‘Epicenter: The Struggle for Black Studies in the Bay Area’: Screening and Discussion

Please join us for a special film documentary screening of Epicenter:The Struggle for Black Studies in the Bay Area, followed by an intimate conversation with filmmaker Doug Harris, Douglas Harris Jr. and cast members. 

The film examines the early student activism of the 1960s and 1970s, which brought the first Black studies departments to higher education in the entire country. The film is very timely, as African American studies programs at institutions of higher education are currently being targeted for closure around the country. 

In chronological order, the documentary will feature segments about Merritt College (1966), San Francisco State (1968) and UC Berkeley (1970), as told by cast members of the film who were on the ground floor of the Bay Area struggles through protests, strikes and riots. The Bay Area stood at the forefront, taking the leap toward introducing the study of Black and other minority cultures that would eventually spread throughout the country.