Found deep in library archives, photo collections, and memories of longtime residents, Santa Cruz’s Black history is rich beneath the surface. Massive influential figures of the Black liberation movement have ties to Santa Cruz, including some of the most notable members of the Black Panther Party.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) was co-founded by Bobby Seale and UC Santa Cruz alum Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California on Oct. 15, 1966. The BPP was a vehicle to serve the Black liberation movement through concrete social, economic, and political uplift, influenced by the works of Malcolm X, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Che Guevara. 

The Santa Cruz chapter of the BPP was established in 1973 by local community members after the Los Angeles chapter came to the Santa Cruz Mountains for months-long security training.

“The general attitude is that because the Black population in Santa Cruz is so small, […] it doesn’t feel like the community would’ve been large enough to support a movement of that nature. But in fact, that was not the case,” said associate professor of critical race and ethnic studies Xavier Livermon. 

Over the years, UC Santa Cruz has hosted several Black Panthers on its campus, including Newton and distinguished professor emerita Angela Davis, who taught in the history of consciousness and feminist studies departments until 2008, retiring after 17 years. 

The legacy of the Black Panther movement persists at UCSC through student organizing and Black-centered initiatives, such as the Black Student Union (BSU) and the African American Resource & Cultural Center (AARCC). 

“We are students of color, and until the system is completely changed, we’re always going to be at some sort of disadvantage,” said Ka’Reil Marshall, external outreach coordinator for UCSC’s BSU. “Being politically aware; that’s not a weakness. It’s a strength you can utilize to help other people, including yourself.”

The BSU has provided a space for Black students on a campus where they have historically been a minority, making up only 4.6 percent of the student population as of fall 2023. 

UCSC alum Jinx Derusia (‘79) was a member of the BSU and engaged in community work with the BPP.

“If I hadn’t been involved with the BSU, I wouldn’t have known how to navigate the campus on many levels,” Derusia said. “The Black Panthers proved that it took a lot of determination, will, and energy for the struggle. It’s about self-determination and understanding that you have the right to be here.”

Black Panthers at UCSC

When UCSC opened its doors in 1965, there were no letter grades and no tuition. 

Students were graded using the Narrative Evaluation System (NES), which centered on individual engagement with the coursework.

Drawn to the campus by the radical grading system, Huey P. Newton began his studies as a transfer student at UCSC in 1973. Commuting from Oakland, Newton graduated the following year with a bachelor’s in philosophy.

“UC Santa Cruz was so prosperous that it attracted many people, including Black Panthers. It was a privilege to be at UCSC because you were being helped to create new ideas, your future, new futures,” said professor hiroshi fukurai, who teaches a senior seminar for the sociology department titled Banana Slugs and Black Panthers: Revolutionary Political Activism at UCSC and Beyond.

Under the guidance of sociology professor J. Herman Blake, Newton published an autobiographical book in 1973 titled Revolutionary Suicide. Although NES grading drew many like Newton to UCSC, the method was discontinued by the university in 2001. 

Blake was the first Black professor to join UCSC’s faculty in 1966. He helped establish activist and revolutionary spaces on campus, including Oakes College, which he co-founded alongside Dr. Ralph Guzmán in 1968.

Oakes College was established to serve first-generation and minority students. It was intended to be a revolutionary center for Black study. Students lobbied for Oakes College to be named ‘Malcolm X College’ after it was proposed by Black Liberation Movement Leader William Moore. 

“If colleges can be named for whites and their heroes, can’t we name a college for Malcolm X, a hero to Blacks?” said Moore in a column in the Santa Cruz Sentinel published on Aug. 29, 1968. “This is a golden opportunity to help Black people, white people, education, and society.”

Ultimately, the Academic Senate denied the request despite strong support from students and community members. Chancellor Dean E. McHenry said in a September 1968 issue of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, “A Black college is not a practical possibility at Santa Cruz.”

An Oakes affiliate himself, Newton continued his studies at UCSC as a graduate student in the history of consciousness department in 1978. In 1980, Newton received his Ph.D. publishing his dissertation, “War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America.”

In UCSC’s history, students have not been alone in advancing social change. Abolitionist scholar, philosopher, Marxist, and political activist Angela Davis began lecturing at UCSC in the mid-1980s and became a professor in 1991. Three years later, she was appointed to the UC Presidential Chair in African American and feminist studies. 

Davis was known for rallying alongside students and community members during campus and city protests. In a 2008 Santa Cruz Sentinel article regarding Davis’s retirement from UCSC, one of her graduate students, Michelle Erai said,“Even though [Davis] travels a lot, she was really present and incredibly thoughtful in her comments,” Erai continues, “She really modeled how to operate as an academic and an activist.” 

A Lasting Legacy

Local organizations like Black Surf Santa Cruz and the Resource Center for Nonviolence have continued the work of the BPP by pushing antiracist campaigns and creating spaces for the Black community.

“When people see Black groups still thriving, it gives them retention to stay here,” said Egypt Chin, Co-chair of the BSU. “It gives them an idea that they’re not alone and if they’re suffering then there’s a community that’s willing to rally for them.”

In fall 2020, UCSC introduced a Black Studies minor, brought about by student organizing and faculty support  in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. The minor employs many educational principles of the BPP, pushing students to explore questions of social justice and anti-Black racism.

“One of the issues that the Black Panthers were really interested in was breaking down that notion of the ‘ivory tower’ and the separation of the university from the community that [it] is located in,” said Xavier Livermon, guiding visionary of the Black studies minor.

McHenry Library houses several Black Panther Party archives, including a collection of articles written about Newton’s activity in Santa Cruz. However, community members express that much of Santa Cruz’s Black history is inaccessible, overlooked, and should be better remembered.

“The larger issue is that there’s a longer, more detailed Black history of the Santa Cruz region that is often overlooked,” said Livermon. “People have always challenged their oppression and pushed back against it in various ways.”