University of Washington's Black Student Union was founded in early 1968 at a time when very few black students attended the UW. Over the next several years the BSU led campaigns that transformed the University and helped reshape educational opportunities for young people of color in Seattle and throughout Washington state.

On May 20, 1968, University of Washington's Black Student Union (BSU) occupied the office of UW President Charles Odegaard for nearly 4 hours. The BSU's immediate goals were expanded black recruitment, counseling and tutoring, and funding to create a black studies program. BSU President E.J. Brisker emphasized that the organization wished to be taken seriously, and to meet with, and keep pressure on, university officials.

In this photo, BSU organizer Larry Gossett leads the charge on May 20 to present the black students’ demands and get them approved without violence or a massive stand-off. In a communication with MOHAI in 2020, Gossett noted that the group had wanted to hold the sit-in on Malcolm X’s birthday, May 19th, but it landed on a Sunday, and no one would have been in the UW offices.

Caption information source: Seattle Times, May 21, 1968, p. 7. Caption information source: "The Black Student Union at UW," part of University of Washington's Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History project at http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BSU