Fisk University

The student protest at Fisk University from 1924-1925 was in opposition to the actions taken by Fayette McKenzie, university president, to discontinue the school magazine and newspaper, outlaw most extracurricular activities, and enforce strict dress codes. At the same time, McKenzie was seeking funding from foundations who did not want students to challenge Jim Crow laws. After an incident that brough police to campus, the students and the community organized an 8-week protest that included a boycott of the school. The protest led to protests at other black colleges in the following years, greater involvement by students in the alumni in college governance, and the selection of an African-American president at Howard University.

Kent State University

In 1970, the scheduled campus event to protest the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, attracted 3,000 people, who were greeted by 100 armed Ohio National Guardsmen. When tensions rose, the Guardsmen opened fire, killing 4 students and wounding 9. This event contributed to the passage of the War Powers act (1973), which limited the amendment that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. 

Soweto (South Africa)

The Soweto Uprising was a series of student-led protests that began on June 16, 1976 in opposition to the apartheid government’s introduction of Afrikaans, considered by many black people as the oppressor’s language, into black schools. The estimated 20,000 students who took part in the protest were met with police brutality; there were 100+ fatalities and 1000+ injuries. It is understood that the Uprising was important in leading to the legislative dismantling of apartheid in the early 1990s.