Archive

MIT BSU demonstrators support Brandeis Black students, 1969

MIT BSU demonstrators support Brandeis Black students, 1969
Photo: Dennis Brearley | Source: Gift of John Booras, Boston Public Library (CC BY-NC-ND)

Demonstrators from the MIT Black Students' Union express their support of the Black students outside Ford Hall at Brandeis University. Waltham, MA, January 1969

On January 8, 1969, approximately seventy African American students took control of Ford and Sydeman Halls. The students quickly presented the administration with a list of ten demands for better minority representation on campus [including the creation of Black Studies department]. Although the administration did not come to an agreement on all ten demands, the students left Ford and Sydeman Halls on January 18th, eleven days after the occupation began. The administration did grant most of the students amnesty, and President Morris Abram stated that every legitimate demand would be met in good faith.

"The Student Occupation of Ford Hall, January 1969," University Archives & Special Collections, Brandeis University

Timeline
1960s
Career
Community
Object
Video
Social media
Image
Document
Audio
Life@MIT
Black Students' Union (BSU)
Collection
Activism
Integration and Differentiation 1969-1994
Students

Have a piece of MIT black history to share?

If you have an important item you believe the project should consider for its collection, please share it with the MIT Black History Project.