Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving, and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. As a method, it involves an interview that is recorded and made available to the public. Oral histories become primary sources that supplement and enrich our collective understanding of places, communities, and events in the past.
On January 30th, 2023 the High School Ethnic Studies Initiative (HSESI), held "Hope, Healing and the Warrior Women Project - A discussion with Dr. Elizabeth Castle”. This event took place at the Multicultural Community Center at UC Berkeley and was a part of the HSESI Scholars Series. The series hosts panel discussions year-round aimed at supporting California high school Ethnic Studies educators.
Filmmaker and scholar Dr. Castle shared her experiences with...
Roberto D. Hernández is a Xicano from San Ysidro, a district in San Diego along the U.S-Mexico border with Tijuana. Hernández came to Berkeley in 1997 with the last class of affirmative action before Proposition 209 took effect and took an active role as a student striker in the third world Liberation Front strike (twLF) of 1999. Leading up to the strike, Hernández was part of the Students of Color Solidarity Council (SCSC), which helped coordinate the Third World College, where they held a series of teach-ins, events, and film-screenings during a week-...
During the 50th Anniversary of the 1969 Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) student strike at UC Berkeley, a campus collective was formed named the TWLF Research Initiative. Among other things, this initiative recorded oral histories of student strikers from the 1969 and 1999 TWLF student strikes at UC Berkeley. This page features selected previews of those interviews with student strikers. Full interviews will be posted on Calisphere (links forthcoming).
Dr. LaNada War Jack is an activist, scholar, writer, and mother of four. She is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock tribe and has served as a leader in the fight for Native American rights, resistance, and representation for over fifty years. Not only was she the first Native American to attend UC Berkeley, but she also became one of the first Indigenous persons to earn a Ph.D. War Jack's unwavering commitment to social and racial justice was evident in her initiative to recruit Native American students to UC Berkeley. She further demonstrated her commitment...
Bob Wing has written about and engaged in social justice organizing and activism since 1968. His first organizing experience was in the 1969 UC Berkeley Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strike, an experience that instilled a deep sense of purpose and commitment in Wing’s lifework. TWLF was a campuswide coalition of students of color that demanded an autonomous Third World College and a relevant curriculum for communities of color, led by students and community. The Civil Rights, Black Power, and anti-Vietnam War movements inspired Wing, as...
