The Evolution of Multicultural Education: The CUNY Brooklyn College Story

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How does the struggle for multicultural education and self-determination relate to book banning and the right-wing pushback against antiracist education today? In this back-to-school special, we look at the grassroots movement led by student activists with the support of some faculty to establish Africana Studies Departments and Puerto Rican Studies Departments at The City of New York, or CUNY’s Brooklyn College — one of the first in the country. Members of the Black League of African-American Collegians (BLAC) organized with other student groups like the Puerto Rican Alliance and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to force the implementation of the open admissions policy. These student-led actions in the late 1960s and early 1970s are the subject of the documentary film, Making the Impossible Possible, directed by Tami Kashia Gold & Pam Sporn and distributed by Third World Newsreel. Askia Davis and Antonio Nieves were part of the “BC 19”, a group of students who were arrested and incarcerated at Rikers jail for demanding open admissions and the establishment of the Africana Studies Departments and Puerto Rican Studies Department in the student-led takeover in 1969. Sonia Nieto is one of the “BC 44”, a former Brooklyn College faculty member who participated in the 1974 takeover. Learn more about this historic win from the former Brooklyn College students and faculty who were there on the frontlines.