Source: http://www.discoveringhistory.org/1718-hh250-in-class/category/civil-rights
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 02:34:53+00:00

Document:
Understand the critical role of black women in the civil rights movement: in organizing, law, and operations.
Build on our last class to understand the frictions between different groups within the civil rights movement and efforts to hide or erase certain participants/leaders.
How did Ella Baker contribute to the civil rights movement?
What is her view of "strong leaders"? Do you think a movement need a strong leader?
Women and gay men played significant, though rarely recognized, roles in the civil rights movement.
Most of their accomplishments still overshadowed by the recognition of their straight, male counterparts, who were far more “palatable” figures for 1950s and 1960s America.
Design a question to pose that aims to provoke thoughtful discussion.
Each group presents on their figure and poses a question to the class.
An articulate public speaker, Malcolm X expressed the frustration and bitterness of African Americans during the major phase of the civil rights movement from 1955 to 1965.
Malcolm X advocated the separation of black and white Americans and rejected the civil rights movement for its emphasis on integration. Instead, he called on black Americans to engage in a more militant form of struggle: Black Power.
Black Power viewed the black community in terms similar to colonized peoples in other parts of the world, and similarly sought to advance a struggle for self-determination and affirmation of cultural characteristics that had been denigrated by white culture.
Black Power was expressed in new militant organizations like the Black Panther Party, which engaged in armed defense against what they viewed as assaults by white police officers and also in community support services like health clinics and schools.
Which are the most powerful phrases in the speech? Identify one passage to share with the class and explain why you find it powerful.
Why does Malcolm X say that he is not “anti-white”?
Why does Malcolm X say that he does not consider himself an American?
What does Malcolm X mean when he says “Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat some of what’s on that plate”?
Malcolm X says not to “go out and get violent.” Yet, he then says violence is allowable. Why?
Revisit the question from our last lesson: In what ways are King’s and Malcolm X’s ideas relevant today?
Do you detect connections between Douglass’ speech “What to the slave is the 4th of July”?
Compare and contrast the views of King and Malcolm X. If you were a teenager in the 1960s, which viewpoint would you have found more convincing? Which view do you find convincing today? Explain both responses and why they are consistent or different.
Would anyone like to share some of their reflection/ writing on his question?
Did anyone's thoughts change over the course of the discussion?
​#804 A movement of nonviolence: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Left: Martin Luther King, Jr., in his office next to portrait of Mahatma Gandhi (The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University); right: King leading march from Selma to Montgomery of voting rights for African Americans. Beside King is John Lewis, Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy (ABC News).
Explore Nonviolence, not only as a concept, but as a political strategy. Today’s class will be discussion around three interconnected questions: What did King learn from Gandhi? How did nonviolence help King and other civil rights leaders advance their cause? And, what about that lesson is relevant for the present?
To facilitate this discussion we will review a timeline, key concepts, and then take up discussion roles.
Ahimsa: Sanskrit, from a “non-, without” + hiṃsā “violence.” In the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jainist tradition, ahimsa refers to respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others.
Civil disobedience: The refusal to comply with certain laws considered unjust, as a peaceful form of political protest.
Examine the following timelines. As you view them, consider which events are essential for addressing our key questions.
The Historians: You are focused on the origins of Gandhi’s strategy of nonviolence and how that strategy was adapted by King. Your goal is to match the ideals of the two leaders with the particular campaigns discussed by Kumar.
The Activists: You are interested in how the strategy of nonviolent resistance represents a type of “practical idealism” that can be applied across multiple contexts: that is, in different times and places. You are especially invested in the relevance of Gandhi and King for issues of racial justice in the United States today.
The Questioners: Your role is to spark discussion through thoughtful questions that will help the other two groups address our key questions. It will be your responsibility to keep the conversation on track and to ensure that we are conducting a balanced discussion.
Source: Gina Yang via KCUR.
Today, we will build from last class’ discussion of the NAACP’s legal challenging of segregation, and our initial exploration of the Brown v. Board of Education case.
key arguments related to (a) "separate but equal," (b) originalist and evolving interpretations of the Constitution, and (c) the importance of education to individuals and society in the context of civil rights.
looking beyond the text itself, how the case did—and did not--impact the lived experience of black Americans.
The plaintiff, Oliver L. Brown, was an African American man living in Topeka, Kansas. A welder and assistant pastor at his local church, Brown’s daughter Linda who attended Topeka public schools. Linda, a third grader, had to walk six blocks to her school bus stop to ride to Monroe Elementary, her segregated black school one mile away, while Sumner Elementary, a white school, was seven blocks from her house. Her walk to the bus stop also took her across dangerous railroad tracks.
The case that came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools.
What is the opinion of the Court on the “separate but equal” doctrine? What evidence does Justice Warren use to support the stance of the majority? Why might this view have been controversial at the time?
How do the justices act as historians? To what extent do they value the original intent of those who wrote the Constitution (and other amendments, particularly the fourteenth)? To what extent do they take into consideration the evolving context of American civic institutions and society? Do you agree with the balance they strike? Why or why not?
What does Justice Warren argue about the value of education (versus, say, transportation) for individuals and society? Do you agree with his argument? Why or why not?
By what process do Supreme Court opinions become lived practice for ordinary Americans?
Why might a decision related to public education in local communities be especially difficult to enforce?
What do you think will happen as a result of this decision?
Begin watching clip from Eyes on the Prize Part 2: Fighting Back (1:20-20:50). Note: we may have to complete our viewing next class.
How Southern white politicians, unable to use the courts, turned back to racialized politics and violence.
Decided by the Supreme Court in 1944, Smith v. Allwright was one of the NAACP’s first major legal victories in the fight to dismantle segregation.
The NAACP, led by their chief counsel Thurgood Marshall, argued on the behalf Houston dentist Lonnie Smith. Smith was a black man who had attempted to vote in the Democratic primary elections in Texas, and been turned away on the grounds of a 1923 Democratic party rule that required all primary voters to be white.
Up until this point, the courts had upheld exclusion of on-white voters in primaries with the 1935 case Grovey v. Townsend. Grovey held that political parties were technically private entities, and that accordingly they could set their own rules without required adherence to federal law (in this case the 14th and 15th amendment).
In Smith however, the court reversed its Grovey decision and declared the primary discrimination unconstitutional.
​​One historian called Smith v. Allwright “the groundwork for the more significant Brown v. Board of Education” case.
But the case also provoked backlash from pro-segregationists in the South. No longer able to depend on the federal courts to support segregation, a number of white southerners turned to intensely racialized politics and violence. We will examine both the NAACP legal victory and one example of the anti-black violence that captured the national attention, even as the NAACP won court cases.
With a partner, review the Library of Congress history of the NAACP Timeline (first three pages of the PDF). Then discuss the following questions based on both the timeline and Marshall memorandum you read for homework.
What strategies does the NAACP employ over time to advocate for equality and expansion of civil rights?
What kinds of challenges did the NAACP encounter over its history? In the Smith v. Allwright case in particular?
How might the ruling in Smith have changed segregation politics in the country? Where might the ruling have fallen short in instituting racial equality?
In what ways did the Smith ruling (and later the Brown case which we will discuss in greater detail tomorrow) fall short of changing the Jim Crow status quo in the South?
How does culture change? Do federal laws and rulings have limitations in the degree of change they can affect? If so, how else can a movement or activist group promote change?
Incumbent Harry Truman had inherited the White House after President Roosevelt died suddenly in April 1945.
Choppy, inarticulate speaker; far less popular than Roosevelt had been at a time when the public was antsy for change after 15+ years of the Democrats in power.
“Dixiecrats” defected after Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey declared at the convention: “I say the time has come to walk out of the shadow of states’ rights and into the sunlight of human rights.” South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond nominated with hope of forcing vote in the House of Representatives.
At the same time, the Progressives, led by former Vice President Henry Wallace challenged Truman from the left: demanding swifter, more far-reaching action on civil rights, and challenging Truman’s anti-communist foreign policy.
Which sections of the Constitution might support the federal government’s right to directly intervene against segregation? Which sections might challenge the federal government’s right to intervene with states in this manner?
In what ways did the government establish new rights for black Americans in the late 1940s? In what ways did racism and inequality still persist in the country?
How are politicians and activists who advocated for black Americans’ civil rights remembered today? What about those politicians and activists who worked to uphold segregation?
"teaching the past with relevance to the present is intrinsically controversial."
As a class, read and discuss “A Sanitized Past Comes Back to Haunt Trent Lott — and America.” from The New York Times: Learning Network.
What took the reaction to Lott’s statements so long to build?
Who eventually spoke out against Senator Lott?
According to the article, what kind of a public image has Senator Strom Thurmond had in recent times? How does this image differ from the Senator’s political career?
According to the article, how does Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s posthumous image differ from the public image he had during his lifetime? What issues did Dr. King support that are often not part of his contemporary portrait?
To what is the article referring when it describes the “blurring” of recent history? To what might we attribute this blurring of history?
Based on the recent controversy, what did many Americans discover about the history of U.S. political parties that they had either forgotten or had never learned?
How does the article claim that black and white Americans reacted to Senator Lott’s remarks in 2002?
Why is the Faulkner quote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” often applied to the South, as the article states?

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