The Howard University Takeover, Fifty Years Later

'Many of America’s historically black colleges and universities played a vital role in the country’s civil rights movement. Influential Black leaders and artists such as Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison, Stokely Carmichael, and Mamie Clark were graduates of one such college, the prestigious Howard University in Washington, D.C. But fifty years ago this week, students on campus were deeply unhappy about the direction the institution was headed in the civil rights struggle. Howard University ran a compulsory R.O.T.C. program which some students claimed was a factory for sending black officers off to war in Vietnam. Among other grievances, students were also disappointed about the lack of academic programs covering black and African history and literature.  Tony Gittens, a former student-leader of Howard University's March 1968 protests, recalls the lead-up to the tumultuous events and offers advice for those who are part of today's student protest movements.'  -- The Takeaway