This thesis explores how and why the Sansei generation of Californian Japanese Americans due to their relationship Californian higher educational spaces redefined the nature of Japanese American civil rights efforts away from previous approaches which focused upon appealing to the “model minority.” To contextualize and explain this development the thesis explores Californian Nisei experiences and past traumas such as those which resulted from Japanese American Incarceration which influenced their own views on higher education and Californian Nisei trends in child rearing which in turn resulted in a notable involvement of Californian Sansei in Californian higher educational spaces as well as contemporary political influences such as the American New Left, and the Black Power movement which these Sansei drew upon when pursuing political activism, and how the Sansei reacted to these influences. It also examines how the social spaces enabled by the nature of Californian college campuses at this time enabled these Sansei to learn how pursue political change without appealing to the “model minority” myth, as well as use the systems of higher education to gain supporters. Furthermore, the thesis examines how these efforts from Californian Sansei activists led to shifts a growth in pan-Asian sentiments, and the development of ethnic studies programs.