Welcome

Review the syllabus, schedule, and assignments for the semester.

In-Class Exercise

Class Canceled Due to Hurricane Harvey

Welcome

Review the syllabus, schedule, and assignments for the semester.

In-Class Exercise

History, Media, and Memory: Making Sense of James F. Gay and Hal Bonney Jr.

For More Information

Jeffrey L. Littlejohn and Charles H. Ford, Elusive Equality: Desegregation and Resegregation in Norfolk's Public Schools. University of Virginia Press, 2012.

Reading

- C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. Oxford, 2001. Read pages 3-147 (if possible).
Digital pdf copy of book availabe due to Hurricane Harvey.

- Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past,”Journal of American History, Vol. 91, No. 4 (March 2005): 1233-1263. | Video of Hall on the Legacies of the Civil Rights Movement

- Sundiata Keith Cha-Jua and Clarence Lang, "The 'Long Movement' as Vampire: Temporal and Spatial Fallacies in Recent Black Freedom Studies, Journal of African American History, Vol. 92, No. 2 (Spring 2007): 265-288.

Reading Questions

In 1955, Martin Luther King Jr. called The Strange Career of Jim Crow the historical bible of the civil rights movement. Why? What did C. Vann Woodward argue about the origins and evolution of racial segregation that made this book useful to civil rights advocates?

Due Date

Précis on Woodward due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on September 12.

Reading

Patricia Sullivan, Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement. New Press, 2009.

Reading Questions

Patricia Sullivan's book is the most recent attempt to tell the story of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. When and how was the organization born? How was it organized? Who were the significant leaders in charge of national operations? What campaigns did the organization undertake in its crusade to achieve racial equality? Where and why did it succeed? Where and why did it fail?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on September 19.

Reading

Erik S. Gellman, Death Blow to Jim Crow: The National Negro Congress and the Rise of Militant Civil Rights. UNC, 2014.

Reading Questions

In his examination of the National Negro Congress (NNC) and its independent youth affiliate, the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC), historian Erik Gellman complicates our understanding of the civil rights movement during the 1930s. Who led the NNC and SNYC? What did these organizations seek to accomplish? How were they different that the NAACP? How did the two groups interface with New Deal agencies, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the larger labor movement? What ultimately led to the groups downfall?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on September 26.

Reading

David Chappell, A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow. North Carolina, 2004.

Reading Questions

In his recent book, A Stone of Hope, David Chappell argues that the leaders of the civil rights movement followed a different intellectual tradition than that espoused by white moderates of the mid-twentieth century. According to Chappell, why did white liberals fail to overturn Jim Crow during the mid-twentieth century? What tradition did black Southerners turn to in their fight to win equality and justice? And, what role did Southern churches -- black and white -- play in the civil rights movement?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on October 3.

Reading

Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance. Vintage, 2011.

Reading Questions

In her book, At the Dark End of the Street, historian Danielle McGuire offers a startling reconceptualization of the civil rights movement. Drawing on sources and perspectives that have long been ignored, what does McGuire argue about the origins and development of civil rights? What role did women play in the movement, and why did they play such a role?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on October 10.

Reading

Mary L. Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy. Princeton, 2002.

Reading Questions

In her book, Cold War Civil Rights, Mary Dudziak "examines the impact of Cold War foreign affairs on U.S. civil rights reform." What does she find? How did the diplomatic realities of the Cold War "constrain and enhance civil rights reform?" Be as specific as possible.

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on October 17.

Reading

David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., & the SCLC. W. Murrow, 1986. Chapts. 1-6

Reading Questions

When Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, in April 1963, a prominent group of white clergymen published a letter calling his activities in the city "unwise and untimely." Frustrated by this criticism, King drafted a short, but beautiful response, which has since become known as the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” In his letter, Dr. King told his critics that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Alabama Christian Movement were “engaged in a nonviolent direct action program” in Birmingham because injustice ruled the city.

“I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham,” Dr. King wrote. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

By the time Dr. King drafted this remarkable statement, he was recognized as the preeminent spokesman for the black freedom struggle. In four months' time, he would present the keynote address at the historic March on Washington, and within the year, King would become the youngest person to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, King and his allies soon celebrated their greatest legislative achievement, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

How did “little Mike” King, the preacher's son from Atlanta, become the greatest civil rights figure of the twentieth century? Who was King? What was his educational and theological background? And, what made him a remarkable leader?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on October 24.

Reading

David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., & the SCLC. W. Murrow, 1986. Chapts. 7-11

Writing Prompt

Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. continued to press the Lyndon Johnson administration for additional action on civil rights. Changes to federal voting laws were needed, King said. Poverty programs, affordable housing, and medical care were also crucial. Yet, as King pressed, national and international crises tore the civil rights leader away from President Johnson. King's position on the Vietnam War, urban riots, and racial violence made him unpopular with Johnson and his allies. Why positions did King take between 1964 and 1968? And, why?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on October 31.

Reading

Clayborne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s. Harvard, 1995.

Reading Questions

In his book, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s, Clayborne Carson examines the birth and evolution of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. He argues that the group's development may be traced through three stages. What were they and how do they help explain the vital role that SNCC played in the civil rights movement?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on November 7.

Reading

Peniel E. Joseph, Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America. Holt, 2007.

Reading Questions

In his recent book, Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour, historian Peniel Joseph provides a gripping story of the Black Power movement. What does he find? When and why did Black Power emerge? How and why did it differ from earlier forms of black protest? And, what ultimately was the significance of Black Power?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on November 14.

Reading

David Chappell, Waking from the Dream: The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of MLK, Jr. Random House, 2014.

Reading Questions

In his recent book, Waking from the Dream, David Chappell examines the civil rights struggle after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. What does he find? Who were the leaders during this period? What did they want? And, how successful were they in achieving their goals?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on November 21.

Reading

Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New Press, 2012.

Reading Questions

In her book, The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander examines the causes and consequences of mass incarceration in America. What does she find? What political/social/cultural developments gave rise to mass incarceration. Who has been victimized by mass incarceration according to Alexander? And, what has been the social impact on families and communities?

Due Date

Précis due in blackboard by 5:00 pm on November 28.