Last year I was executive producer of a project to interview 40 people involved with student strikes at San Francisco State, the longest lasting in American history and a culmination of black, white, Asian Native American and Latino student organizations for the creation of a college of Ethnic Studies, among other demands.
We never made it to 40 people, and knew from the start we could spend years conducting interviews on the strike which happened between November 1968 and March 1969. We never made it all the way through the finish line but what is included here in stories, interviews, video and timeline of events is still a good reflection of what happened in that most insane of years which was 1968.
Below are interviews I did which may not have made it to the timeline, including Black Student Union president Benny Stewart, among others.
Benny Stewart, chairman of the Black Student Union during the strike
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Stewart describes the first day of the strike
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A year earlier, Black Student Union members rushed the student newspaper offices and assaulted paper staff.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Stewart describes the mass bust, a day when hundreds of students were arrested by police
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Stewart recalls Nov, 20, 1968, the day when…
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Stewart recalls Nov. 14, 1968, a few days after the start of the strike
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Alma Maxwell, a woman and member of Black Student Union
Maxwell talks about the mass bust, a day when hundreds of students were arrested by police
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
April 4, 1968 Alma Maxwell
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Maxwell laughs for nearly a minute after hearing that former school president S.I. Hayakawa is dead
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Jules Allen
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
