The Liberation Of Fremont High

THE LIBERATION OF FREMONT HIGH! 1968 was a year of revolts, rebellions, and revolution. This feature-length documentary is a mix of former Black Student Union members, supporting students, and teachers who were involved with the massive movement at John C, Fremont High School in Los Angeles. The revolt at Fremont High occurred 3 years after the first Watts Rebellion Of August 1965. The film consists of rare news footage, photos, newspapers, and magazine articles of the past, with present day interviews of the frontline resistance. Hear the resistance recount their battles of this relatively unknown past so our future can prepare their present resistance.

This film presents a story of Black youth rebellion, that is similar in part, to the current mass movement around George Floyd. The Liberation Of Fremont High [Fall Of 1968 Into 1969] will bring the present audience to the past.

1968 was the rise of the 60s new left as many monumental events occurred that year. In Watts. California, the city had its second rebellion. In Memphis, Tennessee, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr became one of the many leaders assassinated by the US government and right wing forces. In South Vietnam, the National Liberation Front guerilla fighters led the Tet Offensive, weakening the US invasion in Vietnam. In the capital of the United States, the Tet Offensive led to U.S President Lyndon B. Johnson’s decision to not run for a second presidential term. In Los Angeles, it was the year of massive Chicano student walkouts and the formation of the city’s Black Panther Party chapter 1968 also marked the beginning of Fremont High’s protracted Black student led boycott and protest.

Fremont High’s origin began in 1924 in South Central Los Angeles, as a haven for white high school students during a time when whites were the majority in that area. By the 1940's, the school became a center of attention when white students responded to the first six Black students enrolled in the high school with a racist protest. These racist students, with the support of their parents, held a massive boycott and hung a Black student in effigy. The cry of that boycott was, "No Niggers At Fremont, Go To Your Own Schools." By the 1960's, Fremont became almost 95% Black and by the Fall of 1968, the school became known for one of the largest and longest high school boycotts in the country.

By the Fall of 1968 at Fremont High, the Black Students Union called for a walkout, that included leaflet handouts of the racist teachers list that demanded for the purges of the white principal and white racist teachers. The BSU also campaigned for a reading program centered around the history of Black people, in addition, they called for a Black and Brown studies program along with qualified Black principal and Black and Brown teachers for the many Black and Brown students that attended during that time