On May 23, 1968, the University of Washington Faculty Senate endorses the development of a Black Studies curriculum. The action results from demands placed by the Black Student Union.
The UW Black Student Union emerged out of a conference of black youth that took place in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving weekend, in 1967. On January 6, 1968, the Afro-American Society at UW changed its name to the Black Student Union. The first president was Dan Keith (in 2005 a physician). The next president was E. J. Brisker. Larry Gossett, presently a member of the King County Council, was also a student leader.
The Black Student Union led the effort to win the establishment of several key programs at the University of Washington, including the American Ethnic Studies Department and the Office of Minority Affairs. The organization continues to be active on campus.
Sources:
Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), 255; "BSU History," Black Student Union University of Washington website accessed May 17, 2005 (http://students.washington.edu/bsu).
Note: This essay was expanded on May 17, 2005.
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