The Black Action Movement at The University of Michigan

A TWITTER THREAD BY LINDSEY LINCOLN USING RESEARCH AND PHOTOS FROM THE AADL ARCHIVES

The Black Action Movement (BAM) formally organized at @umich in 1970, 1975, and 1987––each time to demand opportunities for Black students, including increased recruitment, financial aid opportunities, and community support. 

(📸Tom Marks, March 21, 1987, @AnnArborNews) 

In 1970, student leaders met with University president Robben Fleming to discuss enrollment and retention of Black students. On March 11, 1970 Fleming released a list of proposals for the Board of Regents to consider.

(📸Robert Chase, @AnnArborNews)

Fleming proposed the Opportunity Program budget be tripled, providing $3 million in financial aid for students. The proposal also included an expanded recruitment office, but did not address BAM’s demand that Black students make up 10% of the student body. 

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The Regents passed Fleming’s proposal, but BAM student leaders saw it lacking tangible, specific support for Black students, so they lead a campus-wide boycott of classes, picketing, and protests, which closed U-M for 18 days: aadl.org/aa_news_19700320_p13-u_black_students_told_limits_are_necessary

(📸@AnnArborNews, March, 1970)

As the strike continued, students negotiated with administration, finally coming to an agreement in early April to increase Black student enrollment to 10%. U.S. VP Spiro Agnew called Fleming’s “surrender” to students “callow retreat from reality.” aadl.org/aa_news_19700813_p16-university_reports_efforts_to_hike_black_enrollment

U-M enrollment never reached agreed-upon levels and students organized again in 1975, putting pressure on administration to prioritize recruiting and retaining Black students. Administration again promised to do better.

(📸Cecil Lockard, February 18, 1975, @AnnArborNews)

In 1980, 10 years after BAM originally organized to demand support for Black students, the Center for Afro-American & African Studies offered over 60 classes and Trotter House provided community to Black students. 

(📸Mark Hodney, November 1981, @AnnArborNews)

The number of Black students peaked in 1976, never reaching the 10% goal students and activists fought for. Out-of-state tuition rates began rising precipitously and Black enrollment continued to fall, setting the stage for the 1987 movement: BAM III. 

(📸Colleen Fitzgerald, March 18, 1987, @AnnArborNews)

BAM III formed in response to: 

• U-M administration’s failure to fulfill commitments made to Black students, and

•  Instances of racist harassment on campus

aadl.org/aa_news_19870318_pa01-students_seek_bam_revival

(📸Colleen Fitzgerald, March 18, 1987, @AnnArborNews)

It was March of 1987––the semester coming to a close––when BAM activists shared their 11 demands, threatening to close the university if progress wasn’t made: aadl.org/aa_news_19870319_pa01-blacks_threaten_to_close_um

On March 23, 1987, U-M announced a plan to achieve greater levels of racial equality on campus, allocating money for the Black Student Union, created new positions, and expanded the procedure for addressing racial violence.

(📸Tom Marks, March 20, 1987, @AnnArborNews)

After the agreement, BAM announced that students should look to the Black Student Union to advocate for Black U-M students. Student leader John Simpson added, “If the road gets rocky, BAM will be back.” 

(📸Colleen Fitzgerald, March 1987, @AnnArborNews)

With tentative optimism, student activists looked toward the next school year––excited for a new freshman class of activists and ready to continue fighting for justice. 

aadl.org/aa_news_19870910-campus_racism_struggle_far_from_over_says_student_activist

(📸Tom Marks, September 10, 1987, @AnnArborNews)