The Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement and History Education

• In Event: 63.081 - Teaching History in a Racially Diverse Democracy

Abstract

Mainstream and intellectual histories of the Civil Rights Movement have often differed. Since the publication of seminal historical texts such as I’ve Got The Light of Freedom by Charles Payne, an expansion of the complexity of the Civil Rights Movement emerged. Historians persuasively argued that a correct rendering of the Civil Rights Movement would include an organizing history which focuses on the key contributions of young people, women and various racial and ethnic groups. This rendering would enrich the typical narrative which only focused on Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King. Despite these scholarly innovations, mainstream pedagogy still emphasizes the traditional civil rights narrative.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the modern-day Civil Rights Movement serves as an important case study for pedagogical practices related to history education. The Civil Rights Movement is an important case for history educators to explore because: 1) The key figures are commonly taught in our nation’s history and social studies curricula 2) The narrative of the Civil Rights Movement includes multiple identity groups and 3) provides a concrete example of how the social construct of race can be taught to students of a variety of different ages.

In constructing this paper I rely heavily on Robert J. Nash’s work on scholarly personal narrative. Nash argued that the scholarly personal narrative “is the unabashed, upfront admission that your own life has meaning, both for you and others (Nash, 2004, p.24).” My own journey as a professional educator is defined by teaching the meaning complexities of the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout this paper I will share my own story combined with the relevant research literature on the Civil Rights Movement.

History teachers should incorporate this more complex narrative into their daily practice. As an essential part of the social studies, history education also must acknowledge the myriad issues that K-12 teachers confront as they distill a more comprehensive understanding of our nation’s past. In practitioner's manuals such as Reading Like a Historian and Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching, the impact of the Civil Rights Movement and its implications for teaching are identified. In addition, this paper will explore the issues underlying the dearth of scholarly studies on the Black Power Movement.

This paper will synthesize key findings from multiple studies in order to provide social studies researchers a roadmap to explore the impact of stories on studies related to historical thinking practices. Using a personal scholarly narrative methodology, this paper will consider existing research literature on how scholars are thinking and teaching about the Civil Rights Movement in teacher education programs, consider best practices for the teaching of the Civil Rights Movement and analyze the importance of narratives in constructing culturally responsive social studies curricula.

Author

• Alana Murray, Shady Grove Middle School