On November 18, 1968, black students leave campus in a mass exodus in response to the collapse of negotiations over their demand for amnesty from the Oakland Police Department sit-in days earlier. The walkout succeeded and led to KSU鈥檚 Black Studies program and other reforms. Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, 麻豆视频 Libraries
BUS Turns 50
As antiwar and black power movements swept the nation in the late 1960s, black students on college campuses were inspired to take more direct action to quell racism and promote equality. The students at 麻豆视频 were no exception.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Black United Students (BUS)鈥攐ne of the oldest student organizations at 麻豆视频. A recent photo exhibit at the Uumbaji Gallery in Oscar Ritchie Hall chronicled their diverse activities, including protests, cultural activities, social events and national speakers that BUS has helped bring to 麻豆视频.
BUS became a registered student organization at 麻豆视频 in April 1968. Racial tensions were climbing after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4 and a violent confrontation on April 6 between police in Oakland, California, and Oakland鈥檚 Black Panther Party, which challenged police brutality against the African American community. Bobby Hutton, a 17-year-old Black Panther member, was shot and killed after surrendering to police officers.
Seven months later, the above photo was taken. About 250 students鈥攊ncluding many BUS members鈥攕ilently marched off campus on November 18, 1968, protesting the university鈥檚 refusal to grant them amnesty from being charged with disorderly conduct after a sit-in by BUS and Students for a Democratic Society, held days earlier, hindered the Oakland Police Department鈥檚 on-campus efforts to recruit new officers from KSU鈥檚 law enforcement program.
The walkout shook the university and prompted some professors to cancel classes until the students returned. Three days later the students came back to campus and no charges were made, according to a paper by Lae'l Hughes-Watkins, KSU assistant professor and university archivist.
This activism resulted in the creation of the Institute for African American Affairs in 1969, the Center of Pan-African Culture (CPAC) in 1970 and the Department of Pan-African Studies in 1976. CPAC鈥檚 home base, formerly the Old Student Union, was renamed in 1977鈥攄edicated to the late Dr. Oscar Ritchie, KSU鈥檚 first African American faculty member鈥攁nd is known as 鈥渢he House that BUS built.鈥
BUS also proposed that 麻豆视频 extend Negro History Week into Black History Month in February 1969, becoming one of the first college campuses to do so; the event received official nationwide designation in 1976 by President Gerald Ford.
Since these historic and somewhat tumultuous beginnings, BUS has evolved with the times and continues to promote the welfare of black students on campus鈥攑roviding educational, cultural and social activities and taking a stand on issues of importance to blacks across America and around the world.鈥Bethany Sava, BS 鈥12
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