HONORS 350: Civil Rights and the Freedom Struggle Professor S. Ani Mukherji T/Th 9.30-10.45am HON 180 mukherjs@uwm.edu Honors 151, Honors College Office Hours: Tuesday 11am-2pm, 5pm-6pm; Thursday noon-2pm

Milwaukee NAACP March for Open Housing on the Southside, 1967 Course Description The civil rights movement transformed twentieth-century America. The movement ended the regime of racial violence and terror that ruled the Jim Crow South and many other parts of America. The movement addressed the systematic exclusion of racial minorities from jobs, education, and housing. The movement advanced a new vision of democracy in America. How were these dramatic changes achieved? How did differences within the movement—moderate or militant, non-violence or armed self-defense, grass-roots mobilization or centralized leadership—impact the struggle for freedom? How did this attempt to overthrow white supremacy influence and overlap with the fight for labor rights, feminism, pacifism, and other political movements? What business remains unfinished in the struggle for democracy and equality, more than forty years after the decline of the civil rights movement? This course will address these questions in two ways. As in a typical seminar, we will take on recent scholarship that has helped us understand the results of the civil rights movement. But more importantly, we will delve into local libraries, where students will learn to find forgotten stories in old newspapers, faded photographs, and archival records. The primary goal is for students to experience the excitement of directly connecting with evidence from the freedom struggle in America and then translate these materials into a short research paper.

Required Reading Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow

ISBN-13: 978-1595586438 Taylor Branch, The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement

ISBN-13: 978-1451662467 Patrick Jones, The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

ISBN-13: 978-0674057296 George Lipsitz, A Life in the Struggle: Ivory Perry and the Culture of Opposition

ISBN-13: 978-1566393218 Penny Von Eschen, Race Against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937-1957

ISBN-13: 978-0801482922 Additional articles and book chapters posted to D2L.

In-Class Viewing

Fundi (1981) Eyes on the Prize (1987)

Policies

1. Attendance: Any student who misses more than three classes (for any reason) will receive an “F” for his/her participation grade. Any student who misses more than five classes will receive an “F” for the course. Being substantially late or leaving early counts as a missed class.

2. Readings: Hard copies of the assigned reading must be brought to seminar. When the reading is from a required book, bring the book to class. When the reading is posted to D2L, print the document and bring it to class.

3. Cell phones/Laptops/Gadgets: I do not want to see or hear your phones or other technology unless you are using it for a presentation.

4. Written Work: All written work must be typed, double-spaced and in twelve point font. Papers must have page numbers, citations, and a heading with the student’s name, title of the assignment, course, and date.

5. Formal Writing: Written assignments should engage the reader with lively, concise writing and should lack typographical errors, as well as lapses in tone, register, punctuation, spelling, word choice, and grammar. Put simply, formal writing should not be the first draft of your thoughts, but a revised presentation of your considered reflections. Your written work will be graded down for errors of spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

6. Citation Style: As this seminar is a history course, we will be using the preferred citation style of American historians, outlined here: http://deerfield.history.museum/dtc/programs/American%20Historical%20Review%20Citation%20Style.pdf

7. Plagiarism/Academic Misconduct: I take plagiarism very seriously. Please be sure to cite your sources and attribute research to the hard-working scholars who published it first. The university policies and sanctions for academic misconduct are described here: http://www4.uwm.edu/acad_aff/policy/academicmisconduct.cfm

8. Special Considerations: All students are welcome in this seminar. If you have any special needs or considerations that require modification of assignments or course requirements, please inform me at the beginning of the semester.

Course Requirements and Grading

Participation [10%] Leading Discussion [20%] Critical book review [10%] Interpretative/analytical paper on a primary source document or object [20%] Research paper [40%]

Grading: 97-100% = A+, 93-96% = A, 90-92% = A-, 87-89% = B+, etc.

Participation

Seminars are intended to be active sites of inquiry and sharing. Students are expected to complete ALL assigned readings, come to every class with ideas and questions about the reading, and participate in discussions. Completing the reading does not mean that your eyes passed over the words; rather, you should be able to state the major point the author intended to make, to evaluate how well the author accomplished this task, and to connect the new evidence and interpretations with previous readings.

Leading Discussion

As this course is a seminar, it is your job to define our conversations, offer interpretations, and evaluate the assigned material. As such, you will—in groups—be responsible for preparing to lead discussion. Part One: Preparation

Work with your group to brainstorm a provocative topic for discussion and a set (2-3) of questions related to this topic. Be prepared with an explanation of the topic, provocative questions, and key passages of the assigned text to discuss. Remember, your job is to offer questions that start a broad discussion, not give an answer that ends discussion. Good questions:

Involve higher-order thinking (analysis, comparison, synthesis, evaluation); Depend on a careful reading of the details of the assigned text; Clarify or complicate major issues related to our course; Create connections between different parts of the assigned text and to previously-

assigned readings. Part Two: Leading in Class

1. State the overall topic of discussion. 2. Explain why you think that this topic is worth consideration and how it fits into the course. 3. Ask a good opening question or begin with a provocative argument. 4. Manage the discussion by responding to comments, asking follow-up questions, and

encouraging dialogue. 5. After about 20-25 minutes, bring discussion to a close by summarizing what’s been said,

adding your own thoughts about what’s been most interesting, and point to questions that haven’t been resolved.

Book Review

During Week Five of the seminar, you will be asked to write a short book review of one of the first two books that we will read in this course—Taylor Branch’s The King Years or Penny Von Eschen’s Race Against Empire. This review is due on 3 October.

A book review should present: (1) an explanation of the major ideas and arguments of the assigned work; (2) an evaluation of the author’s supporting evidence and reasoning; (3) your assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this text.

A book review IS NOT a book report. Your task is not to summarize the book. Rather, you should critically and fairly engage with the author’s major claims, presentation of evidence, and overall reasoning.

The review should be no more than 700 words (~2 pages).

Primary Source Analysis

During Week Five of the seminar, students will attend a library/research orientation in order to begin work of their final paper. After this orientation, students will be asked to search for an interesting document, set of documents, object, song, or artwork that illuminates the history of the Civil Rights Movement and Freedom Struggle in the United States. This document could be a speech, an essay, a diary, a pamphlet, a set of photographs, a series of newspaper articles or editorials, cartoons, musical recordings, oral histories/interviews, or a painting. Students are encouraged to be creative and to search out new material that has not been discussed in previous scholarship.

The analysis of your primary source should include the following components:

Context. When and where was this source created? By whom? For what purpose?

Close Reading of the Source. If the source was written or spoken, what kind of language does it use? Why? If it is a visual source, describe its contents and explain the visual logic of the work. If it is a song, account for the meaning of both the lyrics and musical composition. Pay attention to the details!

Explanation of Relevance. What does this source illuminate about the Civil Rights Movement and/or Freedom Struggle? What new perspectives are gained by analyzing this source? How might it alter current claims being made by other scholars?

You will deliver a short oral presentation on your source in class during Week Eight of the seminar. Each presentation should take no more than eight minutes and be followed by a period during which other members of the seminar will offer questions, comments, and suggestions.

Your written analysis will be due on 24 October. It should be no more than 1000 words (~3 pages).

Final Paper

The final paper should identify an important question in the study of the Civil Rights Movement and select a set of primary sources that will allow you to discuss this question in an insightful manner. The final paper should be approximately ten pages, typed and double-spaced (3,000-3,500 words). Steps of writing a good final research paper

1. Choose a compelling and specific topic. Your topic should be something that is important and relevant to you and to a broader public. At the same time, you have to formulate your topic such that you will be able to address the matter in ten pages. For instance, you may be interested in how international politics affected the outcomes of the Civil Rights Movement. This is an important and relevant issue, but too large for the scope of a short essay. You might narrow the topic to something like “French views of major moments in the Civil Rights Movement,” focusing on how French newspapers and magazines covered events like the integration of public schools in Little Rock or the historic 1963 March on Washington. This topic will shed light on your broader concern while allowing you to discuss specific evidence in detail.

2. Find plentiful, rich sources. A good paper will be based on a logical selection of primary and secondary sources. After you choose a topic, you should start by looking to see what other historians have written about this topic. Search the library catalog and relevant databases (e.g., Academic Search Complete, America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts) for books and articles on your topic. Start reading and taking notes on the major arguments on your topic. Pay attention to what primary sources are being used by these historians. Start to search for your own set of primary sources. If you cannot find a rich set of primary sources, you may have to change your topic.

3. Formulate a provocative, controvertible thesis. A strong thesis should grab the reader’s attention and make two things clear: your interpretation and why your interpretation is important.

4. Develop your interpretation. An excellent paper will explore contrasting views and evidence, discuss different possible interpretations (while advancing one particular argument over others), and develop subtle points of interpretation to support your thesis. In other words, your paper should not just repeat the same point over and over. This type of developed interpretation requires a strong and varied set of primary sources, an important and complicated issue to discuss, and considered reflection on the part of the writer. Such work is the result of repeated cycles of writing and revising.

BY 13 NOVEMBER: Complete steps 1, 2, & 3, above. Come to office hours to discuss your idea for a paper. I strongly encourage you to visit early, especially if you are having trouble formulating a topic or finding sources.

BY 14 NOVEMBER: Submit a final paper proposal. This proposal should have the following elements: (1) title; (2) description of your topic and sources; (3) a clear preliminary thesis statement; (4) bibliography of primary sources; (5) bibliography of relevant secondary sources. The written proposal is worth 10% of your paper grade.

2-11 DECEMBER: Individual student presentations will take place during the last two weeks of class. Each presentation should last about 10-15 minutes and will be followed by questions, comments, and suggestions from other class members. There is a very useful guide to preparing presentations here: http://www.cgu.edu/pages/862.asp. The presentation is worth 20% of your paper grade.

12 DECEMBER: Submit final papers to DropBox by 5PM. The final paper is worth 70% of the paper grade.

COURSE SCHEDULE Week One: Introductions and Historical Background 2 September Introductions 4 September: The Background of “Jim Crow” America Reading: Richard Wright, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow” Viewing: Episode One of Eyes on the Prize Week Two: A Conventional View of the Civil Rights Movement 9 September Reading: Taylor Branch, The King Years, 1-67

Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Power of Non-Violence” in A Testament of Hope Viewing: Excerpt from Episode Two of Eyes on the Prize

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 1 &2] 11 September Reading: Taylor Branch, The King Years, 68-184 Martin Luther King, “A Time to Break Silence” in A Testament of Hope

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 3 &4]

Week Three: Ella Baker and the View from the Ground 16 September Viewing: Fundi (1981) 18 September Reading: Charles Payne, “Ella Baker and Models of Social Change” Student Debate: The Importance of Leadership or the Necessity of a Mass Movement?

Week Four: A Longer and Wider View—“The Long Civil Rights Movement” and Global Framings 23 September Reading: Penny von Eschen, Race Against Empire, 1-95

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 1 &2] 25 September Reading: Penny von Eschen, Race Against Empire, 96-190

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 3 &4] Week Five: Writing the Book Review and Preparing for Research 30 September WORKSHOP: Writing a Book Review (not a Book Report!) and Developing an Interpretation 2 October WORKSHOP: Library Orientation—Locating Primary Sources

Book Review Due in DropBox by 5PM on Friday 3 October Week Six: Different Approaches to History – Music and Arts 7 October Reading: Shana Redmond, “Soul Intact: CORE, Conversions, and Covers” in Anthem Listening: Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddam,” “Four Women,” and “To be Young, Gifted, and

Black” WORKSHOP: Interpreting Music 9 October Reading: Martin Berger, “Iconic Photographs of Civil Rights” and “White Shame, White Empathy”

in Seeing Through Race WORKSHOP: Interpreting Photographs

Week Seven: Critical Biography, Oral History, Local History 14 October Reading: George Lipsitz, A Life in the Struggle, 1-115

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 1 &2] 16 October Reading: George Lipsitz, A Life in the Struggle, 117-269

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 3 &4] Week Eight: Presenting Your Source 21 October Individual Student Presentations on a select writing, song, photograph, artwork, or other document of the Freedom Movement [GROUPS 1 & 2] 23 October Individual Student Presentations on a select writing, song, photograph, artwork, or other document of the Freedom Movement [GROUPS 3 & 4]

Source Analysis Paper Due in Dropbox by 5pm on Friday 24 October

NEW GROUPS WILL BE ASSIGNED FOR REMAINDER OF SEMESTER

Week Nine: Milwaukee’s Story 28 October Reading: Patrick Jones, Selma of the North, 9-142

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 1 &2] 30 October Reading: Patrick Jones, Selma of the North, 143-260

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 3 &4] Week Ten: Overlapping Movements—Feminism, the Student Movement, and Anti-War Activism 4 November Reading: Sara Evans, “Cracks in the Mold” and “Black Power-Catalyst for Feminism” in Personal

Politics Casey Hayden and Mary King, “Sex and Caste: A Kind of Memo”

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 1 &2] 6 November Reading: Students for a Democratic Society, “Port Huron Statement” Greg Calvert, “In White America: Radical Consciousness and Social Change” Viewing: Excerpt from Berkeley in the Sixties

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 3 &4]

Week Eleven: More Overlapping Movements—Gay Liberation and Asian American Movements 11 November Reading: Terrence Kissack, “Freaking Fag Revolutionaries” Daryl Maeda, “Black Panthers, Red Guards, and Chinamen” Student Debate: Overlapping Movements and the Dimensions of the “Freedom Movement” 13 November NO CLASS – Meet with Instructor to Discuss Final Paper Proposal

FINAL PAPER PROPOSALS DUE in DROPBOX by 5pm on 14 November

Week Twelve: The Post-Civil Rights Era 18 November Reading: Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, 1-136

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 1 &2] 20 November Reading: Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, 137-248

STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION [GROUPS 3 &4] Week Thirteen: WRAPPING UP! 25 November Student Discussion/Debate: How did the Civil Rights Movement Transform America?

Week Fourteen: Student Presentations 2 December Student Presentations: GROUP ONE 4 December Student Presentations: GROUP TWO Week Fifteen: Student Presentations 9 December Student Presentations: GROUP THREE 11 December Student Presentations: GROUP FOUR

FINAL PAPERS DUE in DROPBOX by 5pm on 12 December