Student Activism

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Making Space for Themselves: The Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters’ 1969 List of Demands

Authored by Jennifer Loubriel

In February 1969, the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters wrote “The Ten Demands” to Barnard College President Martha Peterson, pictured above. Based off of their experiences on campus, their demands were: curriculum that includes Black studies across the board, nationwide recruitment of Black students, flexible financial aid policies, library materials that are about Black studies and culture, an orientation program by and for Black students, revamping the “Special Students” program, a Black-only study space on campus, selective living for Black students, Soul Food in the cafeteria, and an end to the policing of Black bodies on campus.

Amid the backdrop of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, Black college students paved the way for campus protests across the United States in the 1960s. Due to an increased presence of Black students at primarily white institutions (P.W.I.s), a number of systemic issues and needs were cropping up. This included recruitment and retention, financial aid, racially sensitive support services, culturally competent curriculum, and social facilities (Gamson, Peterson, and Blackburn 1980, 260). Colleges became hotbeds of activism as Black students fought against institutional racism and stood in solidarity with local community organizers (Biondi 2012). In the late 1960s, Morningside Heights was no stranger to Black student organizing. In spring 1968, students at Columbia University, Barnard College’s brother school, had organized protests against the white supremacy of the institution (Bradley 2003). The events of that protest directly led to the founding of the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters (B.O.S.S.), whose goals were to center Black women’s issues on campus (Rosenberg 2004, 241).

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