The 1969 Morrill Hall U of MN Takeover: Reflections on Black Bodies in Resistance

Event: The 1969 Morrill Hall Takeover": Reflections on Black Bodies in Resistance- Roundtable Discussion

Date: November 12th, 2008

Time: 4:00 pm

Place: 125 Nolte Library, 315 Pillsbury Drive SE, U of MN East Bank Campus

Map: http://onestop.umn.edu/Maps/NCCE/NCCE-map.html

In January 1969 a group of students, members of the African American Action Committee
(now known as the BSU), actively took a stand against racism and stood up for equal
education and the celebration of African American history, philosophy, sociology, et. al.
What these students demanded from the University of Minnesota administration was
simple; more scholarships for blacks to open up opportunities to higher education, a call
for more black faculty, and a black studies department. By December of 1969 a African
and African-American studies department was born at the Univeristy.

For the whole of 2009 the Afro-Studies department will be presenting a variety of round
table discussions, conferences and events centered around the necessity and longevity of
the department. Attached is a flyer for an up coming round table discussion on the topic
of 'The 1969 Morrill Hall Takeover'. Hopefully this will prove to be an exciting discussion
with Afro-Studies professors Rose Brewer, Keith Mayes, Yuichiro Onishi, and John Wright
(a participant in the event), as well as myself- we hope to reveal some of the silences
concerning black bodies in resistance and bring to light some of the nuances of the
takeover itself.

Please join us as we begin our celebration of 40 years of African and African American
Studies at the University of Minnesota.