Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Violent Or Non-Violent? What Difference Does It Make In 1960’S Civil Rights Activism And The State?, Jada A. Commodore

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this essay, I research the differences between violent and non-violent actors during the civil rights movement and how their methods changed their interactions with the state. For my case study, I chose two violent and two non-violent subjects, as well as two individuals, and two organizations. Those being Martin Luther King Jr. and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for my nonviolent actors, and Malcolm X and The Black Panther Party as my violent actors. I examine how their methods as individuals and groups changed the way they interacted with Police, The FBI, and the Federal Government such as presidents …

Civil Rights In America: Since 1954, Peter Kolozi

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

“Report All Obscene Mail To Your Postmaster” Reading, Institutions, And The American Public, Post-Revolution And 1965, Connor Christopher Boehme

Senior Projects Spring 2017

This project attempts to understand how Americans are able to imagine themselves as a political public in two revolutionary moments: just after the American Revolution, and in 1965, at the heart of the Civil Rights era. The public, which the Constitution labels “We, the people,” is explored first in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, which postulates the institutional conditions necessary for its readership, the first generation of Americans, to form a political public. The project then studies the “We,” of the Constitution’s preamble and considers how readers can interpret who is signified by that “We.” 1965 saw a cultural revolution in America …

“Free Men Name Themselves”: U.S. Cape Verdeans & Black Identity Politics In The Era Of Revolutions, 1955-75, Aminah Pilgrim

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Contrary to widely held assumptions about Cape Verdean immigrants in the US – based on oral folklore and early historiography - the population was never "confused" about their collective identity. Individuals and groups of Cape Verdeans wrestled with US racial ideology just as they struggled to make new lives for themselves and their families abroad. The men and women confronted African-American or "black" identity politics from the moment of their arrivals upon these shores, and chose very deliberate strategies for building community, re-inventing their lives and creating pathways for survival and resistance. One exceptional tool for providing others with a …

America's Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions Of Power And Community, Robert Tsai

Robert L Tsai

The U.S. Constitution opens by proclaiming the sovereignty of all citizens: "We the People." Robert Tsai's gripping history of alternative constitutions invites readers into the circle of those who have rejected this ringing assertion--the defiant groups that refused to accept the Constitution's definition of who "the people" are and how their authority should be exercised. America's Forgotten Constitutions is the story of America as told by dissenters: squatters, Native Americans, abolitionists, socialists, internationalists, and racial nationalists. Beginning in the nineteenth century, Tsai chronicles eight episodes in which discontented citizens took the extraordinary step of drafting a new constitution. He examines …

Interview With Stan Willis, Richard Hughey

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 135 minutes

Oral history interview of Stan Willis by Richard Hughey

Mr. Willis begins by recounting his early years in Chicago with his family and his gang activity in high school. He briefly describes his years in the Air Force and his work as a bus driver before enrolling at Crane College. Willis describes his activism work from his college years in detail, creating the Black History Club and later running for and winning student body president, during which time he helped organize strikes against injustices around the country. He mentions how he had a hand in naming the …

Interview With Otis Cunningham, Danny Fenster

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 98 minutes

Oral history interview of Otis Cunningham by Danny Fenster

Mr. Cunningham begins by explaining what it was like growing up amidst the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago, witnessing the reactions to the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. He explains how he first became involved in activism for African liberation movements when he joined the African-American Solidarity Committee where he served on the editorial board of their journal and he elaborates on the work they did. He recalls the social gatherings that sprung up through the movement. He explains the complicated history and relationships …

Interview With Carol Thompson, Marcia Monaco

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 91 minutes

Oral history interview of Carol Thompson by Marcia Monaco

In this interview, Carol Thompson recalls her involvement and work in the anti-apartheid movement. She explains that her awareness of the anti-Apartheid movement began while at Northern Illinois University, but she first became involved after she moved to Chicago, when she met South African author, Donald Woods, which led to her involvement in the Dennis Brutus’ defense committee. She recalls that she initially worked with Clergy and Laity Concerned and later, alongside Prexy Nesbitt, became a founding member of CIDSA, which was committed to passing legislation in Chicago …

Interview With Basil Clunie, Juston Ori

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 73 minutes

Oral history interview of Basil Clunie by Juston Ori

Basil Clunie recalls growing up in New York, attending cricket games, and following the Dodgers baseball team, especially Jackie Robinson. Education was an important part of his family, as his parents came to New York to for education, with his mother earning a degree in math and his father a pharmacy degree. He mentions describes about the organizations he worked with during his time in the anti-apartheid movement and recalls the sparked his activism in 1961. He discusses the 1964 race riots in Harlem, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, …

Cinematic Jujitsu: Resisting White Hegemony Through The American Dream In Spike Lee’S Malcolm X, Kristen Hoerl

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X (1992) presented Malcolm X’s life story using the narrative framework of the American Dream myth central to liberal ideology. Working from Gramsci’s notion of common sense in the process of hegemony, I explain how Lee appealed to this mythic structure underlying American popular culture to give a platform to Malcolm X’s controversial ideas. By adopting a common sense narrative to tell Malcolm X’s life story, this movie functioned as a form of cinematic jujitsu that invited critical consciousness about the contradictions between liberal ideology and the life experiences of racially excluded groups. Other formal devices …

Using 'The Autobiography Of Malcolm X' To Teach Introductory Sociology, Brent D. Harger, Tim Hallett

Sociology Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we make the case for using The Autobiography of Malcolm X to teach introductory sociology classes. While The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an autobiography and not a novel, we summarize the literature on using novels in sociology and compare this literature to our own experiences using autobiographies in the classroom. We then describe how autobiographies are particularly helpful for introducing students to the concept of the ‘‘sociological imagination’’ before highlighting this with an in-class exercise. Finally, we discuss student feedback and some of the drawbacks to using autobiographies and the extent to which these drawbacks can …