In its emergence in the Cold War U.S. university, ethnic studies located itself in an international Third Worldist struggle for liberation from the shackles of imperialism. Grounded in revolutionary theory and committed to real-world action, it signaled a movement for education, in the proverbial belly of the beast, aimed at serving the broadest possible collective. Animated by the radical idea that education must serve communities, the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) was part of a movement landscape that gave rise, under the rubric of community self-determination, to what might now be called mutual aid. What lessons can we draw from over half a century of ethnic studies struggle?