THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

HISTORY 340: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
PRELIMINARY SYLLABUS
DR. WAYNE GLASKER
SPRING 2003: MW 6:00-7:20 PM
OFFICE: 355 ARMITAGE HALL
PHONE: 225-6220
EMAIL: GLASKER@CAMDEN.RUTGERS.EDU
WGLASKER@AOL.COM
OFFICE HOURS: MW 1:30-2:30 AND 5:15-5:45 PM.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course examines the civil rights movement, with emphasis on the period 1954-1972. Therefore it will chronicle events such as the Brown decision of 1954; the Montgomery bus boycott; the Greensboro and Nashville lunch counter sit-ins; Freedom Rides; the Birmingham campaign; the August 1963 March on Washington; and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This course will take the perspective that the power structure made concessions to the demands to end de jure segregation as a response to the nonviolent mass direct action of the civil rights activists AND the growing criticism of Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, and other activists who rejected King's philosophy of unconditional nonviolence. The course will also feature numerous videotapes from the Eyes on the Prize series. The material from the videotapes will be an important component of the exams. This course is taught from a liberal perspective, and students who are "uncomfortable" with a liberal perspective may wish to take some other course.

An effort will be made to post lectures on a website, by January 27^th or so. You can access the lectures before class, at crab.rutgers.edu/~glasker. This should bring up a page listing Professor Glasker’s courses by year. Scroll down to Spring 2003, and then click on The Civil Rights Movement. If the webnotes become a disincentive to class attendance, the webnotes will be discontinued.

READINGS

1. Taylor Branch Parting the Waters
2. Taylor Branch Pillar of Fire
3. Rosa Parks, with Jim Haskins Rosa Parks: My Story
4. James Baldwin The Fire Next Time

Also recommended
George Breitman The Last Year of Malcolm X
Kwame Ture Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in Americ
Clayborne Carson In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s
Michael Eric Dyson I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr

COURSE REQUIREMENTS There will be at least three in-class exams, which will include essays. There may be more exams if the level of performance (grades) suggest that more are needed. All dates are tentative and subject to change. It is your responsibility to be here, and if you are here you will know when the exams will occur. Together, the exams and the Final Exam will count for eighty percent of the course grade. There will be a book report (5-10 pages) on a figure in the civil rights movement, from the list of names on the last page of this syllabus. The paper cannot be on Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, or James Baldwin as these individuals will be covered in detail in the lectures. The book report will count for ten percent of the course grade. Class participation and attendance count for at least ten percent of the course grade. The videos will be an important component of the lectures and exams. If you are not here for the videos, you will be at a distinct disadvantage for the exams. ATTENDANCE In the past, some students have not understood that being in school is a serious responsibility. It is like a job. You are here in this class to pay attention to the lectures and to take notes. If you conspicuously chat and converse during the lecture you will be asked to take your conversation to the lobby. No more than six absences are expected (that is an average of almost once every two weeks). If you have been absent for weeks at a time without explanation or an advisory letter from the Student Advising Office you will not be re-admitted to class or permitted to take exams. If you are enrolled I expect you to be here. If you are not going to be here, or cannot be here, you should not be enrolled. Rutgers-Camden does not offer correspondence courses*. If you suffer some event that will cause you to be absent for weeks at a time, such as an automobile accident or major surgery or a serious illness, you should notify the Student Advising Office. That office will then give formal and official written notification to all of your professors. It is not sufficient to show up a month later with an explanation after the fact (just as you would not be absent from your job, for weeks at a time, without contacting the employer promptly).

If you are absent it is your responsibility to get notes from a classmate. The failure to get notes when absent is an even greater offense than the absence itself.

If you are absent more than six times, your grade for the course will be reduced by one letter grade (the equivalent of ten points). If it had been an A, it will become a B; if it had been a B, it will become a C; and so forth.

Ordinarily, no late exams will be given. Missed exams will automatically count as an "F" unless there is a credible doctor’s note, auto repair receipt ("my car broke down"), funeral card ("my grandmother died again"), or obituary. No late FINAL will be given.

As an experiment, an effort will be made to place lecture notes on my website, at crab.rutgers.edu/~glasker. Scroll all the way down to spring 2003. The first link should be there by Monday, Jan. 27^th. If it appears that the webnotes are a disincentive to class attendance, the webnotes will be discontinued.

DISCLAIMER Finally, it is exceedingly difficult to look into a crystal ball in January and know with precision exactly where we will be in the lectures, readings and other materials in March or April. This is a preliminary syllabus. That means that it is a preliminary projection, only, and I reserve the right to fine tune, amend, revise, edit, and change it, as I see fit, as we go along.* I am the syllabus. And as long as you keep up with me, you will be okay.

W Jan 22 Introduction

M Jan 27 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chap. 1, pp. 1-26

W Jan 29 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 2-3, pp. 27-104 (on King's youth, education)

M Feb. 3 Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks, Chaps. 1-6, pp. 1-89

W Feb. 5 Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks, Chaps. 7-10, pp. 90-160

M Feb.. 10 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 4-5, pp. 105-205
(Montgomery Bus Boycott)

W Feb. 12 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 6-7, pp. 206-311
(sit-ins of 1960)

M Feb. 17 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 8-10, pp. 312-411
(1960 presidential election)

W Feb. 19 Tentatively, first exam

Readings for next class
Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 11-12, pp. 412-491 (Freedom rides)

M Feb. 24 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 13-14, pp. 492-561
(Bob Moses, Albany)

W Feb. 26 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 15-17, pp. 562-672 (Hoover, Oxford, MS)

M Mar 3 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 18-20 (Birmingham, 1963)

W Mar 5 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chaps. 21-22, pp. 803-887
(March on Washington) and Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks, Chaps. 11-12

M Mar 10 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chap. 23, pp. 888-922 (Hoover vs. King)
And Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chap. 1, pp. 3-20 (Malcolm X and the
Nation of Islam and Ronald Stokes)

W Mar 12 Tentatively, second exam
Readings for next class: James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
Spring Break, March 17-22

M Mar 24 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 2-4, pp. 21-49 (summer 1963)

W Mar 26 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 5-7, pp. 50-103 (summer 1963 con't)

M Mar 31 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 8-11, pp. 104-154

W Apr 2 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 12-15, pp. 155-224

M Apr 7 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 16-22, pp. 225-311
(passage of the Civil Rights Act)

W Apr 9 Tentatively, exam
M Apr 14 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 23-28, pp. 312-400
(Freedom summer, 1964)

W Apr 16 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 29-31, pp. 401-426
(Democratic Convention at Atlantic City)

M Apr 21 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 32-34, pp. 427-476

W Apr 23. 1 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chaps. 38-39, pp. 538-570

M Apr 28 Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire, Chap. 40-Epilogue, pp. 571-613

W Apr 30 to be assigned

M May 5 Conclusion

Papers due

Final Exam: Monday, May 12, 6-9 pm

Continued on next page

PAPER TOPICS: SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS. Some of these individuals have written autobiographies. Some have had biographies written about them. If you cannot find a book, use the Internet. I will not accept a paper written about an individual whose name is not on this list unless you have obtained my approval in advance.

Septima Clark     Robert Moses     Charles Sherrod
E. D. Nixon         James Farmer     James Lawson
Jo Ann Robinson James Bevel     Cleveland Sellers
Melba Patillo         Roy Innis         Herbert Lee
Diane Nash         Floyd McKissick     James Forman
Victoria Gray       John Lewis
Ella Baker             Hosea Williams         Fred Shuttlesworth
Fannie Lou Hamer     Julian Bond     Wyatt T. Walker
Daisy Bates                 Medgar Evers         Prathia Hall
Asa Philip Randolph         Myrlie Evers         C. T. Vivian
Bayard Rustin         Vernon Dahmer         Clyde Kennard
James Zwerg     Viola Gregg-Liuzzo         James Peck (freedom rider)
Ralph Abernathy         Amzie Moore         James Meredith
Diane McWhorter     Cecil Moore             William James (Willingboro)

LECTURES

KING'S PHILOSOPHY OF NONVIOLENCE

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT 1964