Section outline

  • MON
    10/5
    The Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, and the Meanings of Liberation
    How did activism by African Americans, Indigenous people, and other people of color change and grow in the late 1960s?
    SLIDES TO COME

    Primary Sources

    • Black Panther Party, “Ten Point Program” (1966) [PDF / HTML]
    • "The Alcatraz Proclamation" (1969) [PDF / HTML]
    • Excerpt from Amy Uyematsu, “The Emergence of Yellow Power in America,” Gidra, Oct. 1969: 8–10. [PDF / full original text here]

    Secondary Sources

    • Edward D. Castillo, “A Reminiscence of the Alcatraz Occupation,” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 18, no. 4 (1994), 111–122. [PDF]

    Optional

    • Robyn C Spencer, Chapters 1 and 2, The Revolution Has Come: Black Power, Gender, and the Black Panther Party in Oakland (Duke University Press, 2016) 7-60. [PDF (chapter 1) + PDF (chapter 2)]

    READING QuestionS

    1. The Black Panther Party emerged in 1966 in Oakland, and quickly spurred connected chapters across the United States. How do the critiques and demands of the Ten Point Program seem similar to or different from those of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and early 1960s? 

    2. The Alcatraz Proclamation was written by a group of indigenous activists during their 19-month take-over of Alcatraz Island starting in 1969. (The prison was closed in 1963, and the island was recognized as a National Parks site in 1972 shortly after the forceful end of the occupation -- it was opened to the public in 1973). What are their demands and the proposed solutions? How would you compare their demands and solutions to those of the Black Panther Party?

    3.  Japanese American poet Amy Uyematsu's essay, "The Emergence of Yellow Power" was one of the earliest major calls for Asian American activism. What does Uyematsu see as unique about the challenges faced by Asian Americans?

     
    WED
    10/7
    Gay and Trans Liberation
    What were gay and trans liberation’s central goals and tactics, and how did they connect to other radical movements of the 1960s and 70s?
    SLIDES TO COME

    Primary Sources

    • Carl Wittman, “Refugees from Amerika: A Gay Manifesto” (1969) [PDF / 1970 pamphlet version PDF]
    • Third World Gay Revolution, “What We Want, What We Believe” (1970) [PDF / HTML]
    • “Transvestite and Transexual Liberation” from Philadelphia Gay Dealer (1970) [PDF / Text-only PDF]

    Optional

    • Richard Meyer, “Gay Power circa 1970: Visual Strategies for Sexual Revolution,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 12, no. 3 (2006): 441–464. [PDF]
    • Jessi Gan, “‘Still at the Back of the Bus’: Sylvia Rivera’s Struggle,” Centro Journal 19, no. 1 (2007): 124–139. [PDF]

    READING QUESTIONS

    1. Carl Wittman was a member of SDS before writing “A Gay Manifesto” – one of the earliest and most influential manifestos for gay liberation. What does he see as some of the major problems facing LGBTQ people, and what are some of his major solutions? Where do you see the influence of the New Left, the counterculture, and/or the Black Panther Party? Are there any points or goals that Wittman states that especially surprised you, given where LGBTQ rights are today?

    2. Third World Gay Liberation was a sub-group of African American and Latinx activists in the New York Gay Liberation Front. Their manifesto, “What We Want, What We Believe” expressly borrows the title of the Black Panthers’ Ten Point Program. How does their manifesto overlap with/build on the Ten Point Program and/or Wittman’s “Gay Manifesto” -- either in terms of goals or rhetoric?

    3. Trans activists also played a major role in early gay liberation but “Transvestite and Transexual Liberation,” was one of earliest published essays calling for trans liberation after Stonewall. (At the time, the terms “transvestite” and “transsexual” were widely used—including by people in the trans community—though today the broader terms “transgender” or “trans” are generally preferred). Who are the primary targets in their list of demands? To what degree do they overlap with the targets/goals of Wittman’s "Gay Manifesto" and the Third World Gay Liberation’s “What We Want, What We Believe”?