The pivotal 1969 UC Berkeley student movement, the Third World Liberation Front (twLF), helped established Ethnic Studies as an interdisciplinary field in the U.S.
About twLF
In 1968, a coalition known as the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) is formed between the Black Student Union and other student groups at San Francisco State University to lead a five month strike on campus to demand a radical shift in admissions practices that mostly excluded nonwhite students and in the curriculum regarded as irrelevant to the lives of students of color.
In 1969, a multiracial coalition of UC Berkeley students comes together and forms the third world Liberation Front (twLF) to demand that the University acknowledge the histories of communities of color as vital scholarship through the creation of a Third World College dedicated to the underemphasized histories of African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicanos/Chicanas, and Native Americans. The three month long protests that followed resulted not in a Third World College but in the Department of Ethnic Studies.
In 1999, under the banner of the third world Liberation Front, UC Berkeley students protested a series of cuts to the Ethnic Studies Department by holding rallies, sit-ins, building occupations, and a hunger strike resulting in a five point Agreement in Support of Ethnic Studies. Included in this agreement was a commitment to establishing a research center on campus, which evolved to be the Center for Race & Gender.
To learn more to visit UC Berkeley's Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) site.
"twLF Demand Ethnic Studies Now", 2010, by Jesus Barraza.
RESOURCE GUIDE
The UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library organized a Third World Liberation Front Resource Guide that compiles materials on the twLF and the history of Ethnic Studies and African American Studies focusing on, but not limited to the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University. Resources include the following:
- books
- dissertations
- articles
- audiovisual media
- primary sources
- newspapers
- oral histories
ARTICLES
- Dong, Harvey. 2009. “Third World Liberation Comes to San Francisco State and UC Berkeley.” Chinese America: History & Perspectives 95. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost.
- Lye, Colleen. 2010. “US Ethnic Studies and Third Worldism, 40 years later.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 11, no. 2: 188-193. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
- Queena, Hoang. 2012. “Ethnic Studies: The Cyclical Fight, Conquer, and Struggle.” Vermont Connection 33, 59-66. Education Source, EBSCOhost.
- Taylor, Ula. 2010. “Origins of African American Studies at UC-Berkeley.” Western Journal Of Black Studies 34, no. 2: 256-265. Humanities International Complete, EBSCOhost.
- Sexton, Jared and Frank B. Wilderson, III. 1999. “The twLF Hunger Strike: A Critical View–On Tactics and a Broader Mission.”Solidarity.
OTHER TWLF WEBSITES
Funders & Awards
2018 UC Berkeley Student Tech Fund Grant - Multi-year Award
Third World Liberation Front Digital Portal
Past twLF Scholars
(Bios reflect scholars’ status at the time of their appointment at the Center for Race and Gender.)
twLF Events
2018-2019: 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE THIRD WORLD LIBERATION FRONT
The pivotal 1969 UC Berkeley student movement, the Third World Liberation Front (twLF), helped established Ethnic Studies as an interdisciplinary field in the U.S. Marking the upcoming 50th anniversary of the twLF, the research initiative produced a year-long series of events, discussions, exhibits, and an online digital portal that archives and documents twLF’s critical role in shaping UC Berkeley’s identity, its relationship with Bay Area-based 1960s social movements, and its impact on the inception and development of Ethnic Studies. Initiative members include students, staff, and faculty from the Center for Race & Gender, the Ethnic Studies Library, the Multicultural Community Center, the Ethnic Studies and African American Studies Departments, and American Cultures.
