When did the 1960s end? Scholarly opinion holds that the spirit, energy and optimism that characterize the decade succumbed to infighting and fragmentation as the decade came to a close in 1968. My dissertation challenges this assertion by examining two influential and understudied student movements at San Francisco State College and City College of New York in 1968 and 1969. Often overlooked in favor of student protests that occurred on elite Ivy League campuses, these protests were characterized by multiracial coalitions that challenged the Eurocentric curriculum and lack of diversity at their colleges. These protests were watershed moments in higher education, and they brought about the creation of ethnic studies and the increased acceptance of students of color. In addition, the philosophy, tactics, and rhetoric espoused by these students contributed to the creation of a Third World Left, which included these students and their allies, as well as other activists of color. The activism of the Third World Left continued into the 1970s and became an important site in the continuation of radical politics, thus belying the notion that “the sixties” ended in declension in 1968.
This dissertation will show that when diverse sites of activism are explored, rather than solely the white New Left, many movements outlasted the end of the 1960s, including many groups that were spawned as a result of the Third World student movement. This dissertation foregrounds the processes of coalition building among activists of color, as well as the rhetoric and philosophy developed by these students. By examining the many archival sources such as artifacts and documents from the strike, as well as interviews and oral histories with the activists, in addition to the sparse secondary sources that exist about the protests, I will argue for the seminal role of the Third World student movement in this period.