Assessing the Civil Rights Movement: History and Historiography

(Please print the reading.)

For the first reading, "Major Events and Legacies," please go through the history of the movement and take notes on what you see as the most effective moments, and determine who played the biggest role: the government, the media, local and regional figures, or national figures and organizations, like King. Also, please take notes on why the movement fell apart.

For the second reading, "Different Perspectives," please identify all of the arguments that historians have made about the history of the movement. Who started it, how it succeeded and failed, etc.

Note: Please continue to think about a subject you would be interested in pursuing for a paper.