Support Our Boycott!
(Bay Area Blacks United, c. 1967/8).
In California, the civil rights movement grew through the 1960s. Encouraged by the marches and boycotts in the South, activists in California and the Bay Area responded similarly with organized marches, pickets, and sit-ins. Support for a federal civil rights bill, and for an end to discriminatory hiring and housing practices, increased by the mid-1960s. Activism for racial justice also overlapped with the anti-war movement. In late 1967, a large anti-war protest shut down Oakland’s center for the war draft. Police responded, dispersing the crowd with nightsticks and mace. The handbill below, urging a boycott of Berkeley businesses, was distributed in this contentious atmosphere. It is unclear if the boycott was widespread and if merchants met with the negotiating committee.
