Photos: Rally on UC Berkeley campus marks 50th anniversary of the birth of the Free Speech Movement

The Free Speech Movement rally held at UC Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2014. Photo: Ted Friedman — The rally held at UC Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2014 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement. Photo: Ted Friedman

Oct. 1 marked the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, a protest that lasted for three months but set the stage for the turbulent 1960s.

On that day, thousands of UC Berkeley students protested on the Cal campus, surrounding a police car parked near Sproul Plaza. Jack Weinberg was inside the car and stayed inside it for 32 hours, having been arrested for distributing political material on university grounds despite rules that forbade it.

A graduate student, Mario Savio, climbed on top of the police car at one point and demanded Weinberg’s release. He also spoke out against the university’s restrictions against handing out political material. That impromptu speech catapulted him into the leadership of what would come to be known as the Free Speech Movement.

Read more, and enjoy these photos taken by Ted Friedman at the rally held 50 years later at the same spot at UC Berkeley when FSM veterans — including Weinberg and Savio’s wife, Lynne Hollander Savio — joined current students to mark the movement’s golden anniversary.

Students join with Free Speech Movement fans at noon celebration at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus on Wednesday Oct. 1, 2014. Photo: Ted Friedman — Students joined the Free Speech Movement rally at Sproul Plaza on Wednesday Oct. 1, 2014. Photo: Ted Friedman

Lynne hollander Savio, center, with poster of Mario Savio. Photo: Ted Friedman — Lynne Hollander Savio, wife of Mario Savio, center, with poster of Mario Savio. Photo: Ted Friedman

Megha Mehairatta, Junior, pays tributs to FSM — Megha Mehairatta, a Cal junior, pays tributs to FSM. Photo: Ted Friedman

Jack Weinberg (in dark shirt) on the UC campus on Oct. 1, 2014. Photo: Ted Friedman — Jack Weinberg (in dark shirt) on the UC campus on Oct. 1, 2014. Weinberg, who had graduated from UC, was arrested by police on Oc.t 1, 1964, for passing out information on CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality. Many of those in the FSM were inspired by the Civil Rights movement. Weinberg stayed in the police car for 32 hours. Photo: Ted Friedman

View of the rally from the balcony where Mario Savio addressed the crowd in the 1960s. Photo: Ted Friedman — View of the rally from the very balcony where Mario Savio, one of the key student leaders of the 1964 protest, addressed the crowd during a December 1964 takeover of Sproul Hall. Photo: Ted Friedman

Jackie Goldberg warned against cynicism and apathy at the FSM rally. Photo: Ted Friedman — Jackie Goldberg, one of the student leaders in 1964, warned against cynicism and apathy at the 2014 FSM rally. Photo: Ted Friedman

See more photos of the free speech movement celebration rally in the Berkeleyside Flickr pool.

Related:
Events mark 50th anniversary of free speech movement (09.22.14)

Berkeleyside’s Uncharted: The Berkeley Festival of Ideas is in downtown Berkeley on Oct. 24-25. Read all about it and buy your tickets at www.berkeleyideas.com

Tracey Taylor