Oakland Induction Center
During the Vietnam War young male draftees would arrive at the Oakland Induction Center on Clay Street for processing and physical exams. Throughout this period, anti-war activists would conduct protests outside the Induction Center. Much of our collection centers on street reporting from Colin Edwards during Stop the Draft Week 1967. In California, Stop the Draft Week organizers led 3000 marchers to the Oakland Induction Center on October 16, 1967. When marchers refused police orders to leave, police attacked them with nightsticks, injuring 20. On the second day, demonstrators returned to the Induction Center, and this time 97 were arrested. On the third day, 10,000 protesters arrived, this time retreating in orderly fashion but also successfully blocking streets as they departed.This collection also includes coverage of the mutiny on the Coral Sea, anti-war demonstrations and speeches on the UC Berkeley campus, audio excerpts from a protest at Port Chicago and other anti-war content.
Documents
Berkeley Train Incident Actuality/Anti-Vietnam War appeals to Mexican Ship
Date: 9/5/1965Call Number: CE 897Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
The Vietnam Day Committee, a group of organizing activists bent on not only symbolically objecting to the war but also taking the direct action to disrupt the cogs of war, attempts to appeal to the crew of the El Maxicano ship, in Spanish. The protest not only was meant to call out the criminal and imperialist Vietnam War but also to speak against the criminal exploitation of foreign labor. The second piece of the reel deals with a summation of the sequence of protests against the Vietnam War held at the Berkeley campus against the back drop of a New McCarthy era looming on campus.
Anti-War Rally April 27th 1968 Reel 2
Date: 4/27/1968Call Number: CE 928Volume Number: Reel 2Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
A continuation of speeches and rallying cries recorded at the April 27th rally which followed a Peace March. This reel also contains a speech from Muhammad Ali speaking to the need for Black unity under one leader.
Rally April 23, 1968 Reel 2
Date: 4/23/1968Call Number: CE 926Volume Number: Reel 2Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Details a police stand-off with protesters, as well as accounts of the worsening systemic conditions and the severity of both police response and legal charges.
Anti-War Rally April 27th 1968 Reel 1
Date: 4/27/1968Call Number: CE 927Volume Number: Reel 1Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
This recording follows a march against the Vietnam War (in memory of Martin Luther King). Admiral Truth: Discusses political lies, the right to national self-determination, speaks out against the draft and neo-colonialism. Includes the lead-in to the Muhammad Ali speech on the second tape.
Phone-in report from Oakland Induction Center
Date: 4/23/1968Call Number: CE 925Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
A summation of the events of a demonstration held on April 23, 1968 in front of the Oakland Induction Center. This tape details police tactics that include the targeting of leaders of the anti-War movement based purely on identification alone in an attempt to suppress the movement.
Joan Baez Arrest
Date: 10/16/1967Call Number: CE 905Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Includes a brief interview with Joan Baez following her participation in civil disobedience against U.S. military draft policy as well as audio of Joan Baez leading protesters in song as the police advance.
Oct 16 Demo Oakland Induction Center Reel 2
Date: 10/16/1967Call Number: CE 904Volume Number: Reel 2Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Outlines the series of events connected to both demonstrators and the sit-ins they staged in front of the Oakland Induction Center in order to stop the registering of Vietnam War draftees. Also includes narrative pertaining to both police brutality and the targeted arrests of protesters.
Additions/ Oakland Induction Center Oct 17 1967
Date: 10/17/1967Call Number: CE 913Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
A clash between peaceful protesters and the Oakland police, as well as other law enforcement agents deployed to repress protests at the Oakland Induction Center.
Vietnam War Protest April 15 1967 Reel 1
Date: 4/15/1967Call Number: CE 899Volume Number: Reel 1Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Begins with protest songs by Judy Collins, and contains interviews with protesters and war dissenters as well as a summary of a protest through San Francisco.
Vietnam War Protest April 15 1967
Date: 4/15/1967Call Number: CE 900Volume Number: Reel 2Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
A continuation of the protest against the Vietnam War. Includes multiple speeches speaking in dissent. A comprehensive take down of the unethical existence of the Vietnam War as well as colonialism. Includes a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. The tape ends with a summation of events and the turnout by Colin Edwards, as well as a description of the media response to the April 15th demonstrations.