The U.S. Civil Rights Era in Global Context
Overview
The Civil Rights Era in U.S. History courses is commonly framed as a national event; a continuation of the democratic experiment which began in the late 18th century. However, civil rights have a long time frame and broad context that extends beyond national temporal and spatial boundaries. For example, ideas regarding equality, human rights, and citizenship which impacted the experiences of U.S. citizens and the society they lived in came from sources within and without the U.S. Nation. Historian Kevin Gaines reminds us that “worldwide news coverage of of desegregation crises in (U.S.) cities…helped forge unexpected and often tension filled alliances between movement leaders and a foreign policy establishment.”
Perspectives on the Civil Rights Era in U.S. history from non-American voices included in this module provide insights for comparative approaches to the national narrative. These global voices of the mid-20th century emphasize that ideas experience fusion and flow across nations and continents. Ultimately, resources provided in this module contextualize the Civil Rights era of the U.S. as an example of a Human Rights movement which was motivated by and drew inspiration from people, ideas, and places around the globe.
Suggested Essential Questions
How are US Civil Rights related to the concept of Human Rights expressed by the United Nations?
What are the advantages of framing the US Civil Rights Era as a global event?
To what extent to domestic realities impact foreign policy and the global image of a nation?
How does the U.S. experience with civil rights equality compare to other nations’ experiences?
Scholar Presentation
Scholar Screencast, by Greg Adler
Part 1: 12 Minutes
Part 2: 8 Minutes
“By adjusting our teaching of US History to include a few global perspectives, we are starting to cultivate in our students a natural habit of the mind rather than simply the proverbial “thinking outside the box” to thinking outside our borders. It is the global approach that our students will need to take as they face the different challenges of 21st Century .”
C3 Inquiries relevant to this module
Note: We suggest adding primary and secondary sources found in this module to the C3 Inquiries below. Doing so will add a dimension of "how to globalize U.S. history?" not found in the original design.
Secondary Resources
Video Series: Freedom of a Lifetime – South Africa’s Struggle (2008)
Podcast, “Worth a lot of Negro Votes: Black Voters, Africa, and the 1960 Presidential Campaign” (2008). From the Journal of American History.
Kevin Gaines paper presentation “African-American Expatriates in Ghana and ‘The Long Hot Summer of the 1960s'” at Southern Oral History Program (2009).
Steve Spence, Cultural Globalization and the US Civil Rights Movement (excerpt) in Public Culture (2011).
"What Paul Robeson Said", article in the Smithsonian (2011)
Video Series: Freedom Now – The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi (2012).
John Lewis and Malcom X meet in Kenya, video interview with John Lewis (2012)
Podcast -15 Minute History from UTexas: Episode 36, Apartheid (2013).
Matt Guterl – The Irish Rebellion Resonated in Harlem (2016).
Article on Malcolm X and Fidel Castro meeting in New Your City in 1960 (includes primary sources). (2016)
Lynn Burnett, “The Global Context of the Civil Rights Movement” (2016)
Michael P. Steinberg: Martin Luther King Jr. in East and West Berlin (2017)
Article on James Baldwin in Turkey (includes primary sources of Baldwin in the 1960s). (2017)
The History of Russian Involvement in America’s Race Wars (2017)
The African Roots of Dr. King’s Vision Article (2018)
Rise of the Israeli Black Panther Party Article (2018)
Article in TIME “Martin Luther King Jr.’s Vision Was More Global Than We Remember. The World Mourned Him Accordingly” (2018)
Dr. Hasan Jeffries, Ted Talk, “Why We Must Confront the Painful Parts of US History” (2019)
The World, “Brazil’s long, strange love affair with the Confederacy ignites racial tension” (2019)
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent Throughline podcast (2020)
Reframing the Movement Teaching Hard History podcast (2020)
The Protesters Are Upholding America’s Moral Authority Abroad The Atlantic(2020)
Rise of the Israeli Black Panther Party - ArcGIS Story Map (c. 2020)
Primary Resources
Ho Chi Minh speech (excerpts) on lynching in the United States (1924).
Viktor Deni Poster: “The Democracy of Mr. Lynch” (1930).
Dmitir Moor Poster: Freedom to the prisoners of Scottsboro! (1932)
Soviet poster ‘Under capitalism’ and ‘Under socialism’. (1948)
Ralph J. Bunche, Acting United Nations Mediator for Palestine, commencement address given at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee (1949)
Martin Luther King Jr. Interview by Etta Moten Barnett in Accra, Ghana (1957).
U.S. Memo Summarizing Soviet Communication about U.S.Civil Right Issues (1963).
Statement by Comrade Mao Tse-tung Supporting the Afro-Americans in Their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism. Peking Review No. 33, (1963).
Soviet Union Poster: Shameful Brand of American Democracy (1963).
SNCC Project in Africa, website article and primary resources (1964)
Malcolm X’s Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (1964).
Photo series: MLK at the Berlin Wall (1964) pic 1, pic 2, pic 3.
James Baldwin’s “Pin Drop Speech” – video (1965)
Cambridge England – “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro? James Baldwin and William Buckley, Full Debate on Video (1965)
Dr. King’s “Massey Lectures: Conscience for Change” delivered in Canada 1967.
Speech by Nelson Mandela in Havana, Cuba celebrating Cuba’s role in eliminating Apartheid (1991)
President Obama’s Speech At The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture (2018)
Murals that Memorialize George Floyd around the World (2020)
Protests around the globe after the death of George Floyd (2020)
US must take ‘serious action’ to halt police killings of unarmed African Americans, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, (2020)