HIST 212 Comparative Civil Rights Movements

This course examines civil rights movements in the United States during what scholars have come to call the "long 20th century." Together, we will explore the origins and legacies of black civil rights struggles in shaping America during the 20th century and today. Consideration will also be given as to how other non-white groups built upon the hard-won gains of black Americans to advance claims of their own. Topics explored in this course include: the impact of the global Cold War on civil rights, the development of direct-action and non-violent strategies of protest, Black Power, the War on Poverty, Vietnam, and the Asian American and Chicano movements. We will end with discussion of growing public backlash against civil rights activism with the rise of conservatism, and new thinking about race in post-1960's America.