Fifty Years of Ethnic Studies: Foundations, Challenges, and Opportunities

Fifty Years of Ethnic Studies: Foundations, Challenges, and Opportunities

The student-led political struggle of the Third World Strike birthed Ethnic Studies in 1969 in the San Francisco Bay Area. After failed attempts of San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University or SFSU) to institute Black Studies, a coalition of Black, Chicano/a, Asian American, and Native American students formed the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF). With the support and participation of allies, including community members, educators, leaders, and white students, the TWLF at SFSU initiated the Third World Strike on November 6, 1968. UC Berkeley students also formed a TWLF and launched a Third World Strike (see figure 1) on their campus on January 22, 1969. After prolonged protest, arrests, and violence, UC Berkeley approved a Department of Ethnic Studies on March 7, 1969, and SFSU agreed on March 20, 1969, to institute the School of Ethnic Studies (now College of Ethnic Studies)--the first of their kind. We highlight the efforts at SFSU and UC Berkeley as two of the earliest and clear formations of Ethnic Studies.

Dr. Oliver served as co-editor of this special issue in addition to contributing the introduction.

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Bañales, X., & Lee-Oliver, L. (2019). Guest Editors’ Introduction: Fifty Years of Ethnic Studies: Foundations, Challenges, and Opportunities. Ethnic Studies Review, 42(2), 7.