While the American Lives Project will expand to include as many stories as possible, we begin with a prototype collection concerning student activism at Washington University between 1964 to 1972.

Like many of their peers, Washington University students of the sixties and seventies saw themselves as the harbingers of social change. In December of 1968 the Association of Black Collegians occupied the administrative offices in North Brookings and presented their "Black Manifesto." The manifesto presented a list of demands from the administration: begin a black studies department; hire black faculty and campus police; and teach classes on topics such as civil rights, among others.

The ABC sit-in forced another group of students -those protesting members of the Board of Trustees with ties to Defense Contractors- to reschedule for a later date. This latter group became a vocal presence on campus. They organized teach-ins, secured student control of student group budgets, and ultimately burned down two campus Reserve Officer's Training Corps buildings. Their actions caused the disruption of classes and final exams, and led to several arrests, including the first person to be sentenced under the Civil Rights Act, Howard Mechanic.

More recently, in the spring of 2001, many of the students active during the sixties and seventies as part of the Washington University Liberation Front - one of several campus groups protesting the war - returned to campus to celebrate the Presidential pardon of Mechanic. As part of their reunion on campus, the WULF students met with current students taking a course, Cracks in the Republic, taught by Professor of History, Henry Berger. The course covers student activism of the sixties and seventies in both a national and local context.

In large part as a result of the WULF reunion, the university owns an extensive body of materials relating to student activism at Washington University in the sixties in seventies. The collections include oral histories, pamphlets, posters, letters, and student publications. We have built on these materials with others from the local community. And we will continue to do so. The American Lives Project is a living collection that will expand to include many stories.