Asian American Movement 1968

Welcome to the Asian American Movement 40th Anniversary collection from the archives of the Asian Community Center (once located on Kearny St. in San Francisco). We focus on 1968 because that year was the beginning point for the Asian American movement. 1968 witnessed world changing events and many Asian Americans responded to make the world a better place for humanity. This project is sponsored by the Asian Community Center History Group. Email project at ewbbinfo@yahoo.com

TIMELINE 1968-1973

January 1968

Tet Offensive in Vietnam, Viet Cong temporarily seized the U.S. embassy in Saigon. This marked a turning point as the American public increasingly disapproved of the war.

Mar. 3, 1968

More than 1000 Chicano students walk out of Abraham Lincoln High School in L.A. in protest of school conditions. The student strike known as the L.A. Blowouts, would later have over 10,000 high school students walk out by the end of the week.

March 1968

My Lai Massacre was the mass murder of 347 to 504 unarmed citizens of Vietnam, mostly women and children, by U.S. Army forces on March 16, 1968, in the hamlets of My Lai and My Khe during the Vietnam War. Many of the victims were raped, beaten, tortured, or mutilated. The incident prompted widespread outrage around the world and reduced U.S. support at home for the war in Vietnam.

March 1968

SFSU Third World Liberation Front was formed with the Black Students Union, the Mexican American Student Confederation, the Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE), the Intercollegiate Chinese for Social Action (ICSA), the Latin American Students Organization, and an American Indian student organization. The Asian American Political Alliance joined TWLF by summertime. A member of PACE was elected as the TWLF first chairperson.

April 4,1968

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. His murder was followed by urban riots nationwide in up to 76 cities

April 6, 1968

Bobby Hutton, 16 years old and the first Black Panther Party recruit, was killed in Oakland during police raid of BPP headquarters.

May 1968

Asian American Political Alliance was formed at UC Berkeley. The AAPA S.F. chapter became active in the SFSU TWLF..

SFSU TWLF staged a sit-in at President Summerskill's office. Resulted in opening of 412 admission slots for TW applicants over the next two semesters, and the creation of at least 10 faculty positions for TW professors. Sit-in also involved first major act of police violence against student demonstrators with clubbings, ten injuries requiring hospitalization, and twenty-six arrests. Summerskill resigned a few months later and there was no fulfillment of earlier agreements. Student frustration leads to divergence from traditional protest channels.

June 30, 1968

Berkeley mayor Wallace Johnson declares a state of emergency and a three day curfew in the city in response to violence in the wake of student demonstrations in support of Paris, France May Uprising of students and workers the previous month.

October 28, 1968

First eviction notice was served on 196 International Hotel tenants, mostly elderly Filipino and Chinese men. The tenants were given until the first of January 1969 to leave. Milton Meyers Co. owned by Walter Shorenstein planned to demolish the building to build a parking lot..

November 1968

San Francisco State Strike begins. It was the longest student strike in U.S. history 167 days.

November 28-31, 1968

AAPA was part of a S.F. Bay Area delegation to the Montreal Hemispheric Conference to end the Vietnam War.

November 28, 1968

Free University of Chinatown Kids, Unincorporated was started by the members of SFSU Intercollegiate Chinese for Social Action at their Chinatown youth center.

January 10,1969

UCB African American Students Union began to discuss publicly the need for action, including a possible strike. The AASU, Mexican-American Student Confederation (MASC), and the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) formed a united position and began to function as the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF).

January 11, 1969

Asian American Experience/Yellow Identity Conference held at U.C. Berkeley. Sponsored by Chinese Students’ Club, Nisei Student’s Club and Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) of S.F., San Mateo, Los Angeles, Berkeley, San Jose, Sacramento, New York and Hawaii.

Next day Statewide AAPA meeting held at U.C. Berkeley after the Yellow Identity Conference.

January 21, 1969

UC Berkeley Third World Strike begins.

March 16, 1969

Community and tenants protests forced a new International Hotel lease agreement to be signed on this day. But instead an early morning arson fire kills three tenants and destroys a wing of the International Hotel. Landlord cancels negotiations and takes steps to condemn building.

May 4, 1969

May 4th Rally at Portsmouth Square. Sponsored by Red Guards and AAPA.

November 1969
78 Native American activists seize and occupy Alcatraz Island. The occupiers held the island for nearly eighteen months, from Nov. 20, 1969, until June 11, 1971, reclaiming it as Indian land and demanding fairness and respect for Indian peoples. Thousands of Native Americans in total had participated in the occupation during those years .

February 1970

Asian Studies Field Office (UCB) established in the Victory Building on Kearny Street, located next to the International Hotel. Arrangement is made with United Filipino Association to sublet the space. By summer 1970 Asian Community Center was founded in the basement space and institutes “serve the people” programs and pro-China activities. In October, a total of over 1,000 Chinatown residents attended fourteen movie showings of “East Is Red”, a revolutionary Peking opera.

Chinatown Cooperative Garment Factory began operations, sharing space inside ACC.

November 15, 1970

Asian Community Center relocates to International Hotel building at 846 Kearny Street. Landlord argues that his contract was with UFA and not ACC and therefore chooses to evict ACC from premises. ACC suspects that this had to do with political pressure from Chinese Six Companies. The Chinatown press had numerous articles accusing ACC activists to be the new Red Guards.

February 5 & 8, 1971

Police raids on Asian Community Center, Leeways & Asian Legal Services. (Press Statement February, 1971)

April 9, 1971

Tiao-yu Tai Protest Rally at Portsmouth Square. Sponsored by the Northern California Tiao-yu Tai Islands Sovereignty Defense League

1971

Wei Min She Organization founded in Asian Community Center.

February 21, 1972

President Nixon visits Peoples Republic of China and begins normalizing relations between U.S. and China.

April 29, 1972

Chinese Ping Pong Delegation arrives at San Francisco International Airport. Beginning of a week of Ping Pong diplomacy events.

August 1972

Kearny Street Workshop was started by local artists to offer different forms of artistic expression to the Chinatown-Manilatown community.