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to Phylon (1960-)
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Richard D. Benson II 57
Richard D. Benson II
Spelman College
Abstract
In August of 1969 at the University of Texas, El Paso, Black students in attendance for
the United States National Student Association (USNSA/NSA) annual conference openly
challenged the student organization on the grounds of institutional racism and financial
exploitation. Resistance by the Black students of NSA led to a call for financial reparations
from NSA and the creation of the National Association of Black Students (NABS). The
organization was established around the tenets of Marxist-Leninism, with the aims of the
‘student-worker’ leading and organizing an anti-imperialist student movement entering
into the 1970s. This paper explores the founding of the organization, their ideological
aims and also investigates how their political activity interfaced with the socio-political
shifts and developments of the overall Black Freedom Struggle. This essay encourages
continued investigations of Black Power student/youth collectives of the 1970s that were
highly influenced by the fusions of Black Power, Marxist-Leninism and financial influences
that effected numerous organizations during the era.
The point is obvious: Black 1970, almost eight months after the
people must lead and run their own founding of the National Association of
organizations. Only Black people Black Students (NABS), Gwen Patton,
can convey the revolutionary idea leader of the Black student collective,
– it is a revolutionary idea – that provided her candid perspectives on
Black people are able to do things the Black Freedom struggle for the
themselves. Only they can help Baltimore Afro-American news organ.
create in the community an aroused Patton, just twenty-six at the time was a
and continuing Black consciousness veteran of the Black Freedom Struggle.
that will provide the basis for political Having participated in the Montgomery
strength (Carmichael and Hamilton Bus Boycott as a child and later active
1967, 46). in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC), Patton reflected on
Inspired by the above words of the complex and tumultuous history
Carmichael and Hamilton, in April of of the movement. Speaking on the con-
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58 Phylon 54 (1)
troversial founding of NABS, and pro- around the globe, student groups began
gramming for Black students (high to largely reflect the counter-hegemon-
school and post-secondary) in rela- ic struggles that dominated the world
tion to the uplift of the Black commu- stage. With attractions to Marxist-Le-
nity. Patton, who was not one to mince ninism, Che Guevara, Amilcar Cabral,
words bluntly stated that, “the Eldridge Malcolm X and political undertakings
Cleavers are in exile; the Huey Newtons of Mao Tse Tung, student activists em-
are in jail and Malcolm and Martin are barked on a wave of student protest
dead. The responsibility of leadership and mobilization efforts that required a
weighs on the shoulders of the young scientific analysis of the diverse mani-
Blacks in our colleges, universities and festations of global capitalism and im-
high schools throughout the nation” perialism. Studying and organizing,
(NABS Born to Unite 1970, A6). within the changing landscape of the
NABS was established in August of latter 1960s, Black students began to
1969 after a controversial split from the adopt and develop transnational cri-
United States National Student Associa- tiques of power and global exploitation
tion (USNSA/NSA) denounced the ac- of Third world indigenous populations
tions and programming of the NSA as (Gosse 2005, 194-195).
racist and dismissive of Black student NABS emerged within this context
lives and societal challenges. Headed as an upstart vanguard Black student
by Gwen Patton, the spokesperson and organization to fill the void of The Stu-
student leader of the dissident group, dent Nonviolent Coordinating Commit-
Black students announced that the asso- tee (SNCC) due to SNCC’s radical anti-
ciation was no longer relevant to the sig- imperialist activity to include the 1966
nificant problems of Black students who call for Black Power. SNCC suffered
sought the following: organizational financially due to the organization’s cri-
independence from the NSA, financial tique of Israel for the outcomes of the Six
reparations from the NSA and that the Day War and campaigns spearheaded
new organization was to be known as at anti-Vietnam War activity to include
NABS (Ibid). smashing the draft which all provided a
Seemingly abrupt, the radical move gateway for NABS to fill post 1968. The
by Patton and the collective of Black stu- Black Nationalist thrust and organiza-
dents to secede had been planned since tional framework for the second wave,
the mid 1960s upon the NSA’s refusal to Black Power student groups such as
examine the values of Black Power on NABS filled SNCC’s void and expanded
colleges and universities. More signifi- its mission by 1969 (Benson 2015a, 76-
cant, the developments of NABS coin- 78; Allen 1992, 254, 256).
cided with national political develop- In recent years historians of the Black
ments, which affected many students in Freedom Struggle have advanced schol-
higher education throughout the coun- arship to highlight student collectives
try. Swept up in the wave of New Left such as NABS and peer organizations
radical student activism, anti-Vietnam of the aforementioned to include: the
war activity and anti-colonial struggles Institute of the Black World, (Atlanta,
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Richard D. Benson II 59
GA); Malcolm X Liberation University tional line that is: critical of capitalism
& the Student Organization for Black and imperialism, aligned with work-
Unity, (Greensboro, NC); Communi- ers struggles all while unabashedly
versity, (Chicago, IL); Nairobi School demanding financial repair from a pre-
Movement, (East Palo Alto, CA); Pan dominantly white national student or-
African Student Organization of the ganization. More critically, this essay
Americas, (Chicago, IL); and the Center aims to achieve the task of moving orga-
for Black Education, (Washington, D.C) nizations such as NABS from historical
(Rickford 2016; Benson 2015a; Konadu obscurity of the Black Freedom Move-
2009; Rogers 2012). However, this large- ment into historical, curricular and
ly uninvestigated decade of scholarship pedagogical relevance. I also argue that
implores more exhaustive research into an examination of NABS provides a his-
the ideological shifts, organizational torical interruption regarding the Black
pragmatism and mobilization practices student organizations emerging in the
of Black student collectives who aligned era of the New Left. Such an analysis of
with working class and Left forces of NABS lends the opportunity to analyze
the era. Dan Berger’s The Hidden 1970s: the tactics of a successful reparations
Histories of Radicalism is a recent ed- campaign and activism executed by
ited compilation that provides such an Black students.
examination of a time rife with activ- As an organization, NABS sought to
ity for social change on a multitude of broaden the nuances of Black student
fronts. Berger posits: activism while complicating the ortho-
dox notions of student and worker al-
The 1970s was a time when social liances. Such innovations and organi-
movements were repressed and tore zational developments aligned NABS
themselves asunder. But it was also with the Black Marxist, Detroit based
a moment when movements experi- League of Revolutionary Black Work-
mented and expanded. For those ers (LRBW) which furthered NABS de-
radicals who remained strongly velopment and programmatic line to
identified with the antiwar and an- develop the concepts around the stu-
tiracist movements of the 1960s, the dent-worker alliance, community based
1970s was a time when they felt they programming and antiwar activities
had to walk their talk. Unable to hide that included draft counseling for Black
further in their rhetorical pronounce- youth facing the Vietnam War. But most
ments of impending revolution, intriguing about the all Black collective
these people readied themselves for was their foray into the New Left wave
the task at hand (Berger 2010, 4-5). of activism that promoted the study of
Marxism-Leninism, Maoism and sci-
Thus, the existence of NABS cap- entific socialism (Morris 1991; Hinton
tures such an interest in Black student 2011). According to scholar-activist, S.E.
radicalism of the 1970s. Additionally, Anderson, there were three significant
it further behooves an analysis of how factors that led to a Left trend during
such a group developed an organiza- this era of the Black Freedom struggle:
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60 Phylon 54 (1)
“(1) the ideological growth of the Black the social fabric of American life. Due
student leaders, (2) the ability of Marx- to the proactive efforts of Miss Ella Bak-
ists to clearly explain the Vietnam War er, measures were taken to ensure that
and African Liberation struggles and young people would have an activist
their ramifications here at home, and platform to interface social change on
(3) the exposed intellectual paucity of terms that spoke to needs of the Black
our so-called Black leaders” (Anderson Freedom struggle and youth in general.
1977, 41). These critical dynamics of SNCC’s political focus of mass voter
historical and ideological developments registration in the South during the ear-
are what aided in NABS emergence and ly 1960s set the stage for the evolution
radical activities. Additionally, collec- of student-youth protest strategies on a
tives such as NABS aid in defining the national scale (Ransby 2005).
complexities of Black Power by provid- Black students and youth from
ing an interruption to the ‘classical’ bi- Northern and Southern local, and col-
furcated Civil Rights and Black Power lege campuses, rural and urban com-
Movement narratives. munities, generated activist programs
As Black Power Studies provides a through SNCC and groups such as the
growing body of scholarship on post Northern Student Movement (NSM)
1960s freedom struggle, few scholars and the Revolutionary Action Move-
concern themselves with the nuanc- ment (RAM). By the spring of1963, these
es of the 1970s anti-imperialist New formations ushered in the momentum
Left Black student movement. Yet, the for the next phases of non-violent di-
growing field of Black Power Studies rect-action engagement with the White
provides the potential for significant power structure in Southern and North-
inroads for continuous reconceptualiza- ern communities. Largely due to the
tion of the Black Freedom Movement. efforts “of SNCC and Southern Chris-
And this essay continues these efforts tian Leadership Conference (SCLC))
by suggesting that close examination organizers, various Southern cities were
into the multi dimensional activities of seething with protest revolt. The turn-
formations like NABS and the overall ing point of mass Black consciousness
movement, presents historical richness and for the protest movement came
to be gained from Black Power’s com- during the ‘spring nonviolent offensive’
plexities. in Birmingham, Alabama” (Ahmad mi-
crofilm, reel 17 no.242) And consequent-
ly, the state of Alabama was front and
Black Student Liberation: center on the national and international
Gwen Patton & THE USNSA stage as a racial battleground rife with
the makings to successfully dismantle
The genesis of the 1960s Black Stu- Jim Crow.
dent Movement was deeply intertwined In Montgomery, AL, students of
with the general sit-in movement and the historically all Black institution of
boycott struggles for integration of fa- Tuskegee University provided princi-
cilities and attempts for integration into ple contributions to movement efforts
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Richard D. Benson II 61
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62 Phylon 54 (1)
by the USNSA. By 1964, students from Beyond her moral trepidations, Pat-
around the country began to participate ton’s sentiments of betrayal by the NSA
in the “Fast for Freedom” food boycott were born from her awareness of the
which was a nationwide effort to con- NSA’s hefty annual operations budget
nect an anti-poverty program to the mo- for national and international program-
mentum of the Civil Rights campaign. ming. Founded at the start of the Cold
Students from around the country War in the summer of 1947, the NSA’s
would forego their dinners for an eve- developed around democratic princi-
ning and donate the proceeds to sup- ples against global communist student
port poor Black folks in the South and formations. At the peak of the NSA’s
the general freedom movement (Michel membership in 1960, the organization
2004). Patton, motivated to take a pro- touted over 400 schools under the gen-
active stance regarding accountability eral affiliation to the NSA. And while
measures of the NSA, began visiting the there was little dependence on dues
NSA national headquarters. When Pat- from its national members, the NSA
ton began questioning the operations received the bulk of the organization’s
and protocol of the national organiza- support from a number of philanthropic
tion she was met with an unexpected foundations. Known to function under
exchange from NSA staff. According to a bipartite system that included it’s do-
Patton: mestic and international programs, the
NSA was able to sponsor: annual inter-
I start going to the NSA office in national seminars, foreign student lead-
Washington D.C. and begin analyz- ership training projects and scholar-
ing and asking people in the office ships for foreign students as well. And
where does the money go? I’m look- despite the organizations commitments
ing for accountability. And I saw to programming, the NSA was still able
two white boys sitting at the desk to maintain a large travel budget for its
called the Civil Rights Desk. I said, staff and overseas representatives (“A
“Who pays for the office? Who pays Short Account NSA, CIA, Etc.” 1967,
your salaries?” Thinking I’m silly, 30). Also contributing to the bulk of the
naïve,{they say,] “Oh part of this annual budget of the NSA were the stu-
comes out of the Fast for Freedom.” dent services provided by the organiza-
They had stolen money under pre- tion that included: “a record club, a fes-
tense! That’s when I started having tival of student films, arranging student
critical thoughts about liberalism travel in Europe, sale of the Interna-
and this white-face liberator. I made tional Student Pass which gains entry to
up my mind that I was gonna pull youth hostels, etc., abroad and the sale
Black students out the NSA and the of student life insurance” (Blackburn
NSA owed reparations because they 1970, 26). These services alone account-
used the misery and plight of Black ed for approximately $200,000 annually
folks’ situation to raise funds to un- with amounts of less than $20,000 com-
derwrite their own existence. It was, ing from annual dues of membership
to me, sinful (Benson 2015b, 186-187). schools (Ibid; Johnston 2009).
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Richard D. Benson II 63
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64 Phylon 54 (1)
puses across the country. Patton would Further fuel to the intentions of Gwen
encounter many Black Student Unions Patton and her aims to disassociate Black
(BSUs) and Black students who were students from the NSA came in the form
impatient with the state of the general of a resolution by the Black students at
Black student movement and wanted the NSA conference, Black students in
immediate change through a Black or- attendance critically addressed how
ganization as the 1970s were rapidly the NSA conference on ‘the University
approaching. After some years of ana- and Racism’ further legitimated the rac-
lyzing the overall situation of NSA, the ism of the general organization. Black
overall movement, and the most effec- students at the regional meeting who
tive means by which to achieve such a organized against the NSA stated that,
feat, Patton knew that the annual meet- “we the Black student representatives of
ing of the USNSA in El Paso, TX was colleges, universities, and Black student
the prime opportunity to execute a plan organizations, denounce the USNSA as
of earthshattering proportions (Patton a racist organization that perpetuates
2014; Benson 2015b, 186-187). division among Black students, we fur-
ther urge all Black students across the
country to sever their affiliation with the
Gaining Independence: USNSA” (Ibid). As a result, many Black
Founding NABS students in the attendance resolved that
the newly founded, Student Organiza-
Prior to NSA’s annual El Paso meet- tion for Black Unity (SOBU) headed by
ing, the NSA held a Southern area con- Nelson Johnson would assume the man-
ference in Atlanta, GA on February 15, tle to meet the needs of Black students
1969. Held as the conference on ‘the looking to separate with the NSA (Ben-
University and Racism’, Black students son 2015a, 95-96). While this may have
attending the gathering charged NSA been the case for many Black students in
with a gross lack of concern for Black stu- attendance, a critical mass of Black stu-
dents in the following areas: using Black dents anxiously awaited the next moves
college students as pawns for organiza- of Patton and the annual NSA August
tional interests; denial of Black students 1969 meeting to take place El Paso.
in the policy shaping process of the or- From August 16-29, 1969, Third World
ganization; absence of programming to Commission (TWC), an affiliate caucus
deal specifically with Black student is- of the NSA, gathered in at the Cortez
sues; NSA using methods of financial Hotel in El Paso, TX for a pre-conference
attraction to the organization to further held prior to the NSA’s annual confer-
divide Black students and; the USNSA ence. Comprised of Black and Mexi-
is thoroughly infiltrated by the CIA and can students, the TWC was a creation
the FBI – both governmental organiza- of Patton due to her negotiations with
tions responsible for the oppression and the NSA upon a failed attempt to have
death of people of color in both domes- a resolution passed in NSA to condemn
tic and international contexts (“SOBU” the U.S. military and its role in Vietnam.
1969, 1). The outcome of the aborted attempt was
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Richard D. Benson II 65
the creation of TWC and Patton was significant to the planning operations
also able to negotiate a “Draft Counsel- of Patton and her fellow student activ-
ing Desk” to replace the Civil Rights ists readying to confront the NSA (Ben-
Desk that existed at the NSA. The TWC son 2015b, 184; “News and Notes 1965).
was constructed to support students of Just a few months prior on May 4, 1969,
color of the NSA and operate as a broad- Forman delivered his controversial yet
based coalition of students working for effective treatise, the ‘Black Manifesto’
the uplift and support of student educa- in New York City to a shocked congre-
tional struggles around the world (Pat- gation of the Riverside Church demand-
ton 1969-1972). ing that white churches and synagogues
In El Paso, TWC sessions were com- of America to pay $500,000,000.00 in
prised of workshops, viewing revolu- reparations to Black Americans (For-
tionary films and hosting guest speakers man 1997, 335, 343-352; “The Black
to inform Black and Chicano students Manifesto & Aftermath” 1969, Dye
of the exploitation students of color 2009). Forman’s invitation by TWC sig-
faced on a global scale. However, clan- nified the stance and strategizing inten-
destine activities of TWC included the tions of the Black caucus within TWC.
Black caucus preparation face-off with Forman, who had a contentious history
the greater NSA leadership for the an- with NSA that dated back to his time as
nouncement of Black student indepen- a student representative at Roosevelt
dence from the national organization. University in Chicago was well aware
Of the guest speakers of TWC confer- of NSA’s exploitive activities relating
ence, Dr. Nathan Hare, chairman of the to Black students in 1956 when he too
Black studies Institute at San Francisco fought to ensure that Black representa-
State College informed the press that, tion in the NSA was reflected in policy
“an independent Black student orga- making and Black student presence as
nization will serve as a more efficient officers in the majority white national
and thorough force to meet the needs organization (Forman, 88-91).
of Black students” (Ybarra 1969, 4) In As history evolved full circle, Pat-
alignment with workshop sessions such ton’s work and planning now signified
as “students and armed guerilla tactics” that the inspiration of Forman’s actions
and “Third work Coalitions (a Black Per- went beyond theoretical dimensions.
spective)”, Dr. Hare addressed a room Now, the activities would include the
full of Black and Chicano students on key assistance in the planning of the
topics of nationalism and student activ- NSA takeover by one of Forman’s top
ism (“Student Opinions Are Split” 1969; student aids from the east coast, Ke-
“USNSA Quote of the Day” 1969; Third nyatta Muhammad. Kenyatta was a
World Commission FBI Files 1969). member of Forman’s Philadelphia fac-
A long-time movement comrade tion of Black Economic Development
of Gwen Patton and a speaker for the Conference (BEDC) team that provided
TWC sessions was former SNCC execu- key strategizing insight in the discus-
tive director, James Forman. Forman’s sions and planning aimed to confront
presence and influence was timely and NSA. For Patton and the students of the
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66 Phylon 54 (1)
TWC Black caucus, Kenyatta’s role was 1969). The amount that Patton and the
timely as now; Black students would be general group demanded of NSA was
the next leg of reparations protesters re- $50,000.00. And upon receiving the re-
sponsible for proselytizing the aims and quest in front of the massive conference
objectives of the Black Manifesto’s call audience, the NSA leadership voted not
for financial repair to Blacks in America to adopt the mandate proposed by Pat-
(Benson 2015b, 187). ton and Kenyatta. Consequently, the
A significant role for Kenyatta, Pat- Black students who were strategically
ton and other former SNCC activists, placed in the gymnasium pulled the
such as Mickey McGuire, Scrooge Laz- podium off the stage while others po-
arre and student activist Kent Amos, sitioned near the sound equipment dis-
from Delaware State University, was to mantled the microphones and speakers.
ensure that the intended interruption of One “Black student yanked the instru-
the NSA program was executed without ment away leaving the startled student
fail. In a recounting the strategizing ses- with the receiver against his ear, its cord
sions, Patton recounts that, “the night dangling uselessly” (Ibid). With the at-
before we studied all of the plugs in tention of the gymnasium crowd, Ke-
that building. We had alot of reconnais- nyatta contended that the racist actions
sance in preparing for this thing. We of the NSA must cease and the organiza-
knew where all the plugs were” (Benson tion must reorganize its organizational
2015b, 187). And on the day of August structure to address and fight white rac-
27, 1969 as NSA held its opening ses- ism (Ibid).
sions for the annual organizational elec- Though tumultuous, the move by the
tions and general activities, TWC joined Black caucus of TWC came as no sur-
by radical white students, marched into prise to members of NSA – regardless of
the University of Texas El Paso’s Memo- racial background. The NSA’s reputa-
rial gymnasium during the NSA presi- tion had been sullied by the expose of
dential election dressed as Klansmen, government agency intervention and
shouting and chanting, “KKK, NSA!”. knowledge of the NSA’s treatment of
The protesting faction stormed the NSA its non-white members had preceded
speaker’s platform and burned a paper itself on a national level. Of the con-
cross in front of the rostrum in protest vention’s events, an NSA student re-
of the general organization and the NSA marked that the organization had sup-
presidential election (“Blacks Storm posedly fought to “denounce the [US]
NSA Platform, 1969). Led by Kenyatta government for being irrelevant and
and Patton, the Black students “rose too locked into deal with real problems,
from the floor to ask the organization to but the NSA was really the same way it-
consider a Black mandate, including a self. Something like this was bound to
demand that NSA take half the money it happen this way” (Ibid). As for Patton
had received since 1961 for Civil Rights and the protesting faction, the outcome
work and give it to a new breakaway weighed in total favor of the Black stu-
National Association of Black students dents’ demands to secede from the NSA
as reparations” (“New NSA Leader” and receive financial compensation for
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Richard D. Benson II 67
the organization’s exploitive activities. become one; but until such time, the
Under the newly elected leadership of Black student movement should not be
president Charlie Palmer (of the Peo- hampered because of racism” (Patton
ple’s Movement in Berkeley), the NSA NABS Development & Demise, 1969-
conceded and agreed to pay $50,000 to 1973). Thus, NABS emerged to address
the newly formed National Association the needs of Black students entering the
of Black Students. Additionally, the 1970s and as heirs of SNCC, continuing
NSA instructed regional and area NSA the charge of counter-hegemonic and
student governments to administer re- anti-imperialist Black student protest.
payment programs to Black student or-
ganizations on college campuses as well
(Ibid.; Patton NABS Development & NABS: Programs & Activities,
Demise, 1969-1973; Ulen 1969). Due to 1970-1972
the NABS victory and secession, Chica-
no students, with additional input from The events from El Paso yielded dra-
Caesar Chavez, engaged in intense dis- matic results for the newly founded
cussions with the newly formed NABS. Black student organization. The work
As a result, the Chicano students also of Patton, Kenyatta, McGuire and a
demanded that the NSA pay repara- host of Black students involved in the
tions to the newly forming Chicano stu- NAS conference takeover signaled that
dents’ organization. This action further a different type of student activist was
unified the Black-Brown activism and emerging in the wake of the call for
the groups emerged as a united front al- Black Power in 1966. Black students
liance (Patton 1969-1972). were applying notions of praxis in their
In a news conference, Patton in- activism and for an organization such
formed the press that, “we no longer can as NABS to establish itself with an un-
be a part of a racist organization” and intimidated challenge to an organiza-
he also stated that, “the newly formed tion that reflected institutional racism
Black association had no plans to let the signaled a gargantuan feat. Patton’s
NSA use Black problems for their own ability to demand the terms and negoti-
purposes to gain financial grants from ate the outcomes for NABS was critical
foundations (“Blacks Storm NSA Plat- to how the organization would estab-
form” 1969). For Patton and many of lish its presence in the overall freedom
the Black students who were veterans struggle for the ensuing 1970s. NABS’
of the movement, working with white maneuvering secured reparations from
students for social change and the ad- the NSA amounted to an approximate
vancement of poor Black folks became total of $60,000 ($396,525.41 in 2017)
a norm. As former SNCC workers, which accounted for the inflation factor
this charge became a norm both before (CPI Inflation Calculator 2017). NABS
and after the historic 1966 call for Black received the total payment in three in-
Power. However, Patton genuinely felt stallments. However, the core leader-
that “when Blacks can work in the white ship for the upstart group also negoti-
community, the student movement will ated to obtain the national headquarters
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68 Phylon 54 (1)
of the NSA, which became the new na- tions that were to include both a na-
tional headquarters for NABS located in tional and local flair for the communi-
Washington, D.C. ty-based student-worker that aimed to
From this base of support, Patton encompass both high school and college
was elected as coordinator of the Black aged youth. Ideologically the NABS
student collective and the student group organization expressed the concept of
began planning sessions to execute the the Black Student-Worker which essen-
tasks of: assembling charter members to tially empathized with working class
develop a draft of a constitution for the students that NABS identified as a criti-
new organization; elect charter mem- cal mass of the overall movement (Pat-
bers from the identified regions to serve ton1969-1972). NABS pushed a line of
on the national NABS board; incorpo- revolutionary analysis that was to be
rate NABS as a non-profit organization; driven by working class leadership. Ac-
establishing the NABS news organ, cording to NABS documentation from
STRUGGLE: Voice of the Black Student- 1971:
Worker, which served as pedagogical
tool for political education and also as Strategy indicated that NABS
recruitment tool for prospective Black would have to 1) adopt an ideol-
students around the country; securing ogy that was broad based while still
supplies for the new organization and clearly advocating struggle, study,
most important, resuming communica- and commitment; for this we chose,
tion with the NSA leadership to ensure “Liberation of Black people by any
that the initial payment of the $60,000 means necessary.” and 2) avoid be-
would be expedited. If not, the plans coming too famous too fast by not
of the new organization were baseless. antagonizing whenever possible nei-
However, during this early establish- ther the pig establishment nor other
ment period of the organization, NABS factions struggling in the Black com-
was courted to forge a corporate spon- munity (NABS, Historical Perspec-
sorship with a local business entity to tive 1971).
which the organization accepted and
thus allowing for the upstart organiza- To solidify the organization, NABS
tion to acquire brochures, stationary, leadership collectively agreed that
membership cards and supplies un- the primary phase of the organization
til the first payment was secured from would be to establish a recruitment
NSA (Patton 1969-1972). campaign. NABS intended for the orga-
To the chagrin of the NSA and other nization to be accessible to any and ev-
allied factions of the like, NABS, upon ery Black student on college campuses
receiving their first payments from the nation wide who were interested in the
NSA, brokered a real estate deal and new collective. NABS wanted to take
purchased the home next to newly es- advantage of memberships for indi-
tablished NABS headquarters in D.C. viduals as well as organizations. Thus,
This arrangement allowed the newly NABS targeted: Black Fraternities, Black
formed NABS to multi-task its opera- Sororities, Black Student Unions (BSUs)
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Richard D. Benson II 69
and Student Government Associations male high school students) who were
(SGAs) and individuals through the primary draft targets from the Black ur-
dissemination of national recruitment ban centers of: Chicago, Detroit, New
letters that consisted of comprehensive York, Oakland, Boston, Philadelphia
reports to attract prospective students. and Washington, D.C. Under the di-
The communications included: orga- rection of Patton, NBAWADU, now a
nizational rational & purpose, mem- project under NABS direction, would
bership goals, financial status and the continue anti-war mobilization, politi-
NABS national/local structure. While cal education about the Vietnam War
continuing to work with TWC on the and produce literature on the National
recruitment of prospective students, Front for the Liberation of South Viet-
NABS and TWC members would pro- nam (FLN). This anti-war, anti-draft
vide personalized communications to position of NABS reflected the organi-
high profile recruits that the organiza- zational position of an anti-imperialist
tion deemed of important interest to the community based organization ((Re-
future standing of NABS (Recruitment cruitment Proposal NABS 1970; Patton
Proposal NABS 1970; Patton ASC NABS ASC NABS 1969-1972; “NABS Born to
1969-1972). Unite” 1970; For Us Women-NBAWA-
NABS also began a ‘Speakers’ Bureau DU 1968; NBAWADU Newsletter 1968).
Program’ that included NABS board With a commitment to developing
members and popular Black Power fig- youth programming, NABS established
ures of the period. Leaders foresaw the an arrangement with the Neighbor-
‘Speakers Bureau’ as a networking and hood Youth Corp. and during the sum-
recruitment vehicle as well as a fund- mer months, the NABS headquarters
raising mechanism for the organization. became a tutoring and worksite for
At college and university campuses high school students. NABS members
nation-wide, BSUs and SGAs provided would also visit the homes of many of
honoraria to speakers and with NABS high school students in the areas inter-
acting as a clearinghouse of sorts for ested in the organization. According
speakers, the organization would ben- to Patton, “after a thorough discussion
efit from a percentage of the honoraria. with parents and their offspring, who
Additionally, NABS was able to utilize always presented the option of quitting
the ‘Speakers Bureau’ to attract SGAs schools to join the movement, my ad-
and BSUs for draft counseling work- monition was that the Movement does
shops on college campuses. For NABS, not need any ‘drop outs’, and parents
this was a direct continuation of the Na- assessed NABS as an excellent interim
tional Black Anti-War, Anti-Draft Union, period” for some of the Black youth
(NBAWADU) program that Patton had who were considering quitting school
established prior to NABS under the di- (Patton ASC NABS 1969-1972). In sup-
rection of SNCC in 1968. Now under the port of such programming, NABS de-
auspices of NABS, NBAWADU would veloped an internship program to sev-
continue to address working-poor, in- eral colleges and universities. Antioch
ner city Black youth (particularly Black University and Washington Technical
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70 Phylon 54 (1)
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Richard D. Benson II 71
purported that its members embodied ment, Black workers involvement in-
an “activist-scholar discipline” that al- cluded postal, hospital, and newspaper
lowed for liberal critical thinking and workers, and NABS became the student
analysis. The NABS and RNA rela- wing of the LRBW and aggressively
tionship developed to where the RNA promoted the concept of revolution-
would use the NABS headquarters as a ary student-worker alliances (Ahmad
sort of embassy to hold its conferences LRBW, 20)
and work with the NABS members in Also by mid-1970, NABS identifed
the Washington D.C. area. The goal for with the workers’ struggle and, the or-
NABS was to buy all the houses on the ganization experienced an upsurge in
neighborhood block (totaling five) to momentum, and students from around
sustain a “liberated” neighborhood for the country began to gravitate to the
other organizations outside of NABS to Black student organization. The collec-
have a base of support for operations tive informed students that:
((Patton ASC NABS 1969-1972; Gwen
Patton, interview June 23, 2014). Only when students develop a
As NABS evolved and gained from proletarian consciousness, give up
the debates, community activism/pro- bourgeois aspirations, and join the
gramming, scientific analysis of capi- ranks of Black workers which is the
tal and political study sessions, the or- true background and history of our
ganization began to veer slightly from people in this country since slavery,
their intended course. From its incep- a people’s vanguard of workers will
tion, NABS intended to operate solely emerge...students come into contact
as a service organizations for Black with workers everyday – janitors,
students. However, as the Movement housekeepers, cooks, etc., who are
evolved, so too did the aims and objec- working on college campus. With a
tives. NABS continued to support Third proper and correct analysis students
World struggles and even adopted the should not be arrogant or paternal-
slogan, “Practice, Initiative, and Self- istic to workers...the true student
Reliance” from the Palestinian struggle worker is able to repudiate the small
while continuing to forge connections material rewards that may be pro-
with radical organizations to support vided to her or him no matter what
Black workers. By mid-1970, members diploma or degree that she/he re-
of the League of Revolutionary Black ceives...we must engage in the day to
Workers (LRBW) began to increase their day struggle of workers tin order to
involvement with NABS. LRBW, which be able to organize them (NABS The
was founded by Black union workers Heightening of Consciousness 1969-
from the auto shop plants of Detroit, 1970).
MI, was originally comprised of revolu-
tionary Black Nationalist workers and Seizing this surge of operational
Marxist-Leninist intellectuals who ad- strength of the newly found alliance,
dressed the plight of the Black worker. NABS held its first national confer-
By the height of the League develop- ence in Detroit in the first week of July
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72 Phylon 54 (1)
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Richard D. Benson II 73
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74 Phylon 54 (1)
with SNCC, later emerged as founder of on the matters regarding funding, cor-
NABS and faced a significant amount of porate partnerships and financial sus-
pressure and marginalization as a radi- tainability of the organization (Patton
cal woman and as a leader and tactician NABS Development & Demise, 1969-
in a vanguard organization. As it relat- 1973; Patton ASC NABS 1969-1972; Al-
ed to the demise of NABS, Patton would kalimat Search for a Vanguard – NABS).
remark that because of, “this raging po-
lemic, petty jealousies and organized at-
tacks on female leadership, NABS died Acknowledgements
untimely in 1972” (Patton NABS Devel-
opment & Demise, 1969-1973; Patton This essay has benefited largely from
ASC NABS 1969-1972). And for her pro- the advice and conversations of move-
active input and creative activism, Pat- ment activists and colleagues in the
ton ascended to found, lead, and work fields of Black studies, education history
for the development of NABS, but was and the social foundations of education.
purged shortly before the end of NABS. Providing the extensive history of NABS
Though not absent of FBI provocation, was made possible because of the inter-
the climate for male chauvinistic agita- view and conversation granted by Dr.
tion targeting Patton and other Black Gwen Patton – thank you so much for
women of the organization, supplement taking time and may you rest in power.
the causes for NABS dissolution (Patton You were a true warrior. I owe a debt
NABS Development & Demise, 1969- of gratitude to Dr. Cynthia Spence of
1973; Patton ASC NABS 1969-1972). Spelman College and the HBCU/Mel-
On reflection, as an anti-imperialist lon program for the support I received
Black student organization, NABS was from the 2013 faculty grant that allowed
founded by unprecedented radical ac- for data collection in the James Forman
tion. NABS critiqued institutional and papers at the Library of Congress in
structural racism and received financial Washington D.C; data collection at the
reparations for their activism. How- Reuther Archives in Detroit, MI and
ever, while exceptional, this action pro- the National Council of Churches pa-
vided the organization with a cache of pers located at the Presbyterian Histori-
financial resources that while extensive, cal Society in Philadelphia, PA. Many
required sustainability. The program- thanks and note of major gratitude go
ming of NABS included ties to corporate to my writing family of the la Phoeni-
grants and church related grants, how- kera Writers’ Guild (laPWG): Director,
ever these associations drove a wedge JoEllen Hutchinson, Erica Davila, Ann
in NABS leadership due to admitted Aviles and David Stovall. The 2014 laP-
contradictions between organizational WG summer writer’s retreat in Phoenix,
theory and practice as identified Marx- AZ allowed for much needed uninter-
ist-Leninists. These actions (and others) rupted time to craft out the framework
led to schisms and members such as for this piece. Thank you to the Spel-
Patton being purged from NABS due to man College Teaching Resource and
the lack of an organizational consensus Research Center faculty speakers’ series
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Richard D. Benson II 75
for inviting me to present an early ver- Benson II, Richard D. 2015a. Fighting for
sion of this work to the Spelman College Our Place in the Sun. New York:
community in the spring of 2016. Lastly, Peter Lang Publishing.
thank you to Dr. Geneva Baxter for your Benson II, Richard D. 2015b “Interview
editorial assistance and insightful con- with Gwendolyn M. Patton”,
versations about student activism. Journal of Civil and Human Rights,
Fall/Winter 2015, 1(2): 182-189.
Berger, Dan. 2010. The Hidden 1970s:
___________________________________ Histories of Radicalism. New
Brunswick, Jersey & London:
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78 Phylon 54 (1)
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