Student Activism at CWRU

Student Activism at CWRU

The exhibits on this website explore the history of student activism at Case Western Reserve University through images, letters, documents, speeches, and maps from the University Archives. Students at CWRU have long participated in social movements such as women's suffrage, abolitionism, civil rights, anti-war activism, and beyond, raising their voices in support of a better world. Initially, this site will focus on the abolitionist movement, the campus suffragists, the formation of the African-American Society in the 1960s, and anti-Vietnam War activism.

Each exhibit will be published as it is completed. Exhibits are in various stages of research and construction. (Lack of a topical area in the table of contents does not necessarily mean the subject is being ignored.) If you have information that you think should be added to these exhibits, you are welcome to submit it, with documentation, to archives@case.edu. 

The CWRU Libraries Diversity Working Group, with the support of library volunteers, created this website to showcase and make available information about CWRU’s student activists whose work impacted, and continues to impact, our community. The creation of this website reflects the kind of work CWRU Libraries are committed to do in support of building a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable community. We celebrate our campus activists who worked diligently for social justice, and it is our hope that you learn and become inspired. 

Please note:  To protect current student activists from potential harm, recent activism will not be highlighted on this website.  To learn more about documenting student activism without harm, please visit the Project STAND website:  https://standarchives.com/elementor-6715/. 


Header image: student members of the Afro-American Society disrupt the scheduled Shockley-Innis debate on 9/15/1974 in Strosacker Auditorium on the CWRU campus. Students and other groups protested the presence of William Shockley who claimed blacks were intellectually inferior to whites. Roy Innis was national director of the Congress of Racial Equality. Shockley and Innis later debated on WERE radio.

Contents of this path: