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.
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.
Oakland Induction Center
Date: 10/17/1967Call Number: CE 907Format: 1/4 3 3/4 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Starts with teach-in on October 16th on the UC Berkeley campus. A narration of the events that led to the closing of the UC Berkeley campus and the response by students who felt their right to freedom of speech had been taken away. Then proceeds to describe the October 17th Oakland Induction protest and the response by police, and the initial clash between demonstrators and Oakland Police. Including interviews with people (including a doctor) brutalized by police. Other incidents include a man crashing his car into demonstrators.
Teach-in Master Reel 3
Date: 10/17/1967Call Number: CE 911Volume Number: Reel 3Format: 1/4 3 3/4 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Begins prior to march to Induction Center in Oakland. Starts with 19 year old girl saying she does not participate in demonstrations. In center of reel Parkinson reads faculty-clergy denunciation of injunction as attack on free speech. Also includes tension between speakers with different approaches to the actual inductees.
UC Mill-In 2 of 2
Date: 11/29/1967Call Number: CE 920Volume Number: Tape 2Format: 1/4 3 3/4 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Colin Edwards narrates a demonstration (mill-in) at the UC Berkeley campus on November 29th, as well as a confrontation within the Dean's office. Features the Dean's response to the demonstration as well as his attempts to placate the demonstrators.
Peace Walk to Moscow Reel 1
Date: De/1960Call Number: CE 895Volume Number: Reel 1Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Ten people set out across the United States, Western Europe and onwards to Russia, stopping at military outposts and capitals along the way in order to protest the ongoing tensions between the two global superpowers, Russia and the United States.
Peace Walk to Moscow Reel 2
Date: 12/1960Call Number: CE 896Volume Number: Reel 2Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Ten people set out across the United States, Western Europe and onward to Russia, stopping at military outposts and capitals along the way in order to protest the ongoing tensions between the two global superpowers, Russia and the United States.
Protest At Port Chicago: Anatomy of a Non-Violent Demonstration and Police Reaction
Contains audio of a protest at Port Chicago, Concord, CA, a large supplier of munitions to the imperialist campaign in Vietnam. Peaceful vigils that had occurred there previously had been attacked by locals opposed to anti-imperialist protests. The demonstration recorded on this tape was similarly set upon by police, and even reporters were accosted as law enforcement tried to stop them from reporting the situation. Details explicit tactics of brutality employed by cops against the demonstrators.
Oakland Induction Center Reel 3
Date: 10/20/1967Call Number: CE 918Volume Number: Reel 3Format: 1/4 3 3/4 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
A narration of a stand off between protesters and police officers. During which inductees are escorted into the Oakland Induction Center. The violent response of CHP to demonstrators and discussion of the intersect of race with protesting the war is discussed in interviews. The strategy of Guerrilla tactics vs. police repression is also discussed.
Protest At Port Chicago: Anatomy of a Non-Violent Demonstration and Police Reaction [CD]
Contains audio of a protest at Port Chicago, Concord, CA, a large supplier of munitions to the imperialist campaign in Vietnam. Peaceful vigils that had occurred there previously had been attacked by locals opposed to anti-imperialist protests. The demonstration recorded on this tape was similarly set upon by police, and even reporters were accosted as law enforcement tried to stop them from reporting the situation. Details explicit tactics of brutality employed by cops against the demonstrators.