Columbia University 1968 - Photo #12 - Gym site and Hamilton occupation April 23-24

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Hamilton Hall lobby, evening of April 23, 1968. I'm in there somewhere. At that point Hamilton was the only occupied building. This is probably before the Black and white leaders went upstairs to talk about about how to proceed; perhaps that is what the voting was about. Under the clock in the background is Dean Coleman's office; he's locked inside. I remember seeing armed Black Panthers guarding the door at one point, but I don't know anything about whether Dean Coleman was a prisoner or he was just staying in his office. Some people felt hurt by the decision to move the white students out of Hamilton, but it was the only possibility that made sense; looking forward to when the police would come, white Columbia students could do any kind of crazy macho thing and get away with it, but Black students could easily wind up dead in any kind of police confrontation. Photo: Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times/Redux.