The Civil Rights Movement

Your essay should draw significantly from assigned course materials. You may consult other resources if you choose, but you are not required to do so, and do not let outside sources take the place of engaging with the assigned course material. You must make substantial use of Chafe, “The Civil Rights Movement,” the Brinkley textbook, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and lecture videos to build your essay. While the bulk of the essay should be written in your own words, you must use at least 2 quotations from Chafe, “The Civil Rights Movement,” 1 quotation from pages 704-15 in the textbook, and 1 quotation from “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Was the Civil Rights Movement successful in achieving its goals by 1965?  Your essay should analyze the goals of the movement, methods used to attempt to reach them, and relevant developments between 1954 and 1965.

Note on citing sources:

1) You do not need to cite lecture material.

2) When quoting from one of the assigned readings, just give an in-text parenthetical citation with author’s last name and the page number, e.g. “(Chafe, p. 144).”

3) If you conduct research beyond the class resources–and you are not required or expected to do that–then you must cite each and every source that you consult, whether you quote from it or if you simply use information from it. I am not picky about the format of citations for outside sources.  Just be sure to cite it in some way, and to cite it in a way that your reader will be able to find the source.