hu deja vu

Seeing Twitter blow up re student protests at Howard University Charter Day program today, I had to go back and find an article in the Evening Star about a similar protest in 1968.  

According to "Students Halt Howard Rites, Proclaim a 'New University," approximately 70 students disrupted the program, including students who handed out leaflets declaring that the school's charter was "a document of institutionalized slavery." 

"We hereby establish the Sterling Brown University to meet the needs of America's and the world's oppressed peoples."

The article also mentioned that "Howard University Ujaama, a militant student organization," held a demonstration on 16 February demanding the resignation of President James Nabrit, Vice President Stanton Wormley and Liberal Arts Dean Frank Snowden. Anthony Gittens served as political director of the organization.

The Charter Day protests led to the takeover of the Administration building a few weeks later due, in part, to the university's disciplining of the protestors.

Source:  Barry Kalb, "Students Halt Howard Rites, Proclaim a 'New University'," Evening Star 1 March 1968, p. 19.

 [Note: the Evening Star and Washington Post digital archives can be accessed for free with a library card via the DC Public Library website.