BLACK STUDIES 4670 30F Ketchum

Summer, 2005, Term B M-F, 1100-1145, ABA

William M King 303 492-8189

kingwm@buffmail.colorado.edu

THE SIXTIES: CRITICAL BLACK VIEWS

I. SYNOPSIS

Optimism. Doubt. Disenchantment. Taken together, these three words best describe the period that, for the purposes of this course, began as a storm gathering momentum 1 February 1960, when four students from North Carolina A&T University sat down at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro to protest segregation in public accommodations, and ended in front of Alexander Hall, the women's dormitory, at Jackson State College, Jackson, Mississippi, 14 May 1970. Both events were intended as an exercise of First Amendment rights. The first expressed hope. The second resulted in the deaths of James Earl Green, 17, a senior at Jim Hill High School, and Philip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior pre-law student following a 30 second barrage of 140 shots fired by the state police. More effectively than the better publicized Kent State tragedy of 4 May 1970, this senseless slaughter announced the crash of the decade's modest dreams—namely, an attempt to realize democracy in the United States—against the rocks of bureaucratic intransigence, brutality and a deep-seated commitment to preservation of the status quo. In between, in both the North and the South, there were numerous challenges to the asymmetrical balance of power that characterized the two American societies—black and white—separate and apart yet mutually interdependent.

What those transiting this course, must understand, is that this struggle was not an all or nothing proposition. Black people, as a consequence of their activities during this time, seeking to bring forth the goals spelled out in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, both gained and lost. How much, and whether it was worth what it cost, are issues that are still being debated even today. Because this course deals with matters essential to self-understanding and understanding of the worlds in which we live and work, a principal objective of its design is that of meeting the critical thinking requirement of the core curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences. It does this by focusing on the assumptions, logics and arguments proffered by those who participated in shaping the ideas, events, and processes of the time. By examining what transpired, and the context within which those ideas, events, processes, and persons had particular meaning, students who register for this course will have an opportunity to better identify and assess for themselves the evidence, reasoning, actions, and consequences of those times as the society struggled to restructure itself in response to the demands of black and other oppressed peoples, who wanted the nation to live up to the implications of its founding concepts: Freedom, equality, liberty and justice for all—while at the same time preserving, protecting and defending the position and privileges of a select few.

II MATERIALS AND METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

A. Background readings (required)

1. Terry Anderson, The Sixties.

2. James Cone, Martin & Malcolm &America.

3. Cheryl Lynn Greenberg, A Circle of Trust.

B. Methods of instruction

1. Structurally, the course is a double helix. One branch of the helix addresses the decade as context (the Anderson book) because of the reality that nothing has meaning without context. The other branch addresses the ideas, events, people, organizations, and processes of the decade as specifics intended to illustrate the extent to which truth is in the eye of the beholder; that it is very much a function of the belief systems we embrace and not some abstract entity that can be analyzed separate and distinct from what gives it life and meaning. To achieve this, the course is divided into four major sections. They are: American Affluence on the Eve of the Decade; The Rise and Maturation of Nonviolent Direct Action; The emergence of Black Power as Rhetoric and Reality; and the Actualization of Black Political Action as a means of securing the few modest gains that were realized. To avoid confusion, I further observe that these separations are for analytical convenience only. In actuality, all of these descriptors, and several others as well, were present in various forms simultaneously and often overlapped each other. It is just that at different times during the decade, different strategies and tactics were emphasized in accord with what some believed necessary and effective.

2. Operationally, the course is intended more as forum than lecture. What this means is that you must prepare for each class session because it is likely that you will be asked to offer a synopsis of and/either opinion on the materials you have read, films you have seen, things you have heard, conversations in which you have participated, or independent investigations you have conducted. You will also be required to participate in singular presentations and student-led small discussion groups with some regularity. Accordingly, to successfully transit the course, you are required first, to take responsibility for the quality of your own education because education, as distinct from schooling, is a participatory process—the instructor helps those who help themselves. To learn you must question: What you know, what you believe, and, what you have previously taken on faith. Second, you must acquire discipline that will assist you in securing mastery over whatever talents you possess. No matter how much talent you believe you have, if you have no discipline, you have no talent in that you cannot easily use your gifts in your own best interest. And third, you must commit to excellence however you choose to define that word.

III. TOPICAL OUTLINE OF THE COURSE

A. The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As so stated, this goal statement superintends six core values to which there have been differing levels of commitment in the two hundred thirteen years since the ratification of this document. They are: Individuality and achievement; Liberty; Political Equality; Rule by Law; Self-government; and Capitalism. Clearly, there is inherent conflict in the articulation of these values given the social origins, interests, and standing of their authors. There is also, in the way the society has evolved, a lost-prevention character inherent in the realization of these values by the several constituencies that comprise the American People. By that I mean those on the periphery of the society who have had to overcome all manner of obstacles and barriers to engage the scavenger hunt called the American Dream.

B. American Affluence on the Eve of The Decade

This is the jumping off point. It is also here that we begin to examine and assess the larger context for the course. This assessment will be done in terms of what happened? When did it happen? In what way did it happen? To what extent can we identify the predisposing factors and issues in whatever it was that happened? What were the consequences of occurrence? Also covered will be the larger themes like the Civil Rights Movement, The Great Society, The War in Vietnam, The New Left, The Rise of the Counter Culture, Black Studies on the White Campus, and the Women’s Liberation Movement. Week I.

C. Rise and Maturation of Nonviolent Direct Action

Freedom Rides. Birmingham. Washington, 63; Malcolm X. Oslo. Freedom Summer; Civil Rights Act of 1964. Selma. Voting Rights Act of 1965. Week II.

D. The Emergence of Black Power as Rhetoric and Reality

The Long Hot Summers; Chicago. Greenwood, MS. Black Panther Party for Self Defense; Muhammad Ali; Kerner Commission Report; Memphis; Resurrection City. Chicago Again. The Birth of Black Studies; Week III

E. The Actualization of Black Political Action

Washington. Oakland. San Francisco. Cleveland. Siege of Chicago; “Bloods” in the ‘Nam; Jackson State College. Week IV.

F. Summary and Conclusions

Gains, loses, consequences, current status of black people in the United States. Was it worth all that it cost? Week V.

IV MEASURE AND METHODS OF PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

There will be five (5) measures of performance evaluation used in this course this term. Four are written (each worth twenty (20) percent of your final grade) one is observational based on classroom performance (also worth twenty (20) percent of your final grade). The four written measures, one due after each of the major sections of the course, are position papers of some three (3) to five (5) pages in length, double-spaced, typewritten, suitable for oral presentation. In these papers you will select some item (event, person, idea, etc.) covered in the particular course section, take a position with respect to that item and make the best case you can being ever sensitive to the assumptions you make, values you embrace, logics you employ, and arguments you construct to inform/persuade your listeners to some specific course of action. For example, so and so did whatever, and that was correct, appropriate, unusual, outrageous. Should you be selected to present your work to the class you must also address whatever questions, comments arise there from.

V CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF WRITTEN WORK

A. THE DAY MY EVALUATION OF YOUR WORK TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER THE PROCESSES OF ITS CREATION IN IMPORTANCE, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. NOT ONLY IS GRADING NOT FAIR AND NOT OBJECTIVE, IT HAS VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH EDUCATION. PURELY AND SIMPLY IT IS THE EXERCISE OF POWER THROUGH THE AUTHORITY OF THE TEACHER. ITS END IS PURPOSELY POLITICAL: TO LIMIT ACCESS TO SMALLER AND MORE ELITE GROUPS AS A MEANS OF PRESERVING THE STATUS QUO.

B. All work submitted must be an original copy. Reproductions (Xerox, mimeo, ditto, etc.) submitted in lieu of original copies will earn penalties. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP A COPY FOR YOUR OWN FILES.

C. ALL WORK MUST BE SUBMITTED—NOT LATER THAN 1600—ON OR BEFORE THE PUBLISHED DUE DATE (2nd through 5th Fridays). LATE SUBMISSIONS REQUIRE LATE FEES. IN THIS INSTANCE THE LATE FEE IS AUTOMATIC REDUCTION BY ONE FULL LETTER OF THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE GRADE DETERMINED BY THE QUALITY OF YOUR PAPER.

D. Because each of us has a different image of what a specific grade means, I offer herewith what they mean for me. DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WRITE TO THESE CRITERIA IN YOUR WORK. THEY ARE ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY. WRITE FIRST TO EXPRESS YOURSELF, EXPLAIN YOURSELF AND THE POSITIONS YOU HAVE TAKEN. AND, FINALLY, TO PLEASE YOURSELF WITH WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN.

1. "A." Demonstrates that you have mastered the subject and its supporting materials. A neat, solid, tightly organized presentation in which you make your case with authority.

2. "B." A solid work but unimaginative in character. Covers all the bases but rarely transcends them to express new insights, personal feelings or understandings.

3. "C." Competent. Follows the letter not the spirit of the assignment. Lacks substance, effort, care and concern.

4. "D." A weak and ineffectual presentation emblematic of a lick and promise approach to one’s work. There is no evidence here of care, concern or commitment to crafting.

E. GRADES SHALL BE ASSIGNED ON THE BASIS OF HOW EFFECTIVELY YOU ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING ITEMS IN YOUR WORK.

1. Appropriate evidence of a thorough review of the pertinent resources. The identification, assembly and organization of those materials that help to establish context for your presentation can show this. 15 percent of grade.

2. Demonstrated understanding of your project, its supporting materials and its relations to the larger subject of which it is a part. The emphasis here is on analysis, synthesis and interpretation of those materials. This will be reflected in the thought, detail, and examination of issues (indicators of rigor, discipline and skill) that appear in your paper. In short, how completely you have developed the character of your presentation. 35 percent of grade.

3. Effective transmission of the meanings you have made of your labors. This will be reflected in the organization of the work (form) and the manner (style) with which they are communicated. To achieve maximum impact and effectiveness, purpose, direction, focus and objective must be clear. Coherence is your main goal here. 35 percent of grade.

4. Errors in composition. Here I am concerned with the appearance of the final copy, spelling, syntax, grammar, typing and verb/subject agreements. Neatness counts. 15 percent of grade.

Discussion questions

1. How would you characterize the assumptions and visions of the founders articulated in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States as written? Suppose you were asked to author a similar document for this day and age. In what ways would it be the same as or different from the one authored in the eighteenth century? Please be specific.

2. Of the six core values listed in IIIA, what, for you, is (are) the most important? What do they have to do with the founding concepts identified in the synopsis section of the syllabus?

3. In several places over the years, I have written that the principal problem for black people in the United States is that of securing procedural equity in the face of the substantive inequity they have experienced since their arrival in the seventeenth century. What do you believe I mean by this? And, if what I am contending is correct, how would you go about changing it?

4. We are, all of us, products of and captives of the cultures in which we were reared. What does that observation portend for understanding and appreciating how our respective heritages influence exacting analyses, syntheses, and interpretations of forces and phenomena different from those with which we are most familiar and most comfortable? It may help you to consider in, addressing this question, how we go about proving the existence of or believing in that which is outside our own universe of definition.

5. What, for you, were the four students who sat down at the lunch counter in Greensboro attempting to accomplish? What is your assessment of their tactic? Keep in mind here, that tactics address specific situations; strategies address ultimate goals. Utilizing the same paradigm, apply it to the larger questions asked during the sixties, and, to any, all of the events that characterized the decade.

6. Read both, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and "I have a Dream," by Martin Luther King, Jr. How do they strike you? What do they tell you about their author? Then read, "A Time to Break Silence." Contrast the three. Finally, read his "Drum Major," speech given the night before he was assassinated. What have you learned about the man and his times?

7. Do the same for Malcolm X. In this case you will need to select something from his Nation of Islam period, and then contrast that with the "Ballot or the Bullet," "Message to the Grass Roots," his letters from Mecca, or the address he gave at the Audubon Ballroom announcing the creation of Muslim Mosques, Inc., and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. As you do this, keep in mind that people evolve; they may either react to or respond (the amount of focus guiding the respective behavior determines how that behavior is characterized) to the situations in which they find themselves. Further, their evolution has consequences for those who choose to follow them for whatever reason, and for those who are tasked by the society to maintain law and order.

8. As soon as you can after the beginning of this course, speak with someone who lived through the Sixties. Ask them what one thing from that period most sticks out in their minds. Ask them to describe that thing and explain what it is about that thing that causes them to think about it. As you do this, you will want to keep foremost in your mind that all memory is selective reconstruction—we find it easiest to remember that that was most pleasant for us.

9. The 1960s are said to be an anomalous decade and the cause of all the troubles that have befallen US society since that time. Now that you have transited this course, is that statement, in your opinion, little more than an oversimplification, wishful thinking, scape-goating, or maybe something else we wish not to accept because of the damage it might do to our tried and true beliefs about this society and all we have invested therein. Be imaginative and see what you come up with in response.