Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: Resistance, Resilience, Re-imagination

Welcome to the third in a series of four webinars on the origins of the Educational Opportunity Program at California State University, Long Beach, brought to you by the Black Student Union Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach. Resistance, Resilience, Reimagination highlights a time when a small, vocal group of African-American students and faculty made campus history. "I came up with EOP concept but students and faculty came up with the BSU and Black Studies." Those are the words of the late Dr. Joseph L. White, Godfather of EOP at CSULB, giving credit to Black students. Between 1966 and 1967, a loose-knit collection of Black students met on campus to discuss issues which they found important. The CSULB BSU is an outgrowth of that discussion group and chartered as a political club in 1967. The BSU remains a vital presence on campus in the 21st century. In this webinar, we talk to students, original faculty, and community activists who were part of that discussion group that helped launched the Black Student Union, Black Studies, and their successors. The speakers will briefly discuss their backgrounds and give us a rare glimpse of campus life from a unique Black perspective.