February 24, 2020
The UCSF Black Caucus held its 30th Annual Black Heritage Month Gala dinner this weekend, with the theme of Celebrating Ancestral Discovery & Building Generational Connections. Anesthesia Department members were proud to attend this important event, to honor the historic legacy [1] of the Black Caucus and support its ongoing work.
The first culturally-based affinity group in the UC System, the Black Caucus was founded in the context of the wider American Civil Rights Movement and as a direct result of the inequities and injustices that existed at UCSF in the late 1960s, at a time when the campus was known to many as the “plantation on the hill...” [2] Notable of this movement, it was a strike by its custodial workers, in support of more diverse enrollment in the UCSF Schools, that was the catalyst for real change and UCSF’s transformation into the world-class institution that it is today. To find out more about the history of the Black Caucus, including its work to create an Affirmative Action Office at UCSF [3], see the Black Caucus historical archive on the UC Calisphere site. [1] To learn about its mission and vision, join its listserv and support its current work, you can visit the Black Caucus at UCSF page of the UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach website. [4]
[1] UCSF Black Caucus Records. UC San Francisco, Library, Special Collections. https://calisphere.org/collections/2280/
[2] Joanne Lewis, Co-Founder, UCSF Black Caucus. (0:53) Moving Image / History of UCSF Black Caucus, Part I (Closed Caption version). UC San Francisco, Library, Special Collections. UCSF Black Caucus Records. mss-85-38_HistoryOfBlackCaucus_FinalEdit_ClosedCaption. https://calisphere.org/item/3a8ea79b-998d-4d21-b7cb-c6c4d6bf6290/
[3] Moving Image / Black Caucus Final 1 20 2019. Affirmative Action Protest – Laurel Heights Campus – 1995. UC San Francisco, Library, Special Collections. UCSF Black Caucus Records. mss-85-38_foundingstory_doc_1. https://calisphere.org/item/f35111f8-2b87-458a-b060-013b61053350/
[4] The Black Caucus at UCSF. UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach. https://diversity.ucsf.edu/committees/3434966