• Have your students select a court case that is currently in the news or being discussed on the Internet that has implications for civil rights. The class should follow the case as it develops and try to evaluate how well it fits within the framework of what they have been reading in the textbook.
• During World War II, Americans of Japanese descent were sent to “relocation centers.” Ask your students to discuss whether the alleged threat of espionage and a Japanese invasion of the Pacific Coast justified this action. Ask students to review the Court decision (and public reaction) in Korematsu v. United States, as well as the recent decision to pay families sent to relocation centers for damages incurred.
Finally, are there any parallels regarding the detainment and questioning of large numbers of Arab Americans and U.S. residents of Muslim descent?
• Suggest that your students compare the Equal Rights Amendment with the Fourteenth Amendment. Did the ERA cover some of the same ground as the Fourteenth Amendment, or did they deal with completely separate concepts?
• Divide your class into panels to discuss the role that women and homosexuals should play in the military. One team should be assigned to examine the
congressional hearings that were conducted after the Persian Gulf War and which led to a congressional decision to permit women to serve as combat pilots; another team should be assigned to look at coverage in the media of public reaction to the 1993 compromise concerning gays in the military (“Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue”).
• Ask students to write brief essays assessing the formal role of women in combat and how the media covered the role of the women in the military during the Persian Gulf War of the early 1990s with that of the U.S.’s invasion of Iraq. How similar or different was the coverage? Why?
• Surveys show that most Americans oppose affirmative action programs, even though Americans in general support nondiscrimination in employment and education. Ask students to research the legal rationale behind affirmative action policies, and how the courts have evaluated various affirmative action programs. Have several members of your class debate the concepts of affirmative action and reverse discrimination. Can one group be protected without discriminating against another? Where would your students place their priorities?
• It can be instructive to show a segment of Eyes on the Prize in a classroom setting.
The civil rights era is recreated through newsreel footage and interviews, and the era is “brought to life” for students who otherwise view the 1950s and 1960s only as
“history.” This award-winning series is available on videocassette.
• Engage the students in a discussion of the recent Michigan Supreme Court case on affirmative action. What will it mean, if anything, for minority attendance levels in undergraduate and professional schools?
• Ask students to document historical and contemporary civil rights issues in South Africa to assess whether there is anything familiar about the problems of citizenship and discrimination. In general, the discussion should focus on disenfranchisement and
dual citizenship problems, which Blacks and women have especially suffered both there and in the United States.
• Have students do a clipping file of current or recent events involving violations of civil rights and the expansion of government. Ask them to write an essay identifying the violations and to describe how government has expanded as a result of efforts to provide protections.
• For a reading and writing connection, have students choose one of the key conflicts of the 1960s civil rights movements (e.g., Selma, Montgomery). Ask students to write a brief description of the events, explaining why Blacks and Whites engaged in the behaviors they did. Who won? Who lost? Why?
B
ACKGROUND READINGAnderson, Terry H. The Pursuit of Fairness. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Chong, Dennis. Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Cohen, Carl. Affirmative Action and Racial Preference : A Debate. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Hampton, Henry, and Steve Fayer. Voices of Freedom. New York: Bantam, 1990.
Klein, Ethel. Gender Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.
McAdam, Doug. Freedom Summer. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
McClain, Paula D. and Joseph Stewart. “Can’t We All Get Along?” 5th ed. Boulder, CO:
Westview, 2009.
McGlen, Nancy E., and Karen O’Conner. Women, Politics, and American Society, 2nd ed.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998.
Perry, Barbara A. The Michigan Affirmative Action Cases. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 2007.
Rimmerman, Craig A. The Lesbian and Gay Movements. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2008.
Steele, Shelby. The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990.
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EDIA SUGGESTIONSAffirmative Action: The History of an Idea. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1996.
This program considers the historical development of affirmative action policies and highlights current debates over its usefulness.
Eyes on the Prize. Dir. Henry Hampton. Blackside Productions, 1987.
This award-winning Public Broadcasting Service series chronicles the civil rights movement in America. Excerpts are especially useful for visual effect.
Gay Marriage and the Constitution. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2004.
Ted Koppel of ABC News moderates the a debate about gay marriage and its legal ramifications.
A Question of Fairness: The Affirmative Action Debate. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2006.
This film explores the debate over affirmative action and examines the Supreme Court case of Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and other cases.
Religion and Race in America: Martin Luther King’s Lament. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1994.
This film provides an analysis of the different roles churches play in shaping a nation’s political culture.
With All Deliberate Speed. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2004.
This film examines the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and includes both archival footage and contemporary interviews.