Two movies about events in 1963 and 1972 are discussed. They are Rustin and Shirley. The movies concern the actions of Bayard Rustin in organizing the March on Washington for Peace and Jobs and the actions of Shirley Chisholm in organizing her campaign for the Presidency of the United States. The events took place more than half a century ago.…

Using the global discourse of human rights as a basis, the purpose of this article is to analyse how education for citizenship and human rights has been implemented in Spain in recent years. In addition, discourse analysis and the theory of social movements have been used to study the mobilisation that arose against this instruction, showing how…

Historical analyses of 1960s university campus activism have focused on activities related to the civil rights movement, Free Speech Movement, and opposition to the Vietnam War. This study supplements the historiography of civil disobedience and political activity on college campuses during that tumultuous era with an account of the initiation of…

In this reflective essay, the author addresses fellow educators and their responsibility to students on issues surrounding the ongoing struggle for civil rights. She links the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas schools in 1957 with the 2018 student protest against gun violence following the Parkland, FL mass shooting. As a facilitator of…

Fifty years ago, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." In exploring the story of the events behind the essay, and the Supreme Court case that resulted, "Walker v. Birmingham", 399 U.S. 307 (1967), educators will find a pedagogically powerful lens through which to review the seminal…

While Muhammad Ali has been the subject of countless articles and books written by sports historians and journalists, rhetorical scholars have largely ignored him. This oversight is surprising given both the tradition of social movement scholarship within rhetorical studies and Ali's influential eloquence as a world renowned celebrity espousing…

Background/Context: Although the dominant narrative of the civil rights movement marginalizes the role of black educators, revisionist scholars have shown that a significant number of black teachers encouraged student protest and activism. There has, however, been little analysis of the work of black teachers inside segregated schools in the…

Uses Kenneth Burke's "comic frame" to interpret and assess Gandhi's leadership of the Indian civil rights movement and to maintain the relevance and usefulness of the civil disobedience to other movements. (JD)

In recent decades many people came to know Howard Zinn for his outspoken advocacy on a wide range of progressive causes, including civil rights, free speech, workers' rights, education reform, and opposition to U.S. imperialism. The author's own first encounter with Howard Zinn's special combination of scholarship and activism occurred several…

This article chronicles events surrounding the pro-ERA/anti-Mormon civil involvement demonstration by 21 feminists in Bellevue, Washington, on the occasion of the dedication of the Bellevue Mormon Temple. (DB)

Excerpts from speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., are reprinted. Topics discussed include discrimination, the South, education, nonviolent resistance, poverty, economic opportunity, and world peace. (LH)

This article, was written shortly after the death of Rosa Parks, as her body was lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC. It discusses the significance of her legacy as the first woman, among the 29 Americans to be so honored. Although Parks was an ordinary citizen, she helped bring about the civil rights movement in the U.S. after…

Many different factors enter into riots and other forms of social violence. Often, aggression is impulsive rather than instrumental. These expressive" acts are responses to aversive conditions. Social comparisons contribute to unpleasant situations. It is suggested that unfavorable comparisons with one's own kind are particularly important.…

The Massachusetts Teachers Association Human Relations Committee has developed programs for instruction on the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (LH)

The idea of civil disobedience is clarified, its relationship to the democratic way of life is discussed, and some guidelines are formulated for justifying its use. (Author/KM)