Nancy K. Bristow Office Hours:Office: 140 Wyatt Mon/Fri 12:00-2:00Phone: X3173 Wed 2:00-3:00Email: nbristow@ups.edu and by appointment

AFAM 360Art and Politics of the Civil Rights Era

A Connections CourseSpring 2014

This course focuses on one of the most volatile historical and cultural periods of the twentieth century—what is commonly referred to as the civil rights era. Narrowly focused both thematically and temporally, the course offers a depth of exploration that is necessarily lacking in courses that have a responsibility to vast chronological or thematic coverage. Such a focus will allow us to understand the period through multiple disciplinary lenses, especially those of historical and literary analysis, but also including the visual, musical and theatrical arts, as well as politics and economics. This interdisciplinary approach is particularly applicable for a course focused on the Civil Rights period because the art of racial protest and of the "black arts" was not simply parallel to the political upheavals: as LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka) suggested in 1971, "Art is Politics." It is hoped that this class will offer you the chance to work simultaneously in historical, political, literary, musical and artistic fields, exploring through an interdisciplinary approach the expressive culture and history, the art and politics, of the civil rights and black power movements.

Such an approach should allow us to explore the range of tensions that run throughout the period—between legal and practical realities, between white supremacists and those fighting for racial justice, between grassroots activists and national organizations, between those who advocated non-violence as a way of life and those who viewed it only as one strategy among many, between those who viewed art as inherently political and those who valued art for art’s sake, between the hopeful and the hopeless, for instance. Your readings and assignments engage the complex, sometimes contradictory, literary, artistic, musical, legal, and political responses to these tensions and the events that prompted them. Fittingly, then, this course also fulfills the Connections core requirement.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore—And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sags like a heavy load?

Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes, 1951

Course Objectives:Students in this course will have the opportunity to:

gain a comprehensive knowledge of the history of the civil rights and black power era develop their skills in working with a range of disciplinary lenses as they explore the past polish their skills in the critical reading of sources, the framing of questions, and the

development and defense of claims in both oral and written forms develop their skills in collaborative learning consider the contemporary meaning of the ongoing and unfinished project of the modern

African American freedom struggle

Required Texts:

James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time (1963, 1993) Amiri Baraka, Dutchman and The Slave: Two Plays (1964, 2001) Martin A. Berger, Seeing Through Race: A Reinterpretation of Civil

Rights Photography (2011) Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr., Black Against Empire: The

History and Politics of the Black Panther Party (2013) Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959, 1995) Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black

Power in Alabama’s Black Belt (2009) Martin Luther King, Why We Can’t Wait (1963) Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women,

Rape, and Resistance—A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power (2010)

Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968) Amy Abugo Ongiri, Spectacular Blackness: The Cultural

Politics of the Black Power Movement and the Search for a Black Aesthetic (2010)

Charles Payne, “I’ve Got the Light of Freedom”: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle (1995, 2007)

Course Packet for AFAM 360

Graded Assignments

Strong people don’t need strong

leaders.Ella Baker

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**You might consider each of these an opportunity to imagine your participation as a presenter at the 2014 Race and Pedagogy National Conference, to be held on our campus September 25-27, 2014.

Paper One: Imagining Race (2-3 pages)For your first paper you will help us understand the operation of racial apartheid in the United States by exploring the way race was conceptualized in the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision in 1896. How did either the majority or the dissenting opinion understand the nature of race? Due in class on Wednesday, January 29

Paper Two: Imagining Integration (3-4 pages)For your second paper you will work closely with one of our primary sources relating to various understandings of, or “imaginings” of integration—from the reactions to the Brown decision to Lorraine Hansberry’s monumental play, A Raisin in the Sun. You might shape your choice around the kind of document, or the particular kind of reaction, you are most interested in understanding. Your purpose in the paper is to explain how the author of your particular text imagined the meaning of integration. This question is more complicated than it might at first seem, and your papers will provide an excellent starting place to explore the early reactions to the Brown decision in class. Due in class on Monday, February 17

Paper Three: The Promise/Problem of Non-Violence: The MFDP, 1964(roughly 5 pages)For your third paper you will consider the implications of the employment of non-violent direct action as a mechanism for making change. As civil rights activists drew on this strategy, what were the consequences? What were the strengths and weaknesses, the promises and problems, this approach posed in the context of the struggle against white supremacy? To make these questions embody their real power, your papers will take the shape of position statements, written in response to the situation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as they contended with the options they faced at the Democratic National Convention in 1964. Class on Wednesday, March 5th will engage with these questions from the perspective of multiple actors. Your papers will reflect this work, and can be completed with your “teams” or individually. Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 14th

Paper Four: Conceptualizing the “Movement” (roughly 7 pages)For your fourth paper you will explore the relationship between “non-violence” and “black power,” terms that are routinely used in descriptions of the civil rights era. While some historians understand these two concepts as contradictory, others find them complementary, even overlapping. Your job in this paper will be to develop your definitions of each of these, based in your close and careful analysis of the words, art and actions of those who claimed these philosophies and practices as their own, and determine their relationship to one another. This paper and our in-class discussion of your findings will help us to synthesize our exploration of the strategies of activists in the long civil rights era. Alternatively, you might write a paper on any subject that is of interest to you. Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 18th Creative Response and Artist’s Statement

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Your fifth written assignment will be one part of a broader final assignment in which you have the chance to explore your own creative response to the material we have been studying. Your overall purpose in this project is to engage creatively with one of the topics, issues, movements or individuals we have been studying. It will be up to you to select the medium with which you will work. For instance, you might create a portfolio of poetry, or produce a painting, or compose a piece of music. Along with that creation I will ask you to include an explanation of your work, roughly three pages in length, which explains the meaning your creation(s) hold for you as the creator and the linkages it contains to themes, issues, and sources from the course. Your grade will be a combination of your creative piece and the artist’s statement that accompanies it. You will turn these final assignments in during our exam period. These projects can be completed independently, or in teams. Due by 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 16th

Group Project I: Taking the LeadIn addition to your regular participation in class discussions, you will also have the responsibility, along with three classmates, of leading discussion during one class period during the first ten weeks of class. You will be asked to coordinate the entire day’s discussion. We will work as a class to assign responsibilities for discussion leadership with the hope that each of you can lead discussion of material that you find particularly engaging or significant. Fuller details on your responsibilities as a discussion leader as well as the criteria for grading your work will be circulated and discussed in class.

Group Project II: Legacies of the MovementAs you know, the African American freedom struggle inspired a wide range of groups to fight for their own full citizenship and acceptance as members of the American community. From Chicano activists to the gay rights movement, from the American Indian Movement to the organizing efforts of the disabled, the legacies of the civil rights movement were (and are) evident throughout American life in the years that follow. Your second group project will involve researching one of these legacies, focusing on one example of its presence in our local community, and presenting your findings to the class during one of our final class periods. We will work as a class to determine the groups and/or legacies to be explored. This project involves researching the legacy both nationally and locally, reporting on your discoveries in a twenty-minute presentation, answering questions posed by your classmates in a ten-minute Q and A period, and producing an annotated bibliography for your classmates to take away.

Class DiscussionsThis is primarily a discussion course, so although I may include an occasional short lecture to provide context for your readings, the emphasis in class is on your thoughtful and informed participation. Use our class discussions as models of critical inquiry that you can draw on when writing your essays, as a way to test out your theories-in-progress, as a stimulating place to discuss with your peers and with me conflicting, confusing, or exciting ideas. Please be aware of appropriate timing and turn-taking when speaking in class so we can create as open and democratic a space for conversation as possible. I am always happy to continue discussion with you after class, and I would encourage you to do so as well with your peers. Working together, we have the opportunity to learn from one another, to consider opinions different from our own, and to build on one another’s ideas. Keep in mind that attendance and contributions to discussions are important factors in your final grade. The following suggestions will help to

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make our discussions as fruitful as possible:

Prepare for class: This includes not only reading all assignments before class, but thinking about them as well. It is often useful to write down a few thoughts and questions before class. This not only forces you to think critically about what you are reading, but will often make it easier for you to speak up during discussion. The reading load for the course is very heavy, for approaching your reading strategically and with purpose will be important.

Attend class: Unless you are in class, the rest of us cannot benefit from your ideas, and you will miss the opportunity to benefit from the ideas of your classmates. Further, lectures and films offer you information and context to help you understand your readings, and should not be missed.

Participate in discussions: We can only know your ideas if you express them. Twenty minds are always going to be better than just one. For this reason, we will all benefit from this course to the degree to which each of you participates in our discussions. Each of you has a great deal to contribute to the class, and each of you should share that potential with the other class members. Think of this as your responsibility to our learning community.

Listen to your classmates: The best discussions are not wars of words, but are a cooperative effort to understand the issues and questions before us. Listen to one another, and build on the conversation. While we will often disagree with one another, you should always be sure to pay attention to the ongoing discussion, and to treat your classmates and their ideas with the respect they deserve. Recognize that even those ideas that conflict with your own may play a very valuable role in forming and revising your thinking. Approach discussions with an open mind and you will learn a great deal from those around you.

Grading StandardsWriting Assignments: A typical “A” paper is clearly written and well organized, but most importantly it contains a

perceptive and original central argument, cogently argued and supported by a well-chosen variety of specific examples. It demonstrates that the student has grappled with the issues raised in the course, has synthesized the readings, discussions and lectures, has formulated a compelling, independent argument that is fully developed in the paper, and has polished the presentation of that argument with care. An “A” paper also succeeds in suggesting the importance of its subject and of its findings.

A typical “B” paper is a solid work containing flashes of insight that demonstrate that the student has engaged in significant thinking and has developed substantial evidence and discussion in the paper. Yet a typical “B” paper may not be as complex or creative in its ideas as an “A” paper. In other “B” papers the argument is sophisticated, but it is not presented as clearly or convincingly as in “A” papers.

A typical “C” paper has a good grasp of the material on which it is based but may provide a less thorough defense of the student’s independent analysis, may lack sufficient analytical focus, or may suffer from more significant problems in presentation such as frequent errors, or unclear writing or organization.

A paper that receives a grade lower than “C” typically does not respond adequately to the assignment, lacks coherent analysis, is insufficiently developed, is marred by frequent errors, unclear writing, poor organization, or some combination of these problems.

Class Discussion: Grading Standards

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A student who receives an “A” for his or her participation typically comes to every class with questions and ideas about the readings already in mind. He or she engages other students and the instructor in discussion of their ideas as well as his or her own. This student is under no obligation to change their point of view, yet respects the opinions of others. This student, in other words, takes part in an exchange of ideas, and does so on a regular basis. This student also makes use of specific texts during the discussion, providing depth to their contributions. A student who receives a “B” for his or her participation typically has completed all the reading assignments on time, and is a steady participant in discussion. This student may not initiate discussion, though, and is more likely to wait for others to raise interesting issues. Other “B” discussants are courteous and articulate but do not listen to other students, articulating their ideas without reference to the direction of the discussion. Still others may have a great deal to contribute, but participate only sporadically, or may not regularly connect their contributions to particular texts or specific examples. A student who receives a “C” for discussion typically attends every class and listens attentively, but rarely participates in discussion, or is unable to listen effectively to what others have to say. Other “C” discussants would earn a higher grade, but are too frequently absent from class. A student who receives a grade lower than “C” is consistently unprepared, unwilling to participate, often seems distracted from the discussion, or is too frequently absent.

Principles and Policies:

A good faith effort must be made to complete all assignments in order to receive a passing grade. That includes four essays, two group projects, and a creative project with accompanying artist’s statement.

I fully recognize that due dates are arbitrary impositions on the writing process, that you may have competing deadlines in other classes, or pressing obligations outside of class. But almost all the writing you will ever do (in or out of college) will be contingent upon constraints of one sort or another (yours, your professors', your employers', for example), so it is important to learn how to organize your studies, your time, and your life to get what needs to be done finished when it needs to be done. Do the best you can given the circumstances--and there are always circumstances. I also hold students to deadline commitments because it is only fair to those who do struggle and sweat to turn work in on time. However, for those few occasions when a real crisis (or illness) arises and you think your work will be late, let me know as far in advance as possible and we'll see if we can make alternative arrangements.

To acknowledge just how complicated life can sometimes be, we will operate according to my “48 hour rule” in this course. This means that you can turn in one paper or project up to 48 hours late without penalty or explanation. Consider this a “safety valve” of sorts, available to you once this semester.

Because I ask a lot of you in terms of commitment and responsibility, I am available (during and outside office hours) to help you one-on-one with your work; to review the readings or assignments with you; to give you a mid-semester assessment of your grade; to talk with you about any problems or concerns you have about this course, class dynamics, or school in

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general; to look over a draft of an upcoming assignment; or just to talk more about anything in class that has captured your attention.

If you can't come by during office hours, let me know early enough in the week so we can try to arrange another time (or medium, including email) to get together.

I should emphasize that you do not need to have a problem to see me. I invite you to regularly drop by office hours--you don't need an appointment--just to talk. If I have someone with me already, just give a wave so I know you’re there. We can talk privately, or if you like, sometimes two or three students enjoy working out ideas or issues together. Office hours are a great opportunity to get to know each other on an individual or small-group basis, and in a less formal setting than the classroom, so please do feel very welcome to come by.

Finally, in terms of academic polices, and the rules and regulations governing our course, feel free to check The Academic Handbook. Any policy or question I don’t touch on here in the syllabus would be governed by that broader document that outlines the policies and procedures of the university. Keep in mind that you are responsible for knowing the information covered there.

A Word about Academic IntegrityBecause of its importance, I wanted to say a quick word about academic honesty. It is assumed that all of you will conform to the rules of academic integrity. I should warn you that plagiarism and any other form of academic dishonesty would be dealt with severely in this course. Plagiarizing in a paper will result in an automatic F on that assignment and potentially in the course, and may lead to more substantial university-level penalties. As a member of this academic community, your integrity and honesty are assumed and valued. Our trust in one another is an essential basis for our work together. A breach of this trust is an affront to your colleagues, to me, and to the integrity of this institution, and so will be treated harshly. Rest assured that I will make every effort as a part of our work together to familiarize you with the rules surrounding academic honesty. If at any time you have questions about these rules, too, know that I am anxious to help clarify them.

Grading Scale:In assigning grades, both during the semester and at its end, I will use the following scale:

A+: 97-100 A: 93-96 A-: 90-92B+: 87-89 B: 83-86 B-: 80-82C+: 77-79 C: 73-76 C-: 70-72D+: 67-69 D: 63-66 D-: 60-62F: below 60

Final Grades:

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Paper #1------------------------------------------5%

Paper #2-----------------------------------------12.5%

Paper #3-----------------------------------------12.5%

Paper #4-----------------------------------------17.5%

Group Project I---------------------------------10%

Group Project II--------------------------------17.5%

Creative Project and Artist’s Statement-----10%

Discussion Participation ----------------------15%

Schedule for Class Meetings, Readings, and Assignments

Unit OneEstablishing Context

We will begin the course by situating our investigations in their theoretical and historical contexts. First we will turn our attention to the debates that enliven current historical investigations, preparing ourselves to test established understandings of this period. From here we will turn to the historical context out of which the movement emerged. It is important to recognize that the civil rights movement could trace its roots back to nineteenth-century abolitionism and even further to the earliest resistance by slaves. Because we are limited to a semester, though, we will be begin our work in the early twentieth century, looking briefly at both the systemic oppression embodied in American race relations and the early strategies of resistance developed by activists, organizers and artists in the years before the modern civil rights movement. These first days, then, will situate us conceptually and historically, preparing us for the investigations that follow.

1. January 22 (Wednesday) Introductions: The Course, Our Selves, and American Race Relations

2. January 27 (Monday)

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What Does it All Mean? Historians’ Competing Theories READING:

Charles Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, Introduction and ch. 14 Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street, Prologue Course Packet, pp. 1-62

o Stephen F. Lawson, “Debating the Civil Rights Movement: The View from the Nation” (read quickly, for timeline and argument)

o Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, “The Long Civil Rights Movement”o Leigh Raiford and Renee C. Romano, “Introduction: The Struggle Over

Memory”

3. January 29 (Wednesday)A Jim Crow World

READING: Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, ch. 1 Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, chs. 1-3 Course Packet, pp. 63-69

o Plessy v. Ferguson, Majority and Dissenting Opinions (1896)

4. February 3 (Monday)Early Strategies of Resistance

READING: Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, ch. 2 McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street, chs. 1 and 2 Course Packet, pp. 70-152 (We will divide this reading)

o Booker T. Washington, “Atlanta Exposition Address”o W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, “The Forethought” (1903)o Niagara Movement, “Declaration of Principles” (1905)o Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors (read selectively)o Anna J. Cooper, A Voice from the South, excerpto Marcus Garvey, “The Principles of the Universal Negro Improvement

Association”o Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”

o Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits”o W. E. B. Du Bois, “Criteria of Negro Art”o Harlem Renaissance Poetry

Your FIRST paper is due in classTODAY

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Unit Two"A Dream Deferred"?Imagining Integration

In 1954, the Supreme Court overturned the Plessy decision in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Brown case was significant not only for the legal precedent it established, but also for the meaning this decision held for African Americans, who hoped they could finally expect federal support for their efforts to end de jure and de facto segregation. The murder of Emmitt Till, though, made clear that the Brown decision, at least in the short-term, would have only limited impact on race relations in the United States. Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play, A Raisin in the Sun, written just before the 1954 Supreme Court ruling but not produced on stage until 1959, provides a brilliant dramatization of both the experience of living under Jim Crow and the conflicted dream of integration. Langston Hughes' 1950s poem warning that the deferred dream of racial equality may "explode" serves as an epigraph for this course and this second unit, anticipating the violence and ferment of the civil rights movement soon to come.

5. February 5 (Wednesday)The Brown Decision and the “Ruling on Relief”

READING: Course Packet, pp. 153-173

o Earl Warren, Opinion of the Court in Brown v. Board of Education, 1954

o Warren, “Ruling on Relief,” 1955o Assorted articles, letters to the editor, and political

cartoons (1954-1955)

6. February 10 (Monday)Imagining Integration: The Murder of Emmett Till

READING: Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, chs. 6-7, 9-14 Course Packet, pp. 174-180

o Poems about Emmett Till Moodle: “Eyes on the Prize I: Episode I—Awakenings” on murder of Emmett Till

7. February 12 (Wednesday) Imagining Integration: Political Responses to Brown

READING: McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street, chs. 3-5 Course Packet, pp. 181-188

o “Declaration of Constitutional Principles: The Southern Manifesto” (1956)o “Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Radio and Television Address to the American

People on the Situation in Little Rock” (September 24, 1957) Moodle: Eyes on the Prize: Episode 2—“Fighting Back” on Little Rock Nine

8. February 17 (Monday)

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Imagining Integration: A Raisin in the SunREADING:

Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun Moodle:

o View the 1961 version of the play.

Unit ThreeThe Promise and Problems of Non-Violent Direct Action

This section of the course examines both the philosophical and tactical uses of nonviolent direct action that often characterized the early years of the civil rights struggle in the south. We will start by defining nonviolence, using Martin Luther King as our starting point. Once we understand how King and his national organization understood the strategies and goals of non-violent direct action, we will shift our attention to the grassroots efforts in Mississippi, using this as a case study for understanding the fight on the ground. These explorations will let us look at the interplay between national figures and organizations and those working at the grassroots level. Our explorations will make clear that success in the movement was never easy, nor alliances entirely secure. By 1964, Freedom Summer, the murders of activists during that effort and the confrontations at the Democratic National Convention revealed just how hard it was to contend with structures and individuals invested in a belief in white supremacy. Tensions surrounding non-violence as a strategy as well as tensions between local and national activists, between blacks and whites, and between younger and older activists emerge as important topics. Our selected readings provide examples of the diversity of the movement itself, and the extremity of the opposition faced by the activists.

9. February 19 (Wednesday)Defining Nonviolence: Martin Luther King’s Philosophy and Practice

READING: Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can’t Wait, entire Course Packet, pp. 189-190

o John F. Kennedy, “Radio and Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights” (1963)

10. February 24 (Monday)

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable web of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.--Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963

Your SECOND PAPER is due in classTODAY!

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Origins of the Freedom Struggle at the Grassroots READING:

Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, chs. 3-4 Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, chs. 18, 20-21 Course Packet, pp. 191-203

o Ella J. Baker, “Bigger than a Hamburger”o Handbill, Albany Nonviolent Movement (November 9, 1961)o “This Transformation of People”: An Interview with Bob Moses

11. February 26 (Wednesday)Local People and Civil Rights

READING: Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, chs. 5-6 and one of 7, 8, or 9 McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street, chs. 6 and 7

Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, chs. 22-24

Course Packet, pp. 204 o “This Little Light of Mine” o “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me

Around” Moodle:

o “My Dog Loves Your Dog”

12. March 3 (Monday)The Media and the Movement: Seeing Through Race

READING: Martin A. Berger, Seeing Through Race, Introduction and

chs. 1-3 Review King, Why We Can’t Wait Moodle:

o Eyes on the Prize: Episode 4 “No Easy Walk” on Birmingham

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13. March 5 (Wednesday) The Promise and Problems of Nonviolence: The Limits of Liberalism

READING: You will have instructions on how to prepare for class today. This is coupled with your third paper assignment. Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, chs. 25-30 Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, chs. 10-13 (skim) Course Packet, pp. 205-226

o Lyndon B. Johnson, “Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise” (March 15, 1965)

o OPTIONAL: Alice Walker, “Advancing Luna—and Ida B. Wells” (1982) Moodle:

o Documents on the MFDP and the 1964 Democratic National Conventiono Eyes on the Prize: Episode 5: “Mississippi: Is This America?”

Unit Four“The Ballot or the Bullet”Black Power/Black Arts

Delivered in 1964, Malcolm X's speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet" advocates a shift in civil rights tactics: as he puts it, "it's time to stop singing and start swinging." This section examines the rising radicalism in the movement, termed by many “Black Power,” and also helps us understand the complex roots of this radicalism in both the southern and northern struggles for freedom. Malcolm X’s speech illustrates as well the struggle over more politicized forms of self-representation within African American communities and the desire for a new militant literary style. Just as the new Black Panther Party in Lowndes County, as well as the revamped manifestoes of SNCC, CORE and the even newer Black Panther Party emerging out of Oakland, set an agenda for Black Power advocates, so also the artistic manifesto by Addison Gayle laid out the responsibilities of artists in the context of this social revolution. The Black nationalism and cultural separatism of Black Power are clearly articulated through the new genre of Black Arts, with the masculinization of their rhetoric (soon countered by black feminist writers), their politicized aesthetic, and their condemnation of the kind of integrationist ideals we saw earlier in Hansberry.

14. March 10 (Monday)The Promise and Problems of Nonviolence: The Case of Bloody Lowndes

READING: Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Bloody Lowndes,

Introduction and chs. 1-4

15. March 12 (Wednesday)

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Sources of Black Power: Freedom Rights and Southern RootsREADING: McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street, ch. 8 Jeffries, Bloody Lowndes, chs. 5-6

16. March 24 (Monday)Imagining Northern Roots for Black Power: The Fire Next Time

READING: James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time, entire

17. March 26 (Wednesday)Malcolm X and His Heirs: Northern Roots of Black Power

READING: Course Packet, pp. 227-264

o Malcolm X, “The Black Revolution”o Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet”o Excerpt from “Report of the National Advisory on Civil

Disorders”o Stokely Carmichael, “What We Want” o SNCC, “Position Paper on Black Power”o Floyd McKissick, “CORE Endorses Black Power”

18. March 31 (Monday)Living Black Power: The Birth of the Black Panther Party

READING: Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr., Black Against

Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, Introduction and Parts One and Two

Your THIRD PAPER is due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 14

Have a GREAT SPRING BREAK!!!

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Course Packet, pp. 265-270o Black Panther Party Platform and Ruleso Documents from The Black Panther Speaks

Moodle:o Huey P. Newton, Interview from Jail o Eyes on the Prize: Episode 9: “Power” on BPP

19. April 2 (Wednesday)The Movement(s) in Tacoma

READING:No new reading for today. You should be working on your papers, which will be due in two weeks. Today’s class will be an opportunity, too, to begin planning the second group projects.

20. April 7 (Monday)Black Power in Action: The Black Panther Party’s Expanding Vision

READING: Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr., Black Against Empire, Parts Three and Four Course Packet, pp. 271-280

o Huey P. Newton, Speech Delivered at Boston College, November 18, 1970 Moodle:

o Eyes on the Prize: Episode 12: “A Nation of Law” on the Murder of Fred Hampton

21. April 9 (Wednesday) Imagining Black Power: The Black Aesthetic and the Black Panther Party

READING: Amy Abugo Angiri, Spectacular Blackness: The Cultural Politics of the Black Power

Movement and the Search for a Black Aesthetic, Introduction and chs. 1-3

22. April 14(Monday) “People Get Ready”: The Black Arts Movement

READING: Amy Abugo Angiri, Spectacular Blackness, ch. 4

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Course Packet, pp. 281-297 o Addison Gayle, “The Black Aesthetic”o Nikki Giovanni, “Beautiful Black Men” and “Nikki-Rosa”o Sonia Sanchez, “homecoming,” “poem at thirty,” and “Summer Words of a Sistuh

Addict”o Etheridge Knight, “The Idea of Ancestry” and “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from

the Hospital for the Criminal Insane” o Ishmael Reed, “Jacket Notes”o Haki Madhubuti, “For the Consideration of Poets” o Amiri Baraka, “Black Art”

Moodle: o View film Romare Beardeno Images from the Black Arts movement.

23. April 16 (Wednesday) Black Arts Enacted: Revolutionary Theatre

READING: Amiri Baraka, Dutchman Moodle:

o Watch the video of the play

Your FOURTH PAPER is due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 18th

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Unit Five Repression and Resistance: From COINTELPRO to Bakke

By the end of the 1960s a discernible mass movement for civil rights was fading. The causes are many, not least of which was the continuing power of white racism and white Americans' unwillingness to give up their racial privileges, illustrated by the FBI’s establishment of COINTELPRO, its counter-intelligence program, which targeted groups ranging from King’s SCLC to the Black Panther Party and SNCC. Events in the 1970s sometimes resonated in surprising ways with the earliest struggles of the civil rights era. The Boston bussing crisis seems to mirror some of the problems faced in Little Rock years earlier, while the Bakke decision serves as a vivid counterpoint to the Brown decision with which we began this course. This last section explores the collapse of a national vision of change and the persistence of racism, but also acknowledges the development of new and persistent, but less coordinated, responses to institutionalized racism evident across the culture.

24. April 21 (Monday)Repression, Implosions, and Explosions

READING: (We will divide this) Bloom and Martin, Black Against Empire, Part Five Ongiri, Spectacular Blackness, ch. 5 and Conclusion Berger, Seeing Through Race, ch. 4 and Epilogue

25. April 23 (Wednesday)The Powerful Persistence of White Resistance:

The Boston Bussing Crisis and the Bakke CaseREADING: Course Packet, pp. 341-351

o Majority Decision in Bakke (1978)o Justice Marshall’s Dissent in Bakke (1978)

IN-CLASS FILM: Eyes on the Prize: Episode 13:“The Keys to the Kingdom”

26. April 28 (Monday)

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Living a Liberated Life?READING: Jeffries, Bloody Lowndes, ch. 7 and Epilogue McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street, Epilogue Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, Epilogue Course Packet, pp. 298-340

o Martin Luther King, Jr., “A Time to Break Silence”o Muhammad Ali, “Interview”o Lewis A. Erenberg, “Rumble in the Jungle”o Honorable Shirley Chisholm, “Equal Rights for Women”

o Combahee River Collective, “Statement of Purpose” Moodle:

o View Eyes on the Prize: Episode 12 “A Nation of Law” on the Attica Prison uprising

27. April 30 (Wednesday)Legacies: Group Project

28. May 5 (Monday)Legacies: Group Project

29. May 7 (Wednesday)Legacies: Group Project

Remember: Your CREATIVE PROJECTS

are due by 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 16th

“If you don’t tell it like it was, it can never be as it ought to be.”

--The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth

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