Sather Gates - Research trip to UC Berkeley (1/3)
Oliver Jones (beige jacket and sunglasses) was at the leading edge of the 1969 Third World Liberation Front strike in Berkeley that led to the founding of the Department of Ethnic Studies. (Photo by Oliver Jones)
On my way to San Antonio to install my upcoming exhibition and decided to stop at Berkeley California for some research and to visit old and new friends. I couldn't help but try to re-imagine the Third World Liberation strikers as they marched in and out of the famous Sather Gates at Berkeley. South-facing photographs here show them entering the campus at the Sather Gates sun setting in the background. The second photo shows them marching west down Bancroft Way.
In 2019 completed a triptych of the events that marked the birth of Ethnic Studies/American Studies across university campuses in the United States. The first part of my triptych begins with the Black Student Union strikes in '68. There is much more to cover in terms of the complexity and evolution of the strikes, I still have a few sketches that visualize other aspects of the strike, but those will have to wait as I am now finishing up new work for my upcoming exhibition which focuses on the mediascape of indigenous solidarity. Come to think of it, there are several connections between the two by way of UC Berkeley, which further underlines the premise and title of this series, all oppressions are connected...
Picture 1: Sather Gates on UC Berkeley campus, facing west. November 29, 2023.
Picture 2: Photo by Oliver Jones. "Oliver Jones (beige jacket and sunglasses) was at the leading edge of the 1969 Third World Liberation Front strike in Berkeley that led to the founding of the Department of Ethnic Studies." - UC Berkeley website.
Picture 3: View of Bancroft Way looking east towards the hills behind Berkeley. November 29, 2023.
Picture 4: "Charles Brown (Afro-American Student Union), Ysidrio Macias (Mexican American Student Confederation), LaNada Means (Native American Student Union), and Stan Kadani (Asian American Political Alliance)" - UC Berkeley TWLF 50th Anniversary.
https://americancultures.berkeley.edu/archives/past-events/twlf-50th-anniversary