Course Description
Examination of the history of the African-American civil rights movement in the United States during the middle of the twentieth century by focusing on the lives and struggles of ordinary people, black and white, who fought to overcome the legacy of racial and social inequality.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to do extra readings and
write much more substantial papers than will be required of
undergraduate students. These will include a comprehensive
review of primary research applied towards a topic concerning
the U.S./African-American civil rights movement, or a
demonstration of mastery through an applied project beyond the
requirements for undergraduate students, dependent upon
individual instructor requirements. Graduate student papers
and/or projects will be graded according to much higher
research and writing standards than the undergraduate students.
Athena Title
The Civil Rights Movement
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in HIST 4120H
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
a) comprehend, analyze, and synthesize a significant amount of reading material, class lectures, and videos and documentaries; b) attend class regularly and to participate actively in class discussions; c) demonstrate critical and analytical skills in writing papers and answering comprehensive essay questions on written examinations; d) think about history in new ways, which will require that they question previously-held misconceptions and be open to new ideas and interpretations.
Topical Outline
The course will begin by providing some background information on the legacy of slavery and racism in the United States as it affected African Americans. From there the focus will turn to the years immediately following the end of the Second World War, when returning African American veterans began to assert their manhood and their rights to be treated as equals in a country they had risked their lives to defend. The course will then proceed chronologically to address such issues as the Cold War, the negative impact that Joseph McCarthy’s communist witch hunts had on the liberation movements in the country, and the Supreme Court’s monumental decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Most of the focus will be on the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, during which time what has commonly come to be known as the “civil rights movement” took shape. We will study the various strategies and philosophies of some of the movement’s key leaders, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, as well as the roles of politicians, elected officials, and federal judges in providing impetus for the movement at various stages. The class will challenge students to understand the harsh reality of racial segregation and discrimination, both de facto and de jure, how it had been accepted and perpetuated by the dominant white society since the end of the Civil War, and how various social and political forces converged in the second half of the twentieth century to bring about racial and social change.
Syllabus