Campus Life for Southern Black Students in the Mid-Twentieth Century

Pete’s letter: A student activist’s message to campus administrators.

“…Lipset (1969) traced the ways colleges and universities provide fertile ground for students to get involved in activism, given their limbo status between youth and adulthood, and be politically socialized to advocate for particular issues over others. Although much attention is given to organizing and activism during the 1960s, postsecondary students have long organized around various issues, including racial justice (VanOverbeke, 2018; Williamson-Lott, 2018) and organized labor (Cain, 2018). Contemporarily, greater numbers of students work toward social change, both on and off campus, continuing the quest for greater racial justice, immigration justice, and equality (Broadhurst & Martin, 2014; Hope, Keels, & Durkee, 2016; Rhoads, 2016).…”