1928: Association tries to prevent non-White students from living near campus, but Asian and Black students and their allies push back
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1928: Association tries to prevent non-White students from living near campus, but Asian and Black students and their allies push back
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Description
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Around December 1928, the Central Berkeley Improvement Association started pushing for a covenant plan to have non-Caucasian students be barred from living in private dwellings around UC Berkeley because they lower property values.
There was immediate pushback from students of color and allies:
• Students of 7 races and nationalities teamed up to write a joint letter of protest. They included Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Filipino, and Black students. The letter was shared publicly, and with president of the University, student clubs, and the press.
• There was a mass meeting of Caucasian and non-Caucasian students that issued a joint letter of protest.
• Robert Sproul, President of the University, put out a statement in defense of the students.
• A group of six White students wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Californian, sarcastically decrying the idea. An official editorial on the same page decried the idea with racist logic, explaining that while foreigners were unwelcome, international students were far better than the average foreigner.
• On December 9, Nichibei [Japanese American News] devoted a significant chunk of the front page to coverage of the incident, and subsequent pushback: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=JAN19281209-01.1.8
Sources:
"Association's Suggestion on Housing Non-Caucasians is Ill-Conceived". The Daily Californian. 80 (74). December 3, 1928. https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/61374 – via Berkeley Library Digital Collections.
"Group Should Improve Itself". The Daily Californian. 80 (74). December 3, 1928. https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/61374 – via Berkeley Library Digital Collections.
"Student Editor Raps Move to Oust Foreign Dwellers". Oakland Tribune: 6B. December 5, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/96214468/ – via Newspapers.com.
"Alien Students Draft Protest". Oakland Tribune: 31. December 7, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/96214468/ – via Newspapers.com.
"Oriental Students at U.C. in Mass Meeting Protest Against Exclusion Move by Berkeley Property Owners". Nichibei [Japanese American News]: 8 [front page]. 9 December 1928. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=JAN19281209-01.1.8 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"U.C. Oriental Students Seek Campbell's Aid in Banning Exclusion Move". Nichibei [Japanese American News]: 8 [front page]. 11 December 1928. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=JAN19281211-01 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Oakland Tribune: "Alien Students Draft Protest"
Japanese American News: "Japanese American News: "Oriental Students at U.C. in Mass Meeting Protest Against Exclusion Move by Berkeley Property Owners"
Japanese American News: "U.C. Oriental Students Seek Campbell's Aid in Banning Exclusion Move"