This course examines the civil rights movement, with emphasis on the period 1954-1972. This includes events such as the Brown decision of 1954, the Montgomery bus boycott, desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957), sit-ins of Greensboro and Nashville, the Freedom Rides, the Birmingham campaign, the march on Washington, the Selma campaign and other major episodes of the civil rights movement. The course will also examine the impact of Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, and will include video segments from Eyes on the Prize.
The major readings will be
Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters
Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire,
George Breitman, The Last Year of Malcolm X
Kwame Ture, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America
Lectures below