Black Action Movement

The Black Action Movement was a series of protests by African American students against the policies and actions of the University of Michigan. The protests themselves took place on three occasions in 1970, 1975, and 1987 (BAM I, BAM II, BAM III). Many student organizations participated in the movement, which has been called one of the most challenging for administrators in the school's history. Alan Glenn of the Ann Arbor Chronicle said of the 1970 protests that "the BAM strike became one of the few protests of that era in which the students could make a valid claim of victory."

After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, students protested against the University of Michigan administration for lack of support for minorities on campus. The University agreed to certain concessions and to increase integration on campus. The 1970 Black Action Movement protests first began in late 1969, when black student organizations began to chafe at the slow progress of this proposed integration. Following their decision to become more proactive, the Black Student Union, Black Law Student Alliance, Black Psychologist, and the Black Educational Caucus among others entered into talks with university administrators. Accepting an invitation to dine and discuss with the university president in February 1970, the groups staged a demonstration on his lawn and demanded that by the beginning of the 1973-1974 school year, the balance of African American students and administrators proportionately reflect the 10% balance in the state at the time. Other requests were for better support for minority students, including a recruiter for Chicano students and a Black Student Center, financial support by way of extra grants and scholarships, and the establishment of a Black studies program.

The campaign closed the University of Michigan for 18 days through strikes, protests, picketing, blocking of buildings and streets, and interruption and shutting down of classes. During the last week of the strike, attendance of classes in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) dropped by 75%. The settlement reached on 1 April 1970 involved the University accepting the 10% figure as a goal. In a speech later that month, U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew criticized university president Robben Fleming for his "surrender" to the students, calling the university's settlement a "callow retreat from reality."

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