Untold Truths Behind Black Student Activism in the 1960s

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has called Seven Sisters and a Brother “compelling portraits of the lives of the young people who risked their futures to make a difference.”

Four of the eight authors will sit down with and Brent Staples of the New Times Times to discuss their experiences as activists in an elite liberal arts college in the 1960s. When the eight students at Swarthmore College demanded a Black Studies curriculum and protested the decreased enrollment and hiring of African Americans in 1969, the peaceful protest was misreported through a negative lens. This long overdue choral memoir chronicles their eight-day sit-in. It is a story of great relevance at a time in which first-generation college students and millennial activists have demonstrated a desire for increased political engagement. According to Congresswoman Donna Shalala, “Theirs is a story of the power of collective action, the value of shared identity, and the thrill of progress.”

A book signing follows the event.