OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Racial tensions reached a boiling point at what is now the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh
It happened 50 years ago on what is now referred to as Black Thursday.
It describes a dramatic protest by 94 African-American students in the office of the university chancellor.
It ended with the arrest of the students, and their expulsion.
Some of those student protesters returned to the campus Wednesday.
On the morning of November 21, 1968, a time when the political winds were changing, the “Oshkosh 94” marched up the stairs of Dempsey Hall.
They demanded a more racially inclusive campus.
Jerry Benston, a member of the ”Oshkosh 94” tells FOX 11 people in power weren’t listening to the voices of people of color.
“The climate at that particular time, I think, was highly concerned about why the administration wasn’t listening to students of color, regarding their experiences on campus.”
Benston says as the number of African-American students grew so did the racial divide on campus.
“I could recall going to a barber shop where we probably should not have gone, especially when we saw the barber and his concerns and reactions to four black students coming in for a haircut.”
Protesters say their concerns fell on deaf ears; their demands for equal treatment and access to student services, unmet.
Margaret Hollman, another Oshkosh 94 student says, “He didn’t want to meet with us, and we said we weren’t leaving until he did and the rest is history,” referencing administrative members.
After weeks of built-up anger and frustration, students say vandalism ensued and the knee-jerk reaction, at the time, was to arrest all 94 students and expel them from the university.
That’s something Sylvia Carey-Butler, Associate Vice Chancellor of the university, tells FOX 11 administrators would end much differently today.
“Students have always changed things in this country. If you go back to the Civil Rights Movement, they’ve always been at the fore so, for me, it would be an opportunity to find out what aren’t we doing and how can we partner to make it better.”
Nearly 50 years to the day later, 34 of the Oshkosh 94 came together to remember a day that remains a historical event.
But Benston says for many of the 94, their stories didn’t end so well.
“Without a doubt, those 94 students put their college careers on the line to participate in an event, I think, changed their lives.”
Current UW-Oshkosh students say the times have and are still changing, though.
“We’ve made some progression. Is it probably the progression that the 94 members wanted us for this time, no, but we’ve made some progression,” said Daja Johnson. She’s the president of the Black Student Union on campus.
In the months following Black Thursday, campus administration was approached by the UW-Madison “Black People’s Alliance,” asking for the students to be re-admitted.
Over a dozen of the Oshkosh 94 re-enrolled at U-W Oshkosh.
