Activity 1 Learning Module 4

From Outrage to Change: The Civil Rights Movement[1]

Birmingham 1963

Demonstrators huddled in a doorway seek shelter from the hoses.
The water is propelled at a force of
100 pounds per square inch.

birm3

In a confrontation with police
and firemen, a group of
churchgoers kneels in prayer

Overview:

Timing:

Comments in Discussion: December 7

Assessment: 30 points

Step One: Learning More about the Civil Rights Movement (Optional)

To gain most from this activity and the discussion, you should have a good understanding of the Civil Rights Movement. Therefore, if you are unclear about its scope, objectives, and consequences, take time to read the an excellent overview is The Civil Rights Era which was created by the Library of Congress/American Memory

Step Two: Review the Video Clip - Civil Rights.

v Watch the video clips on Civil Rights and Emmett Till. You might wish to have
a copy of the transcript as you watch. As you watch, ask yourself how you might have reacted to the photographs, if you had been alive and living in California in the 1963.

v Write down your initial impressions. These initial impressions will be part of what you post in the online discussion.

v Next, review the video clips again. Pay particular attention to the statements made by Dan Cizitrom and Raymond Brown. You will note that both implied that the federal government took action in the demands of the Civil Rights protestors because of needs to position the United States as a defender and protector of democracy to the nations of the world. They cite the world wide circulation of photographs of violence by white southerners toward civil rights' protesters as their evidence. Do you agree?

v Your initial impressions of the photographs and your evaluation of Ciztrom's and Brown's comments will the basis of your comments and responses for one of the topics in the online discussion.

Actions – 1964 – 1965

In front of the Alabama state capitol, marchers
sing "We Have Overcome" and listen to Martin Luther King Jr., who told them that "segregation is on its deathbed."

Martin Luther King & Lyndon B. Johnson The Architects of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964
and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Voter registration worker George Ball explains how to vote to a mother of three in the family's living room.

Step Three: Individual Research: Personal Stories

Citztrom and Brown could be right: Concerns about America's image to the world might have been what motivated President John Kennedy, as well as President Lyndon Johnson, to act on the demands of the Civil Rights protestors. However, an alternative point of view is that both presidents acted because of the reality that most civil rights protesters were ordinary people who decided that they would no longer tolerate racial discrimination: Once making this decision they put their jobs, their homes, and their own lives on the line to fight for the right of equality --- the underlying promise of American democracy.

In this step you will learn more about the courage and commitment of these ordinary people.

Resource: Voices of Civil Rights: Ordinary People: Extraordinary Stories

Process:

v Access Voices of Civil Rights: Ordinary People: Extraordinary Stories

v First, look at The Project: The Power of the Story - Access “The Power of the Story" to learn about the central theme of the website, and, more importantly reveals the power of personal stories.

v Next find out more about the personal experiences of those ordinary people that participated in the Civil Rights Movement. To do so, access The Voices. Note that there are two categories of personal stories on this page. You can read the personal experiences from one or both categories.

v Finally, select two personal stories that you find most interesting, most moving or most relevant to you. You will use that personal story for the online discussion. Therefore, as you read and reread this story make notes. Be sure that your notes include (1) something about the person; (2) the event that he/she describes; (3) and what you found to be the most powerful about this story of an "ordinary person."

Assignment for Online Classes:

Online Discussion – Topics for Discussion Threads

v The Discussion Threads have been posted. These are located in the Class Discussion Board.

v The discussion will be active from July 26 – August 4. It is worth 30 points:

§ 10 points for your comments in Discussion Thread One (Step 2 of the activity) photographs of the Civil Rights Movement

§ 15 points for your comments in Discussion Thread Two (Step 3 of the activity): The “personal story” – 2 examples.

§ 5 points for responses made to classmates

Discussion Thread One: Do you agree with the implications of the comments made by Cizitrom & Brown: that the federal government decided to act on Civil Rights because the photographs damaged America’s image to the world? Take into account the images of Emmett Till and the photographs of the protests in the southern states.