A few years later, in 1968, in the wake of Dr. King's tragic assassination, the Black Action Movement (BAM)—composed of black students, faculty, and allies—emerged with its first protest that focused on addressing issues of racial inequality and underrepresentation on campus. A multitude of reasons caused the formation of BAM, including the broader Civil Rights Movement's evolution, the changing political climate, and increased awareness of racial injustice. BAM rallied for equality and justice, bringing together hundreds of students, faculty, and community members. The group created a new dynamic on campus for black students to be able to express how they felt they were being treated by the University of Michigan. Their movement encompassed bold demands, grand goals, and ignited a call to action that resonates through the ages.At the time, Black students comprised 2.9% of the University student body. BAM demanded the University to implement a 10% black enrollment rate, which represented the percentage of Black people living in the state of Michigan. Although unsuccessful in implementing a new enrollment rate, the legacy of the Black Action Movement is felt to this day. It led to a surge in awareness about the Black student enrollment and the establishment of the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS). BAM's legacy extended beyond campus, inspiring student activism nationwide and contributing to the ongoing fight for racial equality in higher education. But despite this success, after 50-plus years of activism, the University is far from reaching the 10% enrollment goal––Black students currently make up around 5% of student enrollment today, despite composing 14% of the state’s residents.

In 1962, Hill Auditorium, where we’re standing right now, bore witness to two of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful addresses regarding nonviolent protest, integration, and education––a mere six months before his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, DC. Dr. King emphasized the importance of civil disobedience, rallying thousands of supporters and those passionate to change the fundamental problems in US society at the time. The effects of historic moments in the 60’s like MLK’s visit foreshadowed future civil rights activism at the University of Michigan.

Hill Auditorium

Tour of physical locations representing key moments of Ann Arbor in the long 60s

By the time the Union was built in 1919, women had been enrolled at Michigan for nearly 50 years, since 1870. At that time, the few female students were considered a “fringe” population, and generally co-mingled freely with their male counterparts. But by the 20s, women began to make up a larger chunk of the student body, and social life at Michigan became increasingly segregated along gendered lines. In fact, women could not enter the Union without a male escort until 1956, and even then, they could only use the downstairs side doors standing behind us. There was even a student-appointed guard stationed at the building’s main entrance to enforce this rule!During this time, the designated center for women’s social lives at the University was the Michigan League, which is roughly a ten minute walk from this spot. Equally important to female student life was the Office of the Dean of Women, which was created to uphold the then-governing ideal of in loco parentis, or in place of parents, and monitor the academic and social lives of women on campus. At the start of the 60’s, the Dean of Women Deborah Bacon was infamous for presiding over female student life with an iron fist. In 1960, a group of journalists at the Michigan Daily exposed Bacon for discriminatory behavior against students in interracial relationships. Several of these students reported feeling intimidated by Bacon, who threatened to violate their privacy with phone calls home. Under pressure from the public and the Board of Regents, Bacon resigned, and the vacant position was never filled. This began a domino effect for Michigan women’s social lives. In 1962, curfews were removed for senior women, and shortly after, they ended altogether. Visitation hours were eventually abolished and “house mothers” in women’s dorms were replaced by Resident Assistants.In 1968, the Billiard Room in the Union’s basement lifted its men-only policy, completing an effort that began after World War II to integrate the Union—finally, the so-called “center for campus life” was fully accessible to Michigan’s entire student body. This was important because the union was a hot spot for a rapidly growing and evolving student culture. For example, in 1962, the Union was host to the Michigan Folk Festival with iconic singer and songwriter Bob Dylan as a headlining performer. When promoting this event, the Michigan Daily actually misspelled Dylan’s name as Bob D-I-L-L-I-O-N, and, to the embarrassment of many, had to print a correction.Today, the Union remains a center for campus culture and student life, but, rather than the way it was in the past, all members of the University population are welcomed and allowed to enter from whichever door they please.

Today, roughly half of all U of M students are women and students of all genders are, on paper, given equal access to student life here on campus. But this wasn’t always the case—many spaces, including the Michigan Union, excluded women for much of U of M’s history.

Michigan Union Side Door 

The Daily has been a pillar for student reporting for about 130 years, since its first edition printed in 1890. Since then, its audience has grown tremendously. In 2022, the Daily had more than 110,000 individual viewers to its website.The Daily is independently funded and many Daily staff and alumni have used their backgrounds and experiences from working on the newspaper in order to engage themselves in social justice, climate change, and civil rights activism.One notable alumni is Tom Hayden, class of '61. Before he authored the Port Huron Statement, the manifesto of the Students for a Democratic Society, he was leading the charge here at our University as a reporter and—eventually—Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan Daily. In an ideal world, he saw a university’s job as fostering connections between students and encouraging them to break the status quo and aspire and fight for a better world. It was he, along with other student journalists at the Daily, who played a key role in the ouster of Dean Deborah Bacon, which we just heard about.What enabled Hayden and others to speak their mind during the 1960s was the Daily’s financial independence from the University (though, notably, the University does own this building). This was a game changer, especially during a time of unrest throughout campus.In December 1964, opinion pieces in the Michigan Daily brought the spirit of the protests happening at the University of California, Berkeley, where students were protesting prohibitions on political speech by its administration, to the University of Michigan. And while the Angell Hall anti-war Teach-In of 1965 grabbed national headlines, the Daily also shed light on other student-led protests and actions. One example of this is the “stay-in” at the Michigan Theater in January 1965—some students attended movies but stayed into the next showing, while others picketed outside—to demonstrate against raised ticket prices, which they thought was yet another example of student budgets being pinched. This garnered front-page headlines in the Daily.This is a building built in 1932 that houses the heartbeat of student activism, an important center for discussions around civil rights, the Vietnam War, and more. All run by and reported by students.As we continue our tour, think about the balance of administrative power and student power and how it has been a driving theme for life at U-M.

Have you ever felt like you were not represented by the administration? Have they taken credit for something you and your peers worked hard for? The Michigan Daily aims to set the record straight.

Student Publications Building 

Unlike most of the other buildings on this tour, this theater is not part of the University of Michigan. Looking around we can see many other stores that serve the needs of the residents of Ann Arbor, like those in Nickels Arcade, which we just passed through. Some of these stores, like Van Boven, which is right down the street there, have been in continuous operation since the 1920s. Other stores, like Bivouac, right next door to Van Boven, used to be entirely different stores.  Ann Arbor experienced significant physical and cultural growth in the 1960s, shifting from a small town to a city with larger aspirations. In this expansion shopping centers were built that siphoned off business from downtown stores. In the process, the downtown area shifted from serving general Ann Arbor residents to serving mostly college students. Between 1950 and 1970, Ann Arbor’s population more than doubled, jumping to 100,000 people. Many of these people were of different cultural and national backgrounds compared to the typical resident of the previous decades. During this massive population boom Ann Arbor’s character shifted from a typical midwestern white and protestant town to a more diverse cultural center. It could then be said that the 1960s is when Ann Arbor truly became the mid-sized diverse city that it is today. Furthermore, there was intense optimism that the population would continue to grow. To quote the Chairman of the Ann Arbor Chamber of commerce at the time, William Bott, “Growth is inevitable ... Ann Arbor is in the corridor of the midwestern megalopolis.” Ann Arbor never did become the metropolis that people were envisioning at the time, instead the city’s growth stabilized, allowing it to retain its midwestern charm while also being a cosmopolitan college town. With this growing city, State Street became a hub for student life, gaining the name as the “campus village”. After a day of classes, students could stop by and hit all their daily stops. The everlasting Cottage Inn was a popular pit stop for Pepsi and a pizza, after which students could go to the bank, get a haircut, and end the night with dancing.State Street was a meeting of the entire community. It comes as no surprise that the Women’s Association of the Ann Arbor Symphony held an annual geranium sale on this street as well. Other days, you could find the summer art fair, farmers markets, and even an annual spring cleanup. Ann Arbor in the 60s was just as unafraid of getting together as a community as we are today, and State Street is a focal point for it.

Here we are at the State Theatre, which opened in 1942. The first film shown at this theater was The Fleet’s In, a romance story about a shy sailor and his bets to kiss the stand-offish club star. Twenty-six years later, in 1968, the most popular film of the year was 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film inspired by the ongoing space race in which the University played a role in (we’ll hear more about that later on the tour).

The State Theatre

The 1960s were wild. So much was changing and shifting in society. While the South is often spotlighted for its civil rights battles, the movement was nationwide. Different organizing strategies like sit-ins, originating in places like Greensboro, North Carolina, found their way north, even to Ann Arbor, at this exact intersection.Kresge’s was not just another store. It became a focal point of protest due to its chain's discriminatory practices in the South. In spring 1961, nearly 100 students, both Black and white, picketed, in an attempt to shed light on these injustices. For those of you who don’t know, picketing is when protesters congregate in front of an establishment with the goal of preventing business from taking place within, by either scaring away potential customers, or physically preventing them from entering. Often, these demonstrations garner law enforcement action, or media attention, which raises awareness for the cause at hand. The Ann Arbor Direct Action Committee was instrumental in these protests. In a surprising turn, during one demonstration, the Kresge manager offered coffee and donuts to the picketers, which they declined, symbolizing their steadfast commitment to the cause. Their refusal was not just about a meal; it was a rejection of complacency and acceptance of racial discrimination.Today, this spot is more than just a Walgreens; it's a testament to the enduring spirit of student activism. Think back to the Kresge's protests in the 1960s. Those weren't just random events. They were a foundation for many student movements that followed at U-M. Al Haber was involved in these protests, and he was one of the founders of Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS, which would become one of the largest student activist groups in the 1960s, with national influence in anti-war, anti-poverty, and anti-racism movements. SDS believed that students could be the primary engine for social change through direct action campaigns and what they called “participatory democracy,” an idea espoused in the organization’s manifesto, The Port Huron Statement, written by Tom Hayden, And an interesting note: while the northern student activists were often in the spotlight, their inspiration came largely from the Civil Rights student activists in the south, who were mainly Black. The protests here in Ann Arbor, including those at Kresge’s, are a legacy of the progressive ideologies that defined the 60s. It's a reminder of how our struggles, no matter where they happen, are deeply connected.

Today, you see a Walgreen’s standing here, one that many of you may have undoubtedly visited many times, in between classes or on your way to work. But decades ago, this was the site of Kresge's, a store that played a pivotal role in Ann Arbor's civil rights history. Let's explore the rich history behind this building!

Kresge’s / Walgreens

On March 24, 1965, in the Angell Hall Auditoriums (over here) is where one of the most influential opposition reactions to the war took place. The first teach-in was where a group of U-M professors organized an opposition to the “moral, political, and military consequences” of the Vietnam War. These faculty originally wanted to strike, but after pressure from University administration, they decided instead to hold a teach-in that would educate people about the war and US involvement therein. It lasted through the night and was attended by about 3,000 people, who were encouraged to engage in debate, which is one of the most important points of a democracy. One of the big groups involved in this teach-in was the Students for a Democratic Society.The events that occurred in these rooms inspired more than 50 similar teach-ins at universities around the world. As a result, President Johnson’s ability to shape public opinion about the Vietnam War—especially among young people–was greatly impacted.During the War, college students could not be drafted into the military—they had what was called a student deferment. Since universities are full of young men and women, the US Military wanted to recruit volunteers, especially into the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps’ ROTC programs to become officers in their respective branches. Here, in the Fishbowl, students protested the military’s ROTC presence on campus in the late 1960s.As the war escalated and the US faced more casualties, student demonstrations also escalated. For example, the Tet Offensive in 1968 where American forces suffered heavy losses at the hands of the North Vietnamese forces lined up with an increase in tension on campus. Unlike the early teach-ins, these protests became extreme and at times even violent, including an attempt by the Students for a Democratic Society to drag a recruiter against his will into the Fishbowl to publicly humiliate him.

We are now standing in between the Angell Hall auditoriums, the location of the first teach-in in American history, and the Fishbowl, once the site of the humiliation of a Marine recruiter. Starting with President Eisenhower in the 1950s, the United States escalated its military involvement in Vietnam's Civil War to prevent the spread of communism in the region. In the early 1960s, the American public (and most likely, even students!) supported military action in Vietnam, like it had with US involvement in earlier wars. But students and other activists began to question this, leading to smaller protests in 1965 and eventually mass protests by the end of the decade.

Angell Hall and The Fishbowl

Leading up to the teach-in, symposiums and seminars were held on Michigan’s campus surrounding topics such as environmental law, marine transport pollution, and Canadian environmental problems. An open forum on “intellectual” pollution aptly called an Environmental Scream-Out that was also sponsored by ENACT and the School of Public Health, which gave students and faculty a place to voice not only environmental concerns, but also issues of racism, poverty, and the Vietnam War. This addressed widespread anxieties and worked to create multicultural and community alliances that would speak to a range of issues simultaneously.After gaining momentum from previous events, the first day of the Environmental teach-in kicked off with a “Car Trial” held right here on the Diag. Various members of the public went on the stand, advocating either for or against the car. Some claimed the car and associated auto industry boosted the economy, while others slammed the gas-guzzler, stating that it must be held responsible for its polluting nature. In the end, the judge found the car guilty, condemning it to the fate of being beaten to death.Upon delivering this verdict, students and Ann Arbor residents alike stepped up for a chance to bash in the physical car. People chose their own weapons; some used baseball bats, others sledgehammers, and a few were content with kicking and punching. At the end of the execution, the car was left unrecognizable as the hundreds of viewers cheered on those willing to lend a hand in destroying the vehicle.Though beating up a car could seem aimless, this demonstration served to educate the public on environmental issues surrounding the auto industry. During this time period, there was a national push for automobile reform and paying closer attention to their mileage. Reflecting this, ENACT ran ads pushing people to use the more environmentally friendly public transit system as opposed to their own personal vehicles. This combined national effort eventually led to prolonged changes throughout the 1970s, when car fuel efficiency standards were implemented and the EPA was signed into law by then President Richard Nixon.The main environmental teach-in events were held at Crisler Arena, drawing a crowd of over 50,000 attendees who came to hear from scientists, the sitting Governor of Michigan, and television personalities. The University of Michigan's environmental teach-in received significant attention as it was the first environmental teach-in in the nation. However, this distinction was primarily because the national environmental teach-ins happened to coincide with U-M's exam period. Just a month after U-M's teach-in, on April 22nd, over 1,000 colleges and 400 high schools held their own environmental teach-in events–now known as the first annual Earth Day.

I’m sure that you’re all probably familiar with Earth Day, but you might not know much about the connection between Earth Day environmental activism at Michigan. The Diag serves an important historical purpose in this story. Here, the first Earth Day “prototype”—an environmental teach-in— was hosted in 1970 by ENACT, the Environmental Action for Survival student organization.This teach-in was a product of the 60’s passion for activism.

The DIag

Formerly known as the New Engineering Building, West Hall was designed in 1904, placed intentionally to connect the new east wing of campus with the original southeast end. It was designed by George Mason and Albert Kahn, a Detroit-based architectural firm that designed several other buildings on campus. In addition to becoming the new home for engineering on campus, it was the first site of the College of Architecture (which used to be within Engineering). It didn’t get the name West Hall until 1923, when East Engineering was built across the street at East University Avenue. Since the College of Engineering relocated to North Campus in the mid-1980s, West Hall has housed various academic units like the College of Literature Science and the Arts as well as the School of Information. The Department of Anthropology, the Department of Astronomy, and the Department of Statistics, are currently in the building. We bring you here today to discuss how the University was complicit in military research during the Cold War, as West Hall, then West Engineering, and its historical function serve as reminders of the ways in which this institution is tied to these histories. By 1960, leaders in higher education placed research at the center of academic life, believing it was a way to fuel economic innovation. University President Harlan Hatcher himself believed that  “the University was not a place for vocational training” and that “faculty should excel in teaching and research” as a way to bolster the liberal arts approach.Nonetheless, some of this research was directly connected to US military efforts, including experiments developing chemical and biological warfare for military applications in Vietnam. Harlan Hatcher himself served as a board member of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a nonprofit organization that partnered the United States Defense Department and twelve research universities, effectively creating a think tank for government-sponsored research in war weaponry. By allocating university research initiatives in the service of the war effort, the IDA made the University of Michigan complicit in the United States’ militarization efforts. Universities, like Michigan, also became training grounds for astronauts entering the burgeoning US Space Program, a result of the space race, an extension of Cold War competition between the United States and Soviet Union. Students across the nation began organizing against the militarization of University research.  For them, it was an extension of their anti-Vietnam War activism, enabling them to turn inward to see how their University community was complicit in the war effort. One explicit example of critique of the University’s complicity in the military-industrial complex is the August 8, 1966, student-organized protest against Dow Chemical, a Michigan-based chemical company that produced napalm. Unsurprisingly given what we’ve already learned about its prominence in the Ann Arbor community, the Students for a Democratic Society—who, you might have noticed, have been sort of “recurring characters” in this tour—also published an exposé condemning the Institute for Defense Analyses, arguing that it had nothing to do with education and simply withheld resources from students by sending professors on leave to do research with the organization.The only remaining part of the College of Engineering still on Central Campus is the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory. While most of us walk by this building multiple times a day, many may not realize that this is here.

West Hall tells a story of how research initiatives across the University of Michigan were mobilized in the service of the Cold War. As you can see, West Hall appears old and outdated, but it has been a crucial part of the University for decades. It was here, and at other places on campus, where research, such as social science, natural science, engineering, and even the humanities were militarized during the Cold War. These research initiatives included defense applications to combat the spread of communism, and to expand and consolidate the influence of the United States around the world.

West Hall

Contrary to what was vocalized on campus, in a poll taken among seven Big Ten universities—including the University of Michigan—all seven put Nixon ahead of his opponent. Regardless of student reception, on October 14th, 1960, right here on the steps of the Michigan Union, Kennedy delivered a riveting campaign speech, encouraging U-M students to dedicate a few years of their young lives to working in developing countries, an idea that had been locally advocated for by two U-M graduate students. This was the catalyst for University of Michigan to become a driving force in creating what we now know as the Peace Corps. This is memorialized right over here on this bronze plaque that states: “Here at 2:00 a.m. on October 14, 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy first defined the Peace Corps.”In the wake of JFK’s death in 1963, the nation mourned as vice president Lyndon B. Johnson took the mantle as President. JFK wasn’t able to enact his entire policy agenda, and LBJ took some of these ideas—and added his own—building them into a suite of policies he called the Great Society. Johnson announced this vision to the world at the University’s commencement ceremony at the Big House on May 22, 1964. This speech would change the course of domestic policy in the 60’s. The University spent considerable time meticulously preparing for both the President’s arrival and speech. The University Hospital reserved a room with the top cardiologists and neurosurgeons, along with special routes to the hospital, and emergency press rooms were created in academic halls. Just 10 minutes after being flown by marine helicopters from Detroit airport to the stadium, LBJ began the first-ever televised commencement speech and ushered in a new era of policies. This speech, dubbed the Great Society Speech, introduced a series of influential policies which would translate to over 200 acts of legislation, many of them aimed at bettering the lives of everyday Americans,  and helping to relieve poverty and racial inequality. Some notable developments from the speech include: the implementation of food stamps, medicare and medicaid, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights act of 1965, and even the Immigration Act of 1965. The Great Society’s legacy is a bit more complicated, though. LBJ also highly increased US military presence in Vietnam, which forced Congress to make tough funding choices that impacted Great Society programs. By 1968, campus protests and urban unrest intensified, and LBJ decided not to run for reelection. As it was recognized as a turning point in our nation’s social welfare policy, the Bentley Library at U-M requested the original note cards that President Johnson used, which were signed and then sent back here to stay.

Let us set the scene. It’s fall 1960 and students at the University of Michigan are enthusiastic about the upcoming presidential election. A small, vocal cohort of campus activists didn't mind Kennedy, but overall, they found him too conservative. They also made it known that his opponent, Richard Nixon, had views that were even more conservative and outdated.

Far Out! Ann Arbor in the 60s from JFK to Earth Day

Hill Auditorium

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources