UJAMAA SOCIETY, Evergreen’s First BSU
By Sako Chapman
THE ORIGIN: Contemporary American Minority (Fall 1971 – Spring 1972)
In the first year of Evergreen, 1971, a year-long ethnic studies-type program titled Contemporary American Minorities (CAM) was hosted by Rudy Martin, Medardo Delgado, and Darrell Phare. The faculty brought an emphasis on Black Studies, Chicano Studies, and Native American Studies respectively. Recognizing that without intervention the First Faculty Planning Team would not make good on their commitment to feature ethnic studies at Evergreen, Martin (the only Black man among the otherwise white cisgender male curriculum planning team of 18) set to work creating the “last-ditch-effort” to include the urgent historical, political, social, and intellectual considerations for students of color. With a starting cohort of 60+ students (both white and non-white, though notably predominantly Black, and largely recruited individually by faculty tours around the state), CAM was significant for holding the largest academic cohort of students of color in the first year of the college, and likely remains one of the largest in Evergreen’s history. Emboldened by course content, students of CAM were recognized as strategically taking up key positions in all corners of the college–from Disappearing Task Forces, committees, and shared governance, to an overwhelming amount of jobs as student workers. In this method, students of color established a sense of territory over the college and pushed it to respond to their needs. Additionally, CAM students facilitated the emergence of 4 central student associations: NASA (Native American Student Association), MEChA (Movemeinto Estudiantil de Chicano a…), the Asian Coalition, and Ujamaa Society (the Black Student Union). Later with the creation of the Women of Color Coalition, these five groups would unite as the Third World Coalition and a significant organizing base of power for students of color to advocate for their needs within Evergreen.
UJAAMA: Evergreen’s First BSU
After founding themselves from a large contingent of CAM students over the course of 1971, Ujaama Society took on a critical role in social development and community for Black students, staff, and faculty at the college.
Per their 1975-1976 student activities budget proposal, Ujamaa positioned themselves as a representative body for all Black people at Evergreen, seeming ideologically reminiscent of 60s and 70s student movements for Black power. Ujamaa aimed to “develop and reinforce Afrikan consciousness,” stressing that “if there is no development of those women and men’s awareness of their peoples needs, then it would mean; death to all those people. Afrikan people must develop their community resources so that they might be able to reclaim their right to self-determination.”
As a student organization, Ujamaa arranged consistent meetings, brought impressive speakers to campus, and hosted community events such as Umoja Week and Black History Month celebrations. As a part of the Third World Coalition umbrella, Ujamaa often collaborated on events with other student organizations, such as the Third World Bicentennial Forum in 1975 and recurring Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations starting in the 80s. Like the other student of color groups, Ujamaa was also known to take on significant recruitment roles for students of color at the college, coordinating projects and community outreach programs to target Black high school students for enrollment.
The scaffolding of Ujamaa transformed over the years under rotating leadership and shifting goals as the college found its institutional footing. Ujamaa had changed its name to Umoja by 1986, connotating an ideological switch that mirrored the transformation of the Third World Coalition to the First Peoples Coalition within the same year. Where ‘Ujaama’ drew its name from the Tanzanian socialist ideology, ‘Umoja’ was selected from one of the principles of Kwaanza meaning Unity. Where the title of ‘Third World’ drew from the political projects of the Global South (as well as New Left movements for students of color in the U.S, such as the Third World Liberation Front in UC Berkeley and SF State), ‘First Peoples’ was selected in recognition of member’s “unique Indigenous heritages.”
WHERE IS UJAMAA NOW?
While it is noted on the First Peoples Coalition digital archive exhibit that Umoja became the Black Student Union around 2010, the Black Student Union that we see today does not follow the same lineage. References to the Ujamaa line start to fragment around 2010, only having reference in the First Peoples Catalogs up to 2006. Cross-referencing to the “TESC Divest!” Blogspot page (https://tescdivest.blogspot.coml) features the BSU’s endorsement of the Student resolutions for the institution to divest from Israeli apartheid– one calling for divestment from companies profiting off of Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and the other for the creation of a CAT Free Zone, prohibiting the use of Caterpillar Inc. equipment on campus– tracing the club line to at least 2012. While events such as the mass exodus of staff and faculty of color following the anti-racist protests of 2017 and the years following the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown have been pointed to as ‘breaking points’ for student life on campus; the BSU’s disappearance is far more consistent with the archival disappearance of longstanding student of color groups formerly housed under First Peoples marked in the 2010-2012 range. How does the Evergreen State College go from having a 30+ year long-running institution for Black Students to a series of (while still significant) relatively short-lived club effots with huge gaps in between? The exact details of this remain unclear, but it signals the loss of student-run infrastructure and institutional memory that is an upward, often fruitless battle to maintain. This is the first year since 2019 that the Evergreen State College has had a Black Student Union.
Images:
1. Calendar for Ujamaa’s Black History Month Events, 1983. 1989-21 First Peoples Poster Collection. Accessed through the Evergreen State College Archives.
2. Photo of Evergreen students tabling for Ujamaa and Asia Coalition, dated 1970s. Accessed through the Evergreen State College Archives Digital Collection.
3. Cover for the ‘83-’84 Third World Faculty Handbook, featuring the Third World Coalition student group symbol. Accessed through the Evergreen State College Archives Digital Collection.
