Southern Poverty Law Center

Civil Rights Memorial, Library of Congress photo.

We've discusses the changes within the Civil Rights movement following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and we saw many different groups organize with different ideas about how to advance the fight for equality.

The Civil Rights Memorial is located in Montgomery, Alabama, across the street from the Southern Poverty Law Center offices, an organization founded in 1971 and committed to "seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society." Look through their website to see the kinds of cases they handle and how they approach their work.

What does the phrase "civil rights" mean today? How is that similar to or different from what it meant in 1954?

Levittown, Long Island

Architect's rendering of a 1947 Cape Cod house built in Levittown, NY. Photo from the State Museum of Pennsylvania.

We tend to concentrate on the Civil Rights movement taking place in the South and emphasize events in Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham, but northern states also practiced de facto and de jure segregation. Read this article from The New York Times on the 50th anniversary of the construction of Levittown, Long Island.

Think about the changes in urban areas after World War II and the ongoing struggle for civil rights nationally, considering the examples discussed in class. How does the history of Levittown change your perception or understanding of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s?

Highways

Photo credit: Isaac Brekken for The New York Times

As we discussed in class, highways created a link between declining urban areas and growing suburban areas. Read the "document info" for the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 (you may choose to read the transcript of the act if you like). What other changes or shifts in American life did a national highway system spark?

"You are the Un-Americans"

Biography of Paul Robeson, published by The New Press

Senator Joseph McCarthy's efforts to expose communists within the US reflected the broader national concern over Soviet infiltration of US government and social institutions. At the same time, African-Americans within the US were routinely denied their rights as citizens and faced a constant threat of violence. In his testimony before HUAC in 1956, Paul Robeson spoke against the unequal treatment of African-Americans in the US. Reflect again on the documents of the early Cold War, and consider in what ways did the anti-Communist ideology effect movements for equality within the US?

The World on the Brink

Robert Kennedy at an Executive Committee meeting during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Photo: The National Security Archive.

Visit the JFK Library's online exhibit of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Listen to meetings with President Kennedy and his advisors, read official documents and private correspondence. Considering the early Cold War documents discussed in class (the Truman Doctrine, the Kennan "Long Telegram" and NSC-68), as well as the Berlin Airlift, the Marshall Plan and the Korean War, to what degree do the events of the thirteen day crisis reflect the ideology of the early Cold War?