Based on the documentary
film series, 
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. Course Syllabus
Week 1 - 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 - Weekly Discussion Section
“Constitutions and Disenfranchisement and Segregation Law”
Assignment:
Race
and Place Political Materials
Week 3 - 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 - Weekly Discussion Topic
“Virginia Politics and African American Issues”
Assignment:
Race
and Place Charlottesville Reflector
Week 5 - 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 - 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