Students returning to campus from Morningside Park entered Hamilton Hall and occupied the building throughout the day, shutting down classes and demanding that the university cease construction of the gym. Hundreds stayed overnight. In the morning, the SAS requested that the white students leave the building. Hamilton Hall was renamed “Malcolm X Liberation College.” The building would remain occupied for the next week, attracting Harlem community supporters, as well as visits from movement notables, such as Black Power advocates Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown.
On April 24, and in the ensuing days, hundreds of SDS members, and other radical students, would occupy Low Library, Fayerweather, and Avery. Later, outside activists, as well as Harlem residents, occupied Mathematics. Simultaneously, local and other student protesters marched and rallied on campus, and in the surrounding streets. Boycotting students elected a “Strike Coordinating Committee,” to communicate with the university, while faculty and administration representatives also met to negotiate an end to the occupation. Despite university promises to suspend construction of the gym, no agreement could be reached.
“Letter from the Black Students in Hamilton Hall", 1968
University Protest and Activism Collection
Photograph, 1968
"H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael”
University Protest and Activism Collection
Photograph, 1968
"Students and Graffiti Reading 'No Gym!”
University Protest and Activism Collection
