In pictures: A lookback at student protest movements in the US | National [Video]

(CNN) — Students have established encampments and occupied campus buildings to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, roiling college campuses across America. Many of them say they’re inspired by the long – if often turbulent – history of university activism in the United States.

As universities grapple with how to address the protests, some have called in state and local authorities to disperse participants and take down their encampments — resulting in tense confrontations with police and mass arrests.

Students, often joined by faculty, remain adamant that they will not abandon their encampments until their schools meet their demands — saying their actions in support of Palestinians follow a tradition of student-led social movements.

Civil Rights protests and sit-ins

While student protests for racial equality gained the most traction during the 1960s, some of the first demonstrations took place decades before the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1943, student leaders at Howard University Law School began practicing what …