The goal of this class is to offer a seminar experience in the study of the American Civil Rights movement through distance learning technology. Seminars depend on student-faculty collaboration and interaction and often on small group settings that encourage thoughtful reflection and reasoned discussion. This course aims to provide students with these aspects of a seminar using technologies already well established in Virginia schools. The course is open to all K-12 teachers in Virginia. Students are expected to have basic competence with using a web browser for accessing the Internet.

This course examines the civil rights movement in U.S. and Virginia history from the origins of segregation to the 1970s. 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. The course examines 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 directly addresses the Standards of Learning in History for educators and teaching strategies for them.

VSEN presentations
"Course Introduction and Welcome"
"The Origins of Segregation 1890s: Social and Legal"

Assignment:
Interviews: Edwilda Allen Issacs
Vera Allen

Readings: Welke, Barbara Young, Recasting Liberty Harvard University Press, 2001 (ch. 9, pp. 323-375)
HE2757 .W45 2001
Wynes, Charles, Race Relations in Virginia University Press of Virginia, 1961 (ch. 8 pp. 120-134) E 185 .93 .V8W9 1961


Week 2 Feb. 11:
Weekly Discussion Section
“Constitutions and Disenfranchisement and Segregation Law”

Assignment:
Race and Place Political Materials section-- /afam/raceandplace/political_main.html


Week 3 Feb.28: (Note schedule change: originally scheduled for Feb.18, Will air Galaxy 3R 1:30-3:00)
VSEN presentation
"The Byrd Organization in Virginia Politics: Interview with Professor Ron Heinemann"

Assignment:
Readings: Wilkinson, J. Harvie III. Harry Byrd and the Changing Face of Virginia Politics, 1945-1966. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1968. (chapter 2, pp. 23-62) F 231 .2 .W5
Key, V. O., Jr. Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York, 1949. (chapter tba) F 215 .K45 1984


Week 4 Feb. 25:
Weekly Discussion Topic
“Virginia Politics and African American Issues”

Assignment: Race and Place Charlottesville Reflector section--
/afam/raceandplace/news_main.html

Week 5 March 4:
VSEN presentation
"Student Strike 1951: Inequality in the Schools"

Assignment: Interviews: Edwilda Allen Issacs, Vera Allen
Readings: Smith, Bob. They Closed Their Schools: Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1951-64. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965. (chapter 6) LA380.P74 S6 1965a

Week 6 March 11:
Weekly Discussion Topic
“World War II and Civil Rights”

VSEN Presentation
Film: Virginia Fights: World War II

Assignment: Readings: Smith, J. Douglas, "When Reason Collides with Prejudice," in The Moderates' Dilemma (pp. 22-50) Myrdal, Gunnar, An American Dilemma, Vol. II (Harper, 1944), (chapter 45 997-1026). E 185.6 .M95 1944a v.2

Click here for Week 7-10