Description
Modern public discourse about Civil Rights focuses on leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, and John Lewis. Early 20th century foundations for Civil Rights were laid by others. Among them, A. Philip Randolph is perhaps the most important. In this seminar, we will read and discuss selected books about this earlier period, exploring efforts by William Monroe Trotter, Pauli Murray, Bayard Rustin and others. The purpose of the class is to provide a forum for participants to increase awareness of the Civil Rights movement, and understand the intellectual, legal, and political linkage between activists and events in this earlier period to later stages of the movement. Why is this relevant? Understanding our own history is important, as Americans respond to the weaponization of the US Federal Government against modern Civil Rights. For each class, students will read a significant portion of a book covering a particular civil rights activist. The book may be biographical or historical. The class format is a discussion of reading (not lecture), and participants shall be committed to reading in advance. The syllabus will be provided after registration.
Mark Andersen, Ph.D., CFA is a data scientist trained in political science, with particular interest in events around the beginning of the US Civil War. He led a Civil War book group in Lexington for five years.
