Based
on the documentary film series, “Ground Beneath
Our Feet" Civil Rights in U.S. and Virginia History
will provide a local perspective on the national and historical events
of the Civil Rights Movement.
The course begins with segregation, traces its legal and social origins, and covers the development of the NAACP's legal strategy to destroy segregation, the impact of World War II on the civil rights movement, the political organization of Harry F. Byrd in Virginia, how the Byrd organization policies abetted segregation, and massive resistance in Virginia to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The course also treats these subjects in the context of the Civil Rights Movement as a whole in United States history. We will examine the local perspective on these national and state events through the eyes of participants and the course focuses on understanding the relationship between national and local events in history.
The course begins with segregation, traces its legal and social origins, and covers the development of the NAACP's legal strategy to destroy segregation, the impact of World War II on the civil rights movement, the political organization of Harry F. Byrd in Virginia, how the Byrd organization policies abetted segregation, and massive resistance in Virginia to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The course also treats these subjects in the context of the Civil Rights Movement as a whole in United States history. We will examine the local perspective on these national and state events through the eyes of participants and the course focuses on understanding the relationship between national and local events in history.