The very publicized shooting between the Black Panther Party and Us Organization at UC Los Angeles’ Campbell Hall in January 1969 has often been understood as the decline of the Black Power movement in Southern California specifically, and the United States more generally. However, as Mychal Odom will explain, a study of the National Involvement Association (NIA) Cultural Organization intervenes into that reading of the Black Liberation Movement. Founded by former advocates of the San Diego Us Organization in 1970, NIA “very likely saved the Black Power Movement in San Diego” as Mychal Odom argues in his doctoral research. Drawing from oral histories he has conducted, private collection material, periodicals, and rare materials housed in the Library’s Special Collections & Archives, Odom will explain the role NIA’s educational programming, cultural work, labor activism, and African liberation support continued the work of Black Power and laid the very important ground for anti-apartheid struggles in San Diego during the 1970s and 1980s.
Mychal Odom is a doctoral candidate in the UC San Diego History Department and a Hill Fellowship recipient. A resident of San Diego since 1997, Odom has over ten years of teaching experience in Black Studies at the college and university level. At UC San Diego, he has been active in the Black Graduate Student Association and the Black Studies Project. He is also a member of Pillars of the Community San Diego, a community organization who fights for the rights of formerly incarcerated people and their families, among their many other projects.
This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
For questions or more information, please contact Gayatri Singh, gasingh@ucsd.edu.
Parking Information
All visitors to the UC San Diego campus are required to display a valid parking pass. The closest parking to the Geisel Library is the Hopkins parking structure. More information about parking on campus.
Driving Directions from North of UC San Diego
1. Take I-5 southbound past the 5/805 split.
2. Take Genesee Avenue exit westbound (right off freeway).
3. Take Genesee Avenue to North Torrey Pines Road.
4. Turn left on North Torrey Pines.
5. Turn left on to North Point Drive.
6. Follow North Point Dr. through the stop signs; as it curves right it will become Hopkins Drive.
7. Continue on Hopkins Drive until you reach Voigt Drive.
8. The Hopkins parking structure is at the corner of Voigt Drive with entrances on both Hopkins and Voigt Drive.
Driving Directions from South of UC San Diego
1. Take I-5 northbound.
2. Take La Jolla Village Drive westbound (left off freeway).
3. La Jolla Village Drive turns into North Torrey Pines Road. Stay on it to North Point Drive.
4. Turn right on North Point Drive.
5. Follow North Point Dr. through the stop signs; as it curves right it will become Hopkins Drive.
6. Continue on Hopkins Drive until you reach Voigt Drive.
7. The Hopkins parking structure is at the corner of Voigt Drive with entrances on both Hopkins and Voigt Drive.
Contact: