A History of the New Left at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville
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Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2007 "Shut It Down, Open It Up": A History of the New Left at the University Of Virginia, Charlottesville Thomas M. Hanna Virginia Commonwealth University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/693 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "Shut It Down, Open It Up": A History of the New Left at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. by Thomas Matthew Hanna B.A. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2005 Dr. Timothy N. Thurber, Director of Graduate Studies, History Department Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia December 2007 Acknowledgment I would like to thank my loving wife Caroline and my incredibly supportive parents. Without them none of this would have been possible. I would also like to thank all of my professors at Virginia Commonwealth University, especially my advisor Dr. Thurber, my thesis committee members Dr. Fronc and Dr. Newmann, Dr. Kneebone and Dr. Herman, and Dr. Deal at the Library of Virginia. Last but not least, I would like to thank Dr. Gaston at the University of Virginia and Thomas Gardner for allowing me to interview them for this thesis, Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..iv Abstract ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...vi Chapter I: Introduction ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..l Chapter 11: Desegregation and Liberalism ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .12 Chapter 111: Civil Rights ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 36 Chapter IV: The New Left ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .52 Chapter V: The Student Strike and Conclusions ... .,. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .I12 Bibliography ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 152 Index of Names ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 157 Abbreviations ACLU- American Civil Liberties Union BPP- Black Panther Party for Self Defense CA-VCHR- Charlottesville-Albemarle Chapter of the Virginia Council on Human Relations CCC- Charlottesville Citizen's Committee CDC- Citizen's Democratic Council CDCG- Charlottesville Draft Counseling Group CDO- Charlottesville Draft Opposition CDR- Charlottesville Draft Resistance CEF- Charlottesville Education Foundation CFM- Charlottesville Freedom Movement CIA- Central Intelligence Agency CO- Conscientious Objector CP- Communist Party CPE- Committee for Public Education CR- Charlottesville Resistance CSA (1954)- Council for Social Action CSA (1965)- Churchmen for Social Action Defenders- Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties FSM- Free Speech Movement (Berkeley) GE- General Electric IFC- Inter-fraternity Council JC-VCHR- Jefferson Chapter of the Virginia Council on Human Relations KKK- Ku Klux Klan LID- League for Industrial Democracy MIA- Montgomery Improvement Association MFDP- Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Mobe- National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam NAACP- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NLF- National Liberation Front (Vietnam) NLG National Lawyers Guild NOW- National Organization of Women NSA- National Student Association PCES- Parent's Committee for Emergency Schools PL- Progressive Labor Party RCP- Revolutionary Communist Party RF"U- Radical Feminists Union ROTC- Reserve Officers Training Corps RSU- Radical Student Union RYM- Revolutionary Youth Movement RYM 11- Revolutionary Youth Movement Two SCEF- Southern Conference Education Fund SCLC- Southern Christian Leadership Conference SDS- Students for a Democratic Society SLAM- Southern Labor Action Movement SLID- Student League for Industrial Democracy SNCC- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SRC- Southern Regional Council SSA- Students for Social Action SSOC- Southern Student Organizing Committee UCM- University Christian Movement USA- United Students for Action UUS- Union of University Students UVA- University of Virginia VSCRC- Virginia Students' Civil Rights Committee VCHR- Virginia Council on Human Relations VPI- Virginia Polytechnic Institute VPP- Virginia Progressive Party VRI- Virginia Research Institute VSU- Virginia State University VUU- Virginia Union University WITCH- Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell WSA- Worker-Student Alliance WUO- Weather Underground Organization YAF- Young Americans for Freedom Yippie- Youth International Party Abstract "SHUT IT DOWN, OPEN IT UP": A HISTORY OF THE NEW LEFT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, CHARLOTESVILLE Thomas Matthew Hanna, B.A. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2005 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2007 Dr. Timothy Thurber, Director of Graduate Studies, History Department This thesis is a history of social and political activism in Charlottesville during the 1960s focusing on new left student organizing at the University of Virginia. It is a work of social history that establishes a community that has been generally ignored in traditional histories of the new left as one of the most influential centers of new left activism in the South and asserts that this prominence was due to years of activism by local liberals, civil rights advocates, and students during the city's unique experiences on the front lines of the southern desegregation, civil rights, and anti-war struggles. It traces the evolution of social activism in the city and the university from the late 1950s through the early 1970s and demonstrates how local activists and issues interacted with regional, national, and global events during one of the most socially tumultuous decades in American history. "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."- Thomas Jefferson As night fell on Monday 4 May 1970, several hundred angry students marched towards a large building on campus which housed the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. They had just come from a mass rally to mourn the killing of four protesting students at Kent State in Ohio earlier in the day and when they reached the building their frustration and sorrow boiled over. The students occupied the building and hung signs on the front columns proclaiming it "Freedom Hall." As radio announcements brought hundreds of supporters, sympathetic students, and frightened administrators to the scene, protest leaders holed up in the wardroom. Surrounded by posters of naval men in full regalia, they drew up a list of demands. The strike was on.' If asked where the event just described took place, many people would guess the University of California at Berkeley, Columbia University or a similar iconic campus associated in the public consciousness with sixties anti-war activism. In fact, this occupation of "Maury Hall" occurred on the first day of a three week student strike at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia's premier institution of higher learning. The strike was the penultimate event in more than half a decade of social and political activism by a group of students affiliated with the American new left at the university. The new left ideological movement that emerged, burned white hot, and then imploded in America during the sixties and early seventies has been the subject of hundreds of history books and journal articles ever since it stormed onto the political scene. From Kirkpatrick Sale's flagship work SDS (1973) to James Miller's Democracy is in the Streets (1994) ' Rob Buford, May Days: Crisis in Confrontation (Richmond: Whittet & Shepperson, 1970), 4-6. and many in-between, the new left has been studied and written about by participants, scholars, and others alike. Unfortunately the new left's greatest ideological gift to the historical profession, social history--or history from the bottom up-has largely been lacking in histories of the new left. According to historian Doug Rossinow, "It could hardly be more ironic that we have no histories from the bottom up of the new left, the political movement that bequeathed this idea to the historical Traditionally, most histories of the new left focus on the movement's largest and most influential organization, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and its leaders. This top-down approach has immortalized, in both the public and scholarly discourse, SDS power centers such as Ann Arbor, Michigan; Columbia, New York; and Berkeley, California, as well as leaders such as Tom Hayden, A1 Haber, Rennie Davis, Todd Gitlin, Paul Booth, Bernadine Dohrn, and Mark Rudd. Thus the South, which