Memories From The Past
Posted by Kipp Dawson:
The Students for Equality was a history maker. Before our group, and all of the things it was a part of and it brought to BHS, Berkeley (and BHS) was still considered a conservative place. Most people don't remember Berkeley as the bastion of conservatism it was before the Civil Rights movement, which brought on the Free Speech Movement, which laid the groundwork for the antiwar movement, and so on, and the rest is history. Our school itself was a typical, rather staid place where the predominant forces were the fraternaties and sororities, the band and the football team, and the scholars and the more hidden non-college-bound students. We helped to initiate changes that went deep and wide, both at BHS and elsewhere.
One of the founders of Students for Equality, Tracy Sims, went on to become the leader of the Bay Area Ad Hoc Committee to End Discrimination in Hiring, which led the mass sit-ins and arrests that successfully challenged hiring discrimination against Black people in the hotel and auto sales industries in San Francisco.
Etc., etc. We were the pioneers. We had no idea how deep and far-ranging the changes would be that we helped to begin at BHS, in Berkeley, and in the Bay Area.
It would be interesting to hear how others remember, and evaluate all of this. What do you think?
Thanks again for all.
Kipp Dawson
The Students for Equality was a history maker. Before our group, and all of the things it was a part of and it brought to BHS, Berkeley (and BHS) was still considered a conservative place. Most people don't remember Berkeley as the bastion of conservatism it was before the Civil Rights movement, which brought on the Free Speech Movement, which laid the groundwork for the antiwar movement, and so on, and the rest is history. Our school itself was a typical, rather staid place where the predominant forces were the fraternaties and sororities, the band and the football team, and the scholars and the more hidden non-college-bound students. We helped to initiate changes that went deep and wide, both at BHS and elsewhere.
One of the founders of Students for Equality, Tracy Sims, went on to become the leader of the Bay Area Ad Hoc Committee to End Discrimination in Hiring, which led the mass sit-ins and arrests that successfully challenged hiring discrimination against Black people in the hotel and auto sales industries in San Francisco.
Etc., etc. We were the pioneers. We had no idea how deep and far-ranging the changes would be that we helped to begin at BHS, in Berkeley, and in the Bay Area.
It would be interesting to hear how others remember, and evaluate all of this. What do you think?
Thanks again for all.
Kipp Dawson
posted by 1962BHS at 5:42 PM
6 Comments:
A good place to put your memories from the past
I always like to know "where are they now?" It is interesting to know about life after high school. I was amazed at how many of our classmates are no longer with us...I guess because we are getting old.
I would consider Tudisco and Sustaric as prime teachers, and of course FitzGibbon, in setting me on the path of the Sixties. In her own way, so was Von Kauschnitz, and in his, Gomez.
I'm interested in hearing more about the class of 1962. Please e-mail me at bhs@bhsallclassreunion.com with contact detail on who to contact in your class.
Kipp Dawson's "Memories From The Past," is almost an understatement. The impact was world wide, and they knew from where it came. I went to Europe in 1965 and when people would ask me where I was from, I'd say Berkeley, Calif. They would then ask, "where's that," so I'd say near San Francisco. To save time I just started saying, when asked where I was from, "San Francisco." After about 6 months of that, someone asked me the question to which I gave my SF answer, and I was then asked, "Have you ever been to Berkeley?" My answer was Berkeley from then on and there was always questions and praise for my dear old home town, Berkeley, California. What a place!!!!
I am from the class of 1965, but found this site because of the mention of Mr. Sustaric. He was an extremely interesting man, with an intense personal history that had left a mark on him. He taught from the heart and was true humanist radical.
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