimidated and its representatives steadfastly held their ground, defending the organization's stance and mission throughout the subsequent debate [A&SC 29]. A public seminar was held shortly after, highly publicized, in which BSU outlined its goals and intentions, as well as those of the Black Power movement. This was supported by an article in The Trail, and both of these statements were made with a fairly moderate tone. The number of manifestos, mission statements, and informational resources provided reflects an effort to communicate the identity of a fairly radical black group to a still largely white community. [A&SC 29] .

  Among the demands put forth by BSU was for the creation of a black studies curriculum, a measure that, while not unopposed, was nevertheless popular overall in the Puget Sound community. Indeed, in the May 5 issue of The Trail, it was announced that an African-American Culture Seminar had been approved by the faculty senate, news which was greeted with a mixture of excitement and approbation by different groups on campus, as well as with suggestions for how the curriculum might be further improved.[A&SC 47].