Thousands of high school students walked out of their East Los Angeles classrooms in March 1968 to protest educational conditions in the five public high schools that formed the Los Angeles Unified School District. Classes ground to a halt as the students left the schools chanting, “Blowout, blowout, walkout, walkout!”

A free conference commemorating the student walkouts—or blowouts, as they were known—and the history behind them will be hosted at UCSB on Wednesday, Feb. 20. It is titled “Blowout: The 40th Anniversary Conference on the 1968 East Los Angeles Chicano Student Walkouts.”

Participants in the original blowout, including Sal Castro, the teacher credited with inspiring the student walkout, will speak at the event, which begins at 2 p.m. in the McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020.

The public is welcome, according to conference organizer Mario T. García, professor of history and Chicana and Chicano studies. He will give the keynote address, titled “Blowout: Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice.”