UCSB Reads 2021: Exhibitions

This virtual exhibition will celebrate Black student activism at UC Santa Barbara in 1968 through archival photographs in the Library's Special Research Collections to honor the 12 students who, on October 14, 1968, took over the North Hall building to demand change in the curriculum and climate on campus for Black students. This was a physical exhibition in UCSB Library in 2017-2018.

This exhibition of materials from UCSB Library's Special Research Collections will showcase images, small flyers, newspapers, magazine articles, letters, publications, and other resources documenting the activities of the Black Panther Party, the Black Power Movement, and the Civil Rights Movement.

How has your life been changed by 2020? What do you want future generations of Gauchos to know about what you have experienced? COVID-19 and increased calls for racial justice are shaping our lives and our experiences during this tumultuous time. Building on the COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter Community Archives Projects, UCSB Library faculty and staff are documenting art and activism in the now in the form of an exhibition showcasing the variety of works submitted to these projects, debuting in Fall 2021. 


UCSB Library invites Santa Barbara community members and UCSB students, faculty, and staff to submit original works that address how the pandemics of racial injustice and coronavirus have shaped their lives  - that’s you!

Works can include a wide range of formats, including journal entries, poems, course work, photographs, videos, social media posts, zines, or audio recordings. We encourage folks to submit works under their own or an assumed gaucho name for either one of the digital collections. The deadline to submit your works for inclusion in the 2021-2022 exhibit is June 20, 2021.