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Academic Year 2000/2001

History of the Southern Civil Rights Movement
HIST 238 SP
Crosslistings:
AFAM 238
Clusters:
Christian Studies

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s was one of the most important events in 20th-century American history. This course explores the history of the movement in the South, focusing particularly on how and why individuals engaged in an often dangerous struggle to claim their legal rights. The course will address at least three main questions. First, how is the movement understood in the context of the longer black freedom struggle and resistance to segregation in the South? Second, why did the movement take place when it did and why did it take the form that it did? Third, what have the political and cultural legacies of the movement been? We will examine a wide variety of activities that took place within the movement, from student sit-ins, to marches led by Martin Luther King, to community organizing in the delta of Mississippi. While we will use many political documents and oral histories to understand the history of the movement, the course will also incorporate films, music, ar t, photographs, fiction and sources from the Internet.

MAJOR READINGS

Possible major readings for the class include: Julian Bond and Andrew Lewis, GONNA SIT AT THE WELCOME TABLE Howell Raines, MY SOUL IS RESTED Martin Luther King, Jr., WHY WE CAN'T WAIT John Dittmer, LOCAL PEOPLE: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN MISSISSIPPI Deborah McDowell, LEAVING PIPE SHOP Alice Walker, MERIDIAN

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two short papers; in-class midterm exam; one longer paper; group oral presentation.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: AFAM201 OR AFAM203 OR AFAM204 OR HIST240 Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001

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