Interview of Amanda Armstrong

Amanda Armstrong recounts her organizing as a graduate student militant in the 2009-2012 protest wave in Berkley and Oakland. She joined occupations and building take-overs organized by students and campus workers fighting budget cuts, joined Occupy and Black Lives Matter protests, and helped found a left caucus that came to power in the graduate workers local of the University of California system. Through that caucus and union, Armstrong came to lead a campaign that successfully won access to all-gender bathrooms for UC students and workers. Armstrong also discusses her growing up in Pennsylvania, her intellectual development as a historian, and her inducing lactation as a trans woman and parent.

Date of Interview:

November 18, 2021

Location of Interview:

NYPL Offices, Midtown Manhattan

Place of birth:

Gettysburg, PA

Pronouns:

she

Interviewed by

Michelle Esther O'Brien