Ten Snapshots from the First Major Student Strike in the United States [City College of New York]
Unknown photographer(s), [New York]: [1949]. 10 deckle-edge black-and-white photographic prints, each 3 x 5 in.
These ten snapshots record the first widespread student strike in the United States. Though this demonstration has been overshadowed in scholarship by the uprisings of the years to follow, it doubtlessly set the stage for decades of student organizing.
The protests erupted in April 1949 after years of underwhelming response by the school administration to accusations of anti-Semitism and racism by two City College of New York (CCNY) professors. Though undated, we have traced these photographs to April 1949 given the reference to the student council’s vote for a strike in the picket signs photographed.
William E. Knickerbocker, Romance Languages department chair, had been formally accused of repeated and ongoing anti-Semitic behavior by his colleagues a full four years earlier: passing over Jewish people for student awards, promotions, and hires. At around the same time, another CCNY professor, William E. Davis, was accused of relegating Black students to sub-standard living conditions during his time as a coordinator of student housing, a claim that would be formally substantiated by the college administration.
After years of inactivity and sham investigations by the school administration, the Student Council voted on Friday April 8, 1949 for a general strike starting the following Monday.
The first day of the strike resulted in hundreds on the picket line and thousands on strike. Police response was harsh and swift; 17 students were arrested and more injured in what was described by police as a “near-riot.” As the students were dragged off, they are reported to have sung the folk song adopted by the labor movement, “We Shall Not Be Moved.” The group’s legal team included Emmanuel H. Bloch, who two years later would serve as the chief defense attorney for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
Some students would later say that they had stayed away from the protests due to the widespread accusations of Communist agitation but were moved to join after witnessing the police crackdown that Monday. Both professors were eventually demoted from their administrative posts but continued to teach and collect paychecks until their tenures ended years later.
As protests against endemic racism, violent police response, and accusations of outside agitators continue, this student uprising undoubtedly provides lessons for today.
Unique documents from one of the first major student protests in post-war America and an important precursor for the student movement of the 1950s and 60s. Near fine.