Before class, watch all four videos above--(actually these are four parts of one video, the story of the murder of 14 year old Emmett Till, on August 28, 1955). Caution: The video includes some very disturbing scenes, and the story has no happy ending. Till's death has sometimes been called the spark which began the modern Civil Rights Movement--which will be our topic this week and perhaps into next. In class today, we're going to watch Part I (and perhaps part of part II of the classic Public Broadcasting series, Eyes on the Prize. Part one, will take us from the days of Brown v. Board of Education, which we read for the second class last week, up through the days of the Till killing. Money, Mississippi (how ironic a name for this town) is now pretty much a ghost town. The picture above shows the grocery store which, features prominently in the Emmett Till story, in its recent condition. Click on it for more pictures of Money, Mississippi.
Download, read, but do AND mark up, from the Core Canon
The events of 1963, including the protests in Birmingham, led to the creating of a new Civil Rights Act. The Reverend Dr. King was arrested for marching in protest in Birmingham Alabama, one of the largest civil rights demonstrations of that era. If we will watch its story next week. What I want you to do is
First, I'd like you to identify the "advice" the Clergymen give the Birmingham Citizens. Note, too, that representatives of multiple religious faiths signed the document. What do they want the people of Birmingham to do? There are several suggestions they make. Also consider what they think about Dr. King. They don't mention him directly, but you may notice a few words they use which indicate that they do have him in mind.
Second, consider the stories in the videos I asked you to watch at home and the one we watched in class on Tuesday. Given what you saw happening in those early days, and knowing that the Clergymen were aware of these events which happened less then ten years before, what do you think of the clergymen and their attitude? Were their requests made to the citizens of Birmingham reasonable given the recent history of the South? In a final sticky note, share your thoughts about all of this, including the visuals you watched at home and in class. Imagine living back then. What must it have been like for people about your age?
Third, turn your attention to the Letter from the Birmingham Jail. Using Cf. and our mash-up technique see how King responds to the letter. Does he respond to everything the Clergymen write? Which of his responses struck you as most effective? Is there evidence he was trying to reach a larger audience than just the citizens of Birmingham and these clergymen? What different kinds of evidence does he use? How many different kinds do you note? Finally, in a final sticky note, give your reactions to King's letter and to the times in which these events happened.
