Page "Berkeley, California" Paragraph 26

The postwar years saw moderate growth of the City, as events on the U. C.

campus began to build up to the recognizable activism of the sixties.

In 1950, the Census Bureau reported Berkeley's population as 11. 7 % black and 84. 6 % white.

In the 1950s, McCarthyism induced the University to demand a loyalty oath from its professors, many of whom refused to sign the oath on the principle of freedom of thought.

In 1960, a U. S. House committee ( HUAC ) came to San Francisco to investigate the influence of communists in the Bay Area.

Their presence was met by protesters, including many from the University.

Meanwhile, a number of U. C.

students became active in support of the Civil Rights Movement.

Finally, the University in 1964 provoked a massive student protest by banning distribution of political literature on campus.

This protest became the Free Speech Movement.

As the Vietnam War rapidly escalated in the ensuing years, so did student activism at the University, particularly that organized by the Vietnam Day Committee.