What is the relevant context that can help us, as scholars, to interpret the meaning of this story?

When interpreting the meaning of Sproul Plaza and the Free Speech Movement, it’s important to contextualize the racial and political climate of the country during that time. During the sixties, the nation was experiencing a political transformation with a racially segregated and divided country. Aside from the FSM, the sixties were dominated by other political movements such as The Civil Rights Movement, the Student Movement, the Anti-Vietnam War movement, the Women's Movement, and the Gay Rights Movement, all of which were exemplified on Sproul Plaza. The rise in activism and hunger for change throughout the nation played a key role in developing Sproul Plaza as “the location of more political activity than perhaps any other place in America…From small gatherings during the Cuban Missile Crisis, through the Free Speech Movement, to riots over U.S. policy in Vietnam and South Africa, Sproul Plaza has witnessed almost every facet of the student protest movement which has helped define the public politics of post-World War II America.”(1).⁴ As we gain a better understanding of the intense political climate of the U.S during the sixties, we can understand the meaning and significance of the Free Speech Movement taking place on Sproul Plaza. The Free Speech Movement shifted the role of Sproul from being an average public space on campus to a monumental public political space on campus that allows students to demonstrate their political beliefs!