On the 59th Anniversay of "Bloody Sunday," a day that bears one of the most horrific scenes of racial injustice in United States history, the Department of Black Studies stood firm in calling attention to the right to assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and academic freedom.
On March 7, 2024, approximately 400 UCSB students, faculty, and staff attended a Teach-In*, organized by the Department of Black Studies. We proudly stand with the Students for Justice in Palestine and Academics for Justice in Palestine. Professors Alves, Banks, McAuley, Strings, Strongman, and TInsley addressed the audience in delineating the long arc of the Black Radical Tradition in challenging global anti-blackness through various lenses, and in solidarity with the cause of Palestinian rights, which dovetails with the recent closure of the MCC. All of this is aligned with academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the right to assembly. Faculty in the Department of Black Studies were joined by Professors Micaela J. Díaz-Sánchez, San Juanita García, Bishnu Ghosh, and Matt Richardson, along with Claudia Mendoza and the Graduate Students in the Department of Anthropology, and Elizabeth Robinson, former KCSB Advisor and Associated Students Associate Director for Media. WE THANK ALL OF YOU.
A specilal THANK YOU to the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies and the Graduate Student Association in the Department of Anthropology in sharing your statements in solidairity with the Department of Black Studies.
The Department is especially thankful to, and proud of, the amazing Black female students who particupated in the Teach-In: Alexa Butler, Ericka Bradley, and Rachel Conley. We are inspired by these young Black women as they embrace the spirit of Rosa Parks in their fearless challenge to antiblackness and settler colonialsim. THANK YOU ALEXA, ERICKA, AND RACHEL!!!
*The first official teach-in was in 1965 at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, with Students for a Democratic Society protesting US involvement in the Vietnam War. But Teach-ins come out of the broader Civil Rights Movement, beginning with sit-ins that emerged in 1960 with the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh, North Carolina and the Summer Freedom Schools in 1964. “A Freedom School curriculum was rooted in the lives of young Black Mississippians and designed by a committee of educators from around the country. The curriculum was designed to help students examine their personal experiences with racial discrimination and understand their broader context in Mississippi’s closed society" (SNCC Legacy Project).
BELOW: Check out photos taken by Dr. Candice Lyons (Black Star Assistant Professor of Black Studies). Thank you Professor Lyons!
BELOW: Review our Black Studies Teach-In Syllabus! Thanks to all who participated, as well as ALL WHO JOINED US WHILE SITTING/STANDING ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF SOUTH HALL!!!
***Click on photos and Teach-In Syllabus 1x to expand images***
Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies - "IN SOLIDARITY WITH BLACK STUDIES AND STUDENTS: https://www.chicst.ucsb.edu/news/event/609
Department of Feminist Studies - "FEMINIST STUDIES STATEMENT ON PALESTINE, JOINT STRUGGLE, AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM AT UCSB": https://www.femst.ucsb.edu/news/announcement/889
FREE PALESTINE!!! FREE PALESTINE!!! FREE PALESTINE!!! FREE PALESTINE!!!
THE ARCHIVE:
