Skip to main content

The Free Speech Movement’s passionate readers

Thomas C. Leonard, emeritus journalism professor and University Librarian emeritus | September 22, 2014

“Passionate readers” is not the tag line today for the people swept up in the Free Speech Movement, but it fits just as well as other efforts to sum them up. Thanks to the archives that the Library has built, serious students of the FSM know this. Margot Adler, a familiar voice on National Public Radio … Continue reading »

1964 to the present — a personal perspective

Robert Birgeneau, professor of physics, former chancellor |

During the historic Free Speech Movement period at Berkeley, beginning in the autumn of 1964, I was a graduate student in physics at Yale University. There was no doubt that Berkeley students were playing a leadership role for us all across the country. At Yale, the focus was primarily on civil rights. Racism and its destructive … Continue reading »

Remembering Bob (‘Mario’) Savio

Nancy Scheper-Hughes, anthropology professor |

In the fall of 1963, Bob (“Mario”) Savio enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley. There, he quickly rose to national prominence as leader of the Free Speech Movement, which became a major catalyst for the anti-Vietnam War movement and years later for the South African anti-apartheid divestment movement. How did Savio, a brilliant … Continue reading »