A visual history of campus protests in the US

Howard Ruffner // Getty Images The current wave of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses has thrust the long history of student activism in the United States into the national spotlight. The student-led rallies, encampments, and building takeovers that began at Columbia University in New York City on April 17 and spread to campuses nationwide are not without precedent. Nor are the varied outcomes of the protests. From authorities clamping down on protestors to instances of violence and destruction–and, in some cases, peaceful resolution–echoes of the past are present in pro-Palestinian demonstrations today. Stacker curated a collection of photographs of student-led demonstrations from the last century to contextualize the history of protest movements on American college campuses. Campus protests trace back at least a century to Fisk University, where protests in the 1920s against then-campus President Fayette McKenzie served as a precursor to the Civil Rights Movement. From hunger strikes during the Vietnam War to recent “die-ins” pushing for gun control reform, campus activism has long challenged political and social norms, often bringing simmering issues to the forefront of public consciousness. College protests have long drawn attention to issues of racial and gender equity, at times advancing or pushing back against legislation. In 1976, the women’s crew team at Yale staged a “strip-in” to protest their lack of resources, an early flex of Title XI legislation. Nearly five decades later, students at the University of Austin, Texas, marched for a different sort of autonomy, going to the State Capitol in protest of the state’s impending sweeping abortion ban. Pro-Palestinian protestors say their goals include expressing solidarity with Palestinian rights and raising awareness about the rising death toll and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Some groups are calling for universities to sever financial ties with companies they see as benefiting from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, an offensive launched in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Not all protests have proceeded–or ended–peacefully. Some students have offered stark examples of protests that cross the line from criticism of Israel into antisemitism. Classmates, in certain instances, attest to the hostile environment for Jewish students and threats to their safety. After weeks of escalating tensions on campuses, in early May, law enforcement was called in at various universities across the country to break up pro-Palestinian encampments and disperse students. Some resulted in skirmishes and arrests; others took a violent turn. At least four universities, however, have seen peaceful outcomes. At Rutgers University in New Jersey and Brown University in Rhode Island, students agreed to dismantle encampments after the administration agreed to consider their demands. While commentators have been quick to draw parallels between 2024 and the social justice movements of 1968, making historical comparisons is always thorny–particularly when complex issues are reduced to single events or examples. The current movement faces a particular challenge in balancing students’ right to congregate and speak freely with the right for all students to feel safe on campus. Each movement is unique, as the photos below attest. 1933: Columbia University students strike in defense of ‘academic freedom’ Bettmann // Getty Images In 1933, Columbia failed to reappoint Donald Henderson, an economics instructor who was ostensibly let go because of his role as a Columbia Social Problems Club leader. In other words, Henderson liaised with communists or was one himself. Protesters in support of Henderson fought hand-to-hand with supporters of the opposition, and police broke up the fighting with nightsticks. Even famed Mexican artist Diego Rivera got in on the action. 1940: Students for Peace protest America’s involvement in WWII Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images While many World War II images depict young people proudly going off to serve their country, there was opposition among them. Campus groups like Students for Peace Against Involvement of America in War and early pacifist organizations like the War Resisters League set the foundation for “revolutionary nonviolence.” Student concerns included imperialism, colonialism, and profiteering from war. 1968: UC Berkeley’s anti-draft ‘Vietnam Commencement’ Bettmann // Getty Images In a somber ceremony, thousands of students attended an anti-draft “Vietnam Commencement” at the University of California, Berkeley, where some pledged to refuse military service. The 1968 ceremony, which resembled a graduation, took place in Berkeley’s Sproul Hall, the current site of a pro-Palestinaian sit-in. The school had already been famous for protests in 1964 during the student-led Free Speech Movement (anti-war, civil rights). Though the Vietnam War would drag on for another six years, 1968 was an inflection point for conscientious objectors, often young men ages 18 to 35 eligible for conscription under the Selective Service Act. 1968: Howard University students call for radical administration change Bettmann Archive // Getty Images In 1968, Howard University students took over an administrative building to demand drastic changes at the storied historically Black university. Among their conditions were a greater emphasis on African-American studies and a change in administrative leadership. “Our demand is an answer–we want you to say publicly what you think about these issues,” Adrienne Manns Israel, one of the original protest organizers, told the Zinn Education Project. 1968: Students for a Democratic Society occupies Hamilton Hall at Columbia University Bev Grant // Getty Images Protests culminated from the Civil Rights Movement, anti-Vietnam War sentiment, and the discovery that Columbia was financially tied to arms supporting the Vietnam War. More than 1,000 protesters took over five buildings and the dean was taken hostage. The events at Columbia were later called “the most powerful and effective student protest in modern American history” in historian Mark D. Naison’s 2002 memoir, “White Boy.” 1969: Black Student Strike at the UW Madison Bettmann // Getty Images During the same period of the uprising, the Black Students Strike at the University of Wisconsin-Madison pushed the administration to comply with a list of “non-negotiable” demands, including instituting a Black Studies Department and admitting at least 500 Black students the next semester. During the two-week protest, the governor activated the Wisconsin National Guard, a move that galvanized even more protesters to come out and march to the capital. 1969: Central State University students assemble in Columbus, Ohio, to oppose admissions policies Bettmann // Getty Images As the oldest private historically Black university in the nation and the site of a stop on the Underground Railroad, Central State University has activism in its DNA. In 1969, students pressed the administration for more funding and an end to the limit on students admitted from out of state. During a meeting on the steps of the State House, students showed solidarity with the black power salute. 1970: GW University students carry on anti-war demonstrations near Watergate complex in DC Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images George Washington University, once dubbed the “Holiday Inn of the Revolution” for hosting anti-war protestors in dorms, has a long history of campus activism dating back to the Civil War. During the Vietnam era, anti-war demonstrators faced off with DC Metro police as they marched to the locus of Republican power, the Watergate Complex (interestingly, designed by Mussolini’s favored architect) that soon would become notorious for the eponymous scandal. 1970: Protests erupt following Kent State shootings Bettmann // Getty Images May 4, 1970, is branded in national memory as a day of tragedy at Kent State University. During a protest calling for the end of the war in Vietnam, the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd, killing four students and injuring nine. Other students were met with tear gas and rubber bullets. The horrific event became a flashpoint in the national upheaval over the United States’ involvement in Southeast Asia. 1970: Students protest racial injustice at Jackson State College