To one who was present as a student activist at Yale in the late 60s, this is fascinating if rambling. To clarify a minor point, Skip Bowen and Joey Lopez were supported by Yale SDS (and not the Black Panther Party) because the SDS chapter knew Skip from supporting a welfare mother's group lead in part by his mother. I believe his name was actually Skip Griffin, but time plays tricks. They didn't get any help from the BPP because by then the locally rooted leadership were all in jail, and new people had been sent in. They were lead by Doug Miranda, a cynical former and future (non-political) criminal who was anti-labor and couldn't be bothered with non-headline issues.
Also, I recall Mrs. Williams holding her job for several months, not one month, after the sit-in that got it back. I had dinner with some younger friends at the commons the following Spring and she came over and thanked us again for our actions on her behalf. The union was again unable to help her because she didn't get to the end of her probationary period.
Thanks very much for the comments/clarifications. Skip's last name was listed as Bowen on the Campus Worker Student Alliance leaflets. Perhaps he was using a fake or alternate last name? And I don't think I imply that either was involved with the BPP. I was trying (and I wrote this five years ago so i'm a bit vague on some of the details) to gesture instead towards a more generalized radical ferment in New Haven at the moment. As for Mrs Williams, I was relying entirely on the Yale Daily News and other archival press coverage, which may well have been inaccurate given the source.
I'm actually beginning research on a dissertation on service, maintenance and clerical workers at U.S. universities from the second world war to the present, and Yale will be one of the institutions I'm planning on writing about. If you're willing, it might be really helpful if i could talk to you at some point about what was going on then.
Saw Jim Sober's name and wondered where he is. Also others from the old SDS/PLP days. I was at UConn, where Jim was an "outside agitator." We sold communist newspapers at factory gates. What were we thinking??
To one who was present as a student activist at Yale in the late 60s, this is fascinating if rambling. To clarify a minor point, Skip Bowen and Joey Lopez were supported by Yale SDS (and not the Black Panther Party) because the SDS chapter knew Skip from supporting a welfare mother's group lead in part by his mother. I believe his name was actually Skip Griffin, but time plays tricks. They didn't get any help from the BPP because by then the locally rooted leadership were all in jail, and new people had been sent in. They were lead by Doug Miranda, a cynical former and future (non-political) criminal who was anti-labor and couldn't be bothered with non-headline issues.
ReplyDelete--Mark Zanger
Also, I recall Mrs. Williams holding her job for several months, not one month, after the sit-in that got it back. I had dinner with some younger friends at the commons the following Spring and she came over and thanked us again for our actions on her behalf. The union was again unable to help her because she didn't get to the end of her probationary period.
ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for the comments/clarifications. Skip's last name was listed as Bowen on the Campus Worker Student Alliance leaflets. Perhaps he was using a fake or alternate last name? And I don't think I imply that either was involved with the BPP. I was trying (and I wrote this five years ago so i'm a bit vague on some of the details) to gesture instead towards a more generalized radical ferment in New Haven at the moment. As for Mrs Williams, I was relying entirely on the Yale Daily News and other archival press coverage, which may well have been inaccurate given the source.
I'm actually beginning research on a dissertation on service, maintenance and clerical workers at U.S. universities from the second world war to the present, and Yale will be one of the institutions I'm planning on writing about. If you're willing, it might be really helpful if i could talk to you at some point about what was going on then.
ZSW
Is this a current blog? Just tried to post but it is not showing.
ReplyDeleteSaw Jim Sober's name and wondered where he is. Also others from the old SDS/PLP days. I was at UConn, where Jim was an "outside agitator." We sold communist newspapers at factory gates. What were we thinking??
ReplyDelete