Johann is taking a multiculturalism class right now and as February is Black History month, we've been watching the Eyes on the Prize series being shown on kbyu as one of this activities. 1. watch it. 2. I took a history of the south class my last year in school where our teacher assigned Howell Raines' My Soul is Rested: The Story of the Civil Rights Movements in the Deep South. I wanted to read it again this month to refresh my memory about all the major leaders but it looks like it's still out on loan.
I strongly recommend picking this up at some point in your life. Raines interviews several civil rights leaders as well as those who opposed civil rights, people from the white citizens' council etc. All growing up you only really hear about Martin Luther King Jr. and the marches in Alabama. Reading the interviews makes you understand how many organizations had to be coordinated (SCLC, SNCC,CORE,NAACP,LCCR), how very calculated and careful these civil rights proponents had to be, how vast the movement was and how many disagreements within and between organizations had to be overcome.
It truly changed the way I view the civil rights movement of the 1960s as well as touched my heart to read the first hand accounts. Definitely make this a book a priority.
3 comments:
You took the history of the south class! I loved that class. Who was the professor? "My Feet are Tired..." wasn't on our reading list. I may have to check it out. The Eyes on the Prize series is excellent - I watched it when I lived in Alabama for 6th grade (and some excerpts since. Powerful stuff.
That was Elise, not Lowell....
You and Johann may be interested in a documentary I watched on the songs of the civil rights movement. It's available streaming on netflix (I don't remember whether or not you have that).
Anyhoy, it's called Soundtrack For A Revolution
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