The TWLF was a coalition of revolutionary student groups at San Francisco State University. The coalition led a 5-month campus strike demanding antiracist practices in admissions and the curriculum, both of which excluded or limited the representation of students of color. In 1969, the TWLF demanded the formation of a Third World College at San Francisco State University and at the University of California at Berkeley that would be dedicated to uplifting the lives, stories, and experiences of communities of color by acknowledging the rich scholarship and histories of African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicanos/Chicanas, and Native Americans. To support this effort, the TWLF held protests for three months, resulting in the development of the School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and an Ethnic Studies department at University of California at Berkeley. The work of the TWLF was foundational to the calls for educational equity, and in 1999, several University of California at Berkeley students adopted the TWLF name as they protested cuts to the Ethnic Studies Department. Their protests resulted in a five-point agreement in support of Ethnic Studies and led to the founding of the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Race & Gender.
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Through an exploration of the life of Japanese American activist Richard Aoki, students will examine one man’s story that is more complex than the simple binaries we often find in stories of activism.
