It was 1:45 in the sunny afternoon of Tuesday, April 23, 1968 when the leader of the Students for a Democratic Society, Mark Rudd, marched into Hamilton Hall, the chief classroom building of the all-male Columbia College and home of the Dean and Admission Offices. He was followed by a group of 400 Columbia students, many of them members of the Student Afro American Society. They all were after "The Man," as they called Columbia College Acting Dean, Henry Coleman.
A few minutes later, Dean Coleman arrived in the building. The crowd moved back, cleared a path for him and escorted him to his office. After refusing to "meet any demands under a situation such as this", the Dean was held hostage by the students who decided to occupy the building until their by now famous six demands were met.
Link to the demands. (Audio with the demands from the video could be inserted.)
A few hours later pictures of Che Guevara, Lenin and Stokely Carmichael hang next to anti-war posters in the walls of Hamilton, now renamed "Malcolm X" University. Hundreds of students congregated outside in support of the new-born movement.
Black Students Take Control of Hamilton The first night of the strike, the students were joined by residents of Harlem and other black communities from New York City. After much debate, discussion and negotiations, the leaders of Students Afro American Society, asked the white students to leave. SAS had decided that Hamilton was to be occupied only by black students and black community members.
"The real split between black and white students was that the two groups realized they have different political identities. The black wanted to stop the gym. They figure the best way to do it was to hold the buildings. The white, on the other hand, wanted to radicalized other white people." Quote taken from the video.
To prevent the arrival of the police, the students blocked the basement tunnels. Chairs, tables, file cabinets and even ladders all proved suitable for the task.
"The police was pretending they didn't want to come from the buildings. But they were trying to take the building by surprise through the tunnels, so we barricaded ourselves." Quote taken from the video.
The dawn of that Wednesday, April 24th, Acting Dean Coleman was released. He later emphasized that he had been treated with respect during his captivity. For its part, the white students left Hamilton and decided to "liberate" their original target: Low Library.
When the rest of the students came to start another day in their school life, they found a closed campus surrounded by police. Hamilton Hall was barricaded by black students and the President's office was controlled by the students.
Black Community March in Columbia Campus in Support of Students Movement Ambiance sound from the black community march, from video. While rock and roll music blared from the occupied buildings and heavy rain fell, a stream of black community and city leaders came to Columbia. They visited Hamilton Hall and met with administration officials throughout the day to express their concern about repercussions in nearby Harlem and asked the University to reconsider its plan to build a gymnasium in the park.
On Thursday April 25th, black leaders and demonstrators held a massive rally, which at its peak reached more than 1,000 people. After inflammatory speeches against Columbia, the protesters marched down from College Walk to Amsterdam Avenue. During their path dozens of students from the so-called Majority Coalition, attempted to block their exit. But the mediation from faculty and administration, avoided a clash between the two groups.
The march continued on Friday April 26th, when the black militant leaders, Rap Brown and Stokeley Carmichael broke a police line, entered the campus and talked in front of one thousand five hundred people congregated outside Hamilton Hall. Many of them were high school students who came from all over New York City.
"The black students of Columbia joined by a few members of the black community have been in Hamilton Hall for 66 hours. They established a cafeteria with enough food. Moral is high." Black leader addressing the crowd outside Hamilton from the video.
Majority Coalition Urges Police Action Wearing light blue buttons and light blue creme armbands, about 700 students from the Majority Coalition marched in silent to Philosophy Hall, where the ad hoc faculty committee formed to mediate between the students and the administration was meeting. The students expressed their support to the faculty and urged a quick removal of the protesters, resumption of classes and reject an amnesty.
600 Policemen Occupy University and Administration Debates Use of Police Force. More than 600 policemen were mobilized Friday night in the Morningside area, after thousands marched inside College Walk. It was the largest show of force after four days of student protests. Officers stood outside dormitory buildings, patrolled the campus entrance gates and moved around the campus. The police was called late Thursday night after President Kirk had agreed to evacuate the students that night. The faculty, afraid of possible violent consequences, convinced him to give them more time. The operation was called off, at least for the time being.
Strike for Peace start in Central Park and ends in Columbia University Background audio from the march..
Carrying a 12 foot long banner asking for a revolution, around a thousand people marched from a peace rally in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park to Morningside campus on Saturday, April 27th. Chanting against the war in Vietnam and protesting the Columbia administration, the protesters continued another day of massive demonstrations in the Columbia campus. By now, marches, demonstrations and speeches had become the norm of the day.
University Call in 1,000 Police to End Demonstration: 700 arrested, 100 injured While police resorted to violence at other campus buildings to remove the students, a small group of the Tactical Police Force peacefully removed about a 100 black students from Hamilton Hall, raising praise from the students and faculty.
Quote about the discipline and dignity exercised by police in Hamilton Hall from the edited tape.
Material for visor and hand-held screen Footage of protest outside Hamilton in the video
Picture of acting Dean Coleman, in Six Weeks, page 23.
Cover of booklet Why We Strike
Footage of students outside Hamilton Hall
Picture of Hamilton in Spectator, April 25th, Page 3.
Footage of Hamilton at night
Picture of Black Sudents in Hamilton Hall from Six Weeks, page 24.
Footage of students inside Hamilton
Footage of the barricades in Hamilton
Footage of the Campus surrounded by Police . Footage from the black comunity march with umbrellas and signs...
Footage of black students inside Hamilton
Footage of the rally and of the blockade from Majority Coalition
Picture of black rally, Spectator, April
Footage of High School students
Picture of high school students, Six Weeks, page 46.
Picture of black leader in Spectator, April 27, page 1
Footage of Brown talking outside Hamilton
Footage of Majority Coalition
Picture of Majority Coalition, Six Weeks, Page 47
Footage of Police on Campus
Picture of Faculty Meeting, Spectator, April 27, Page 1