About
Our Primary Sources page contains a compilation of original documents, photographs, archive collections, and more, offering direct insights into the events and impact of the 1969 TWLF strike at UC Berkeley. This collection is made to assist students, researchers, and educators seeking to study the movements from a firsthand perspective. These primary sources have been carefully curated to help you understand the historical context, the voices of the participants, and an authentic glimpse into the strategic planning and public responses that characterized the TWLF movement.
Berkeley Revolution's TWLF Project
“This website is a collective project, one which emerged originally from an honors undergraduate seminar in American Studies at UC-Berkeley — “The Bay Area in the Seventies,” taught by Scott Saul in the spring of 2017. The eleven students in that seminar shaped their own research projects, burrowing into archives official and unofficial so as to recover the stories missing from or hidden within standard accounts of Berkeley’s history. Visit Berkeley Revolution TWLF Project
Pierre La Plant's TWLF Protest Berkeley 1969
"Annotated color photos of Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) protests, marches, and police actions on UC Berkeley campus in 1969. For higher resolution photos from original slides, or questions, write a comment on this page and include your email address. (The e-mail address will not show up on the web page." Visit collection
California Revealed
“California Revealed is a State Library initiative to help California’s public libraries, in partnership with other local heritage groups, digitize, preserve, and provide online access to archival materials - books, newspapers, photographs, audiovisual recordings, and more - that tell the incredible stories of the Golden State. We also provide free access and preservation services for existing digital collections for partner organizations with in-house digitization programs. California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.”
Contains primary source documents from the TWLF movement at UC Berkeley. Sources include communiques, pamphlets, posters, etc. Visit California Revealed
SFSU Special Collections: The SF State College Strike, 1968-69
"The ephemeral materials from this student-led strike collection were collected by Archivist Emeritus Helene Whitson and arranged alphabetically by the name of the organization that published them or alphabetically by the name of the person who created them. Within each category, materials are arranged in one of two ways -- alphabetically by title, or chronologically by date. The statements of the American Federation of Teachers, for example, seemed to fall easily into an alphabetical arrangement, while the statements of President S. I. Hayakawa seemed more appropriate in a chronological arrangement. Publications, broadsides, flyers, scrapbooks, student newspapers, and other memorabilia as well as published materials concerning the strike are available in the University Archives. The Bay Area Television Archive and Labor Archives & Research Center have substantial holdings that document this event from different perspectives.”
DIVA: SF State College Strike
“During 1968-1969, San Francisco State College was a focus for national attention as the campus erupted in turmoil. Initially students threatened to strike to stop the College's cooperation with the draft but discontent broadened to embrace the concerns of minority students and the eventual strike is often referred to as the Third World strike. This collection includes publications, broadsides, flyers, scrapbooks, student newspapers, and other documents.” Visit Diva Collection
Third World Strike at UC Berkeley collection, 1968-1972
"Third World Strike at University of California, Berkeley collection, 1968-1972
In 1968, a coalition of African American, Asian American, Chicano, and Native American student groups united as the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) at San Francisco State University (then San Francisco State College). The TWLF led student strikes demanded the establishment of a Third World College. A few months following the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) student initiated strike at SFSU, a coalition of students at the University of California united under their own TWLF and organized a solidarity strike on the Berkeley campus. On January 22, 1969 the strike began with five major demands and lasted for several months. On March 7, 1969, after violent police action against prolonged student striking and administrative resistance, UC President Hitch authorized the establishment of the UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Department. The full collection is available at the UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library." Visit Collection
SF State: On Strike, San Francisco Newsreel
Video footage from the SF State strike by the San Francisco Newsreel. Review footage
SF State Strike 1968, Black Students & Third World Liberation Front
“Strike at SF State 1968, protesting for the establishment of ethnic studies departments. Shows massive confrontations of police and students, faculty.” Review footage
TWLF Rally at City Hall on Diva
“KTVU News report from December 16th, 1968 at San Francisco's City Hall by Carlton Cordell, featuring scenes from a Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) rally in support of the strike at SF State College. Includes view of picketing, police making arrests, and public speaking.” Review footage
