On January 1, 1969, approximately 70 Black students at Brandeis University seized both Ford and Sydeman Halls, beginning an 11 day occupation. The students had a list of ten demands that they hoped would help to create a more inclusive academic environment. During the occupation, the students renamed Ford Hall as Malcolm X University, and other students from Brandeis and other neighboring universities organized and acted in solidarity with the occupying students.
 Students protesting in support of the occupying students. Photograph by Ralph Norman. Source: Brandeis University Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections |
 The leaders of the Ford Hall occupation speak to the press from inside Ford Hall. Left to right: Ricardo Mellett, Bob Jones, and Roy DeBerry. Source: Brandeis University Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections |
The poster below, from the Celebrate People’s History Poster Series with the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, is by Joshua Kahn Russell, a social movement facilitator, organizer, and executive director of the Wildfire Project. The text in the poster reads as follows:
“A professor said, ‘You know, you should not take this personally, the administration reneges on its promises to us faculty all the time.’ One of the Black students, almost in disbelief, looked at him and replied, ‘Well, why do you take it?’”
“Occupation of Ford Hall” by Joshua Kahn Russell. Source: Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative
In the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a student group called the Afro-American Organization at Brandeis University decided they were sick of getting treated like second class citizens at their own college. At 2:00pm on January 8, 1969, 65 African-American students armed themselves and occupied Ford Hall, officially inaugurating it Malcolm X University.
Over 150 Black students from other colleges came to Ford Hall to demonstrate solidarity. White Brandeis students held sit-ins, demonstrations, hunger strikes, and printed newspapers in support of the occupation. After 11 days the occupation ended, and the students were granted full amnesty.
Their actions resulted in one of the first academic departments of African and African-American Studies in the nation. The students’ other demands were soon realized as well, including increased recruitment of Black students, Martin Luther King Jr. scholarships, and Black student control of hiring of certain administrators.
The Ford Hall takeover coincided with occupations at universities around the country, including the University of California, Columbia, Cornell, San Francisco State, and Swarthmore. Even though Ford Hall was demolished in 2007, its memory inspires stiudents to this day.
Additional Resources
The Occupation of Ford Hall 1969: A Timeline from the Brandeis BLK Archives Collective
Ford Hall 1969 from the Brandeis University Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections
1969 Student Occupation from the Brandeis University Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections
The Student Occupation of Ford Hall, January 1969 from the Brandeis University Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections
Watch a Brandeis University 2019 panel talk with seven participants from the Ford Hall takeover below.
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