Lots of good discussion here - looks like Prof. Baldwin really got into all of our heads. The Star Spangled Banner - Black Power photo pairing was brilliant. Definitely have to get it working at some point next year. Also, a good number of my students come into learning about Dr. King believing that he must have died shortly after "I Have a Dream" and don't have any real understanding of his work post-March on Washington.
As far as dealing with the "short v. long" civil rights movements, one thing that struck me was how similar the modern civil rights movement is with the Reconstruction era. I know that it is a pretty easy comparison to make, but the one thing that strikes me the most is the idea that Prof. Baldwin kept working with is the sense that once legislation is achieved, then all will be well and no more efforts need to be put into the struggle and those who do continue to struggle beyond the completion of legislation are doing so counter-productively. There was a real sense at the end of Reconstruction that after the Civil Rights amendments were passed (and to a certain extent the 1875 Civil Rights Bill) that the laws were in place to ensure equality and so, therefore, no more action needed to be taken and the majority of white Americans were tiring of reconstruction legislation. So, after the bitter compromise of 1877, the slow unraveling of Reconstruction began to take place, first under local and state governments, then the federal government, culminating with the support of the Supreme Court for "Jim Crow" legislation. Which, of course, creates the conditions for the modern civil rights movement.
Fast forward to the traditional timeline of the modern movement and, again, it seems to stop at the passage of the 1968 Civil Rights Bill (some even like to stop it earlier with the 1965 Voting Rights Act). Again, at this point there is a sense that the legislation is in place, so people need to stop complaining and, again, those that continue agitating are being counter-productive. Hence, the condemnation of the "black power anti-colonization movement". Of course, another contentious election with an administration that shows a "willigness" to stand for the "silent majority" and promote an atmosphere of "law and order". By the 1980s we again began to see some dismantling of advances made during the period under the Reagan administration and a move towards black disenfranchisement (Election of 2000) and the dismantling of affirmative action programs. I know it's an oversimplification, but these are some points I consider when looking at where the country is in trying to promote ideas of equality and equal access in society. When Prof. Baldwin talked about the idea of legal / civil equality and equal access vs. actual equality and access, these ideas struck me. It actually goes along with what Kate was saying in response to the Hendrix piece that featured a bit of "Taps" - there needs to be a death of our old conceptions of liberty in order to develop a new understanding of liberty. And, like the song, it's gonna get messy. Plus, if we have more dissonance than harmony in order to achieve this new liberty, it's going to get uncomfortable, but, hell, it took 250-300 years to develop the system of race / class inequality in the United States - it's going to take longer than 40 years to break it down. But, if I can add another musical track to our lessons today, pop on Sam Cooke's (or Aretha Franklin's) version of "A change is gonna come", close your eyes and have a little faith that we are moving in the right direction.
Chris Kurhajetz
High School History
Winchester High School