Chapter 1 Introduction
- Do you think one moment or event can change the course of history? Why or why not?
- Do you remember where you were when you heard that the World Trade Center had been attacked? How did you feel?
- Think about your own life: When is the last time you changed your mind about something major? Did that change come about gradually or suddenly? What factors caused or contributed to the change?
- Diffusion of Innovations Theory has been used to explain society’s adoption of technological changes. The way people communicate today represents a technological change. Think about your friends, family, teachers, co-workers, employers, etc. How do various people or categories of people respond to the use of technology such as smart phones, Facebook, and texting?
Chapter 2 One Moment in Time
- The voting rights struggle came to a head in Selma, Alabama. Why do you think it did so in this particular location? Why at this time?
- Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders embraced non-violence, even in the face of violent, unprovoked attacks. What practical reasons might there be for such an approach? SNCC was largely comprised of younger people, and many of those young people were suspicious and doubtful of the merits of non-violence. Why do you think this attitude was more prevalent among the young than the old?
- Why didn’t the mainstream media cover Jimmie Lee Jackson’s death to the same extent that they later covered the deaths of James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo?
- What role did young people play in the Selma campaign?
- Montgomery is 54 miles from Selma, Alabama. Is there anything you feel strongly enough about that you would march 54 miles to protest its denial?
What do you think the March organizers hoped to gain by a 54-mile march? Explain.
- Joanne Bland’s vivid memories of the brutality that took place on Bloody Sunday highlight the atrocities of white on black oppression. Due to the intense media coverage of the event, many Americans saw these acts from the comfort of their own homes. How did the media influence public opinion across the country? What is the media’s role in covering events such as these?
- There were some spectators who came out to observe the Bloody Sunday March—many cheered on the mounted posse and some just observed. What role do you think the spectators had in the melee?
- One of the ideas we have about Southern culture and society is that people in the South are very religious. How can you reconcile this Southern trope with the willingness of some members of the posse to invade the sanctity of the church and continue beating people inside the church?
Chapter 3 Portrait of a Nation
- How did broader knowledge about the “race problem” in America lead to voting rights protection laws for African-American citizens? How influential was the March in leading up to these changes? How are these situations related to Rogers’ diffusion process?
- What role did social scientific evidence (like the Clark’s doll experiment and Gunnar Myrdal’s book An American Dilemma)play in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case? What kind of knowledge existed before the ruling, and what led to the final decision? What kind of immediate impact did the decision have on race relations in America?
- Do you think Southern blacks had a harder time than blacks that migrated to the North? Why or why not?
- Whites subjugated blacks through social, political, and economic means. Why was it so important for some whites to continue trying to subjugate blacks on the basis of political control?
- As the author points out, social change is a process, not an event. While Brown v. Board of Education was successful, segregation remained a constant force in many parts of the South. What segregation challenges followed Brown, and what kind of impacts did they have? How did these events contribute to the mobilization of social change?
- The 1960s were marked by violence. Civil rights’ riots and protests continued on the home front, and a bloody war was ongoing in Southeast Asia. Many black leaders were murdered, and many largely populated black cities across the country were in distress. Violence plagued America, but African-Americans continued to experience success. Which groups helped the civil rights movement remain a strong force? Who were the key players in guiding this movement?
Chapter 4 Everyday People
- Many organizations played a vital role to usher in an era of social change, but what role did individual, everyday people play in the civil rights movement?
- How did socialization of African-Americans by their parents and family members mobilize social change? What kind of knowledge was being passed down from generation to generation? What kind of impact did this knowledge have on the individuals that were interviewed by the author? And how did this socialization continue as they moved forward with their lives?
- Tuskegee also became a place of socialization and a source for social change. What role did the Tuskegee Institute play in forming young men and women into activists?
- While families were important factors in young African-Americans learning about the civil rights movement, so were schools and churches. What role did teachers play in this movement?
- As the movement progressed, the role of children became paramount. How did the various socializing agents influence the children to become social activists? What kind of role did these children and youth play in advancing social change for Africa- Americans?
- The message of the civil rights movement was often spread by the mass media, but the church also played a vital role in the encouragement and recruitment of individuals to join the fight. The church has long been a staple of the African-American community, but what specific roles did the church play in bringing about social change?
- Although they rarely receive much credit, it was the everyday people who sustained the civil rights movement and brought about change – children, women, and ordinary people alike. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. highlighted these people as the South’s true heroes. How might the civil rights movement be different without these contributions from everyday people?
- How did people like Viola Liuzzo and James Reeb, whites residing in the North, learn about the civil rights movement? Why do you think they became involved? Place yourself in the context of the social time under examination. Why do you think more whites did not get involved?
- After her death, Viola Liuzzo was vilified in numerous media outlets, but after James Reeb’s death, he was heralded. In fact, strong feelings about Liuzzo still persist today. In 1991, the Women of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference placed a memorial headstone at the location where Liuzzo was killed. The headstone was repeatedly vandalized and then replaced. Finally, the SCLC Women erected a fence around it prevent future acts of vandalism. Both martyrs were white. Why do you think Viola Liuzzo was vilified while Reeb is heralded?
Chapter 5 Aftermath
- Detail how, when, and why the grant of the franchise in the U.S. has expanded to include new groups.
- What kind of immediate impact did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 have on race relations in the United States? What preceding legislation led to the creation of this act? What challenges persisted after the Act was passed?
- The struggle for voting rights has not ended – it has only slightly evolved, and continues to subjugate many individuals. How was the right to vote changed over the last 50 years? What are the current barriers to vote? How does recent legislation (like voter id laws, felony disenfranchisement, and curtailments to early voting) impact the minority vote? How will the voting landscape change in the near future?
- Explain the difference between the temporary and permanent provisions of the voting rights act.
- Discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling in Shelby County, Alabama v. Eric Holder. Do you agree or disagree with the ruling? Explain your position.