Dr. Claudia Hampton & the History of Affirmative Action in California

Unsung History

In 1974, Republican governor Ronald Reagan appointed educator Dr. Claudia Hampton, a Democrat active in her local NAACP, as the first Black woman trustee to the board of California State University. For the next twenty years Hampton would be known as the affirmative action trustee as she advocated for policies and budgets that would help support and diversify the CSU faculty, staff, and students. To discuss Dr. Hampton’s legacy, and the history of affirmative action in California, I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Donna J. Nicol, the Associate Dean of Personnel and Curriculum and professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts at California State University Long Beach and author of Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is "Blue Feather," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com); Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. The episode image is a photograph of Dr. Claudia Hampton at an unidentified graduation ceremony, used on the CSU website.

Additional Sources:

• “Claudia H. Hampton; First Woman to Head CSU Trustees,” by Myrna Oliver, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1994.
• “Trustee Emerita Claudia H. Hampton,” California State University.
• “Honoring the Voices of Our Ancestors,” California State University.
• “Watts Rebellion,” History.com, Originally posted on September 28, 2017, and Updated on June 24, 2020.
• “25 Years After the Watts Riots : McCone Commission’s Recommendations Have Gone Unheeded,” by Darrell Dawsey, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1990.
• “Higher Education Guidelines for Executive Order 11246,” Office for Civil Rights (DHEW), October 1972.
• “Affirmative Action Reversal: Understanding the History and Implications,” by Jennifer Pierce, University of Minnesota, June 30, 2023.
• “Here's what happened when affirmative action ended at California public colleges,” by Emma Bowman, NPR, June 30, 2023.

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