Research Guides: Student Activism: Resources for Organizing : Histories of Campus Activism

Haverford History: Student Coverage

Activism at Haverford: A Brief History
By David King in the Haverford Clerk, February 2017
Haverford College Black Students' League's campaign to eradicate institutionalized racism 1972
Written by Mar Firke at Swarthmore College in the Global NonViolent Action Database

At Haverford: Primary Sources from the Archives

Materials here include historical materials from the College Archives, located in Quaker & Special Collections. Materials which have been digitized have been emphasized, as they are mostly easily accessible to the widest possible constituency. If digitized copies of these materials are available, the link should take you to the digital copies. Anyone interested in accessing materials not currently digitized, getting further materials digitized, or with questions about what materials is welcome to contact Special Collections.

Haverford College Student Unionization Movement records
This collection contains documentation of Haverford's Student Unionization Movement from 2005. It includes meeting minutes, email printouts, a letter to the president of the College and a community forum info sheet.
Statement of the Black Students League on the Vietnam War
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 1, “Black Students, 1969-May 1971”
Black Students League letter to the Board of Managers, May 21, 1971
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 1, “Black Students, 1969-May 1971”
Black Students League, "Several Concerns, or a Bill of Facts" February 9, 1972
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 1, “Black Students League, February 1972”
Black Students League, "Our Specific Concerns," February 20, 1972
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 1, “Black Students League, February 1972”
Puerto Rican Students at Haverford, "Some of Our Concerns," February 22, 1972
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 1, “Black Students League, February 1972”
“A Summary and Chronology of Events Leading to and Related to the Boycott by the Black Students League and the Puerto Rican Students of Haverford" March 10, 1972
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 1, “Black Students League, March 1972-1973”
The Sisterhood and the Black Students League, “The Status of Afro-American History in the Bi-College Community,” March 27, 1973.
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 1, “Black Students League, March 1972-1973”
Puerto Rican Students at Haverford, Asian American Students at Haverford, and Black Students League memo to John Coleman, February 19, 1975.
HCS-003-079, Rick DeJesús-Rueff, Documents pertaining to the history of Puerto Rican students at Haverford College, Box 1.
Puerto Rican Students at Haverford memo to Stephen Cary, March 31, 1975.
HCS-003-079, Rick DeJesús-Rueff, Documents pertaining to the history of Puerto Rican students at Haverford College, Box 1.
Minorities Coalition Memo, April 13, 1977.
HCS-003-079, Rick DeJesús-Rueff, Documents pertaining to the history of Puerto Rican students at Haverford College, Box 1.
Minority Coaltion memo ca. April 22, 1977
HCHC Box 23
Minority Coaltion statement, April 25, 1977
HCHC Box 23
Supporters of Minority Students memo, ca. April 1977
HCHC Box 23
Social Action Caucus, The Other Side- An Alternative Introduction to Bryn Mawr and Haverford, ca. 1977
HCHC Box 23
Photographs of the 1972 Boycott
HCT photos
Photographs of the 1977 Protest
HCT Photos
Digitized resources related to race at Haverford
This link includes a number of the activist statements listed above, as well as responses from administrators and other documentation. The digitized materials is only a small part of what is physically available in Special Collections.
Haverford and Swarthmore students participate in an anti-war rally, 1965.
HCT-001, Haverford College Photograph collection, Box 39, “Campus Life VB”
Haverford students at an anti-war protest, 1967.
HCT-001, Haverford College Photograph collection, Box 40, “Campus Life VIA”
Community Concerns Committee memo on the Vietnam moratorium, September 23, 1969.
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 5, “Vietnam Moratorium, 1969”
President of the Students’ Association Stan Murphy’s letter to John Coleman on the Vietnam moratorium, November 11, 1969.
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 5, “Vietnam Moratorium, 1969”
Haverford College to Congress, May 5, 1970.
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 5, “Washington Trip, May-August 1970”
C.W. Smith memo to the campus regarding essential services during the Washington trip, May 5, 1970.
HCB-001-012, John R. Coleman presidential papers, Box 5, “Washington Trip, May-August 1970”
Digitized resources related to Vietnam War protests and activism
Materials linked above and many others about Haverford student, faculty, and staff reaction to and protest of the Vietnam War can be found here. Materials at this link are a small number of materials selected from larger collections.
Sabrina Speaks
A memoir by Aretha Williams, Class of 1996, created in conjunction with a final project and exhibit regarding the historic Haverford College Honor Council trial, "Charlie, Sabrina, Kelly, and Jill," for Professor Juli Grigsby's Anthropology course, "Race, Crime & Sexuality," taught in Spring 2018. The project was completed by Drew Cunningham ('20), Katie Leiferman ('20), Brittany Robinson ('20), Sarah Savonis ('20), and Amy Young (BMC).

US Colleges and Universities

The Black Student Strike of 1969 UW-Madison
Fifty years ago, black students at UW–Madison, propelled by longstanding grievances and fresh flash points, called for a campus-wide student strike until administrators agreed to 13 demands. Joined by thousands of white allies, they held rallies to educate the community about racial inequities, boycotted classes, marched to the state Capitol, took over lecture halls and blocked building entrances. The latter actions spurred the governor to activate the Wisconsin National Guard. The protest, surging and ebbing over roughly two weeks in February 1969, was among the largest in the university’s history. Dubbed the Black Student Strike, it would forever alter the campus. Here, in their own words, participants recount why the strike was needed, what they did, and how it changed the university and their lives.
The Long, Bloody Strike For Ethnic Studies
The largest public university system in the country, the Cal State system, just announced a new graduation requirement: students must take an ethnic studies or social justice course. But ethnic studies might not even exist if it weren't for some students at a small commuter college in San Francisco. Fifty years ago, they went on strike — and while their bloody, bitter standoff has been largely forgotten, it forever changed higher education in the United States.
Walkout: A Brief History of Student Organizing
Walkout: A Brief History of Student Organizing uses archival material from the Interference Archive collection—posters, buttons, pamphlets, flyers, zines, and more—to examine the broader scope of student movements that both led up to and followed in the wake of May 1970.