The Civil Rights Movement and the Philosophy of Non-Violent Protest FLEX

Individuals, groups and nations have responded to injustice throughout history. The purpose of this course is to look at one particular approach to responding to injustice: the strategy of nonviolence through the lens of its application in the American civil rights movement. 

During the first class learners will understand the goals and rationale that provided a foundation for the philosophy of nonviolence as advocated by activists in the civil rights movement, including James Lawson, Martin Luther King Jr., Diane Nash, Bayard Rustin, John Lewis, Ella Baker the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and many others.

The second and third classes explore how this philosophy played out in practice throughout the civil rights movement. In the second class learners become familiar with the overall strategy of nonviolence by identifying how these steps played out during one important struggle of the civil rights movement: the student protests in Nashville to end segregation. The third class focuses on the direct action tactics of nonviolence used at different points during the civil rights movement. Learners will come away from these three lessons understanding the ways individuals and groups can apply the philosophy and practice of nonviolence to inform contemporary struggles against violence and injustice.

In the fourth and final class in this course learners will compare this model of advocacy to other forms of protest including some of those advocated by leaders such as Malcolm X in order to analyze which models and modes of civil action are most effective and the challenges that various forms of civil action may face. This final class will provide the learner a framework to critically analyze various forms of civil action to assist them in a determination of which forms of civil action may be the best in a given set of circumstances.

Learners will engage in this learning via many modalities.  First, via video lecture from the teacher.  Secondly, through outside readings, including, among others, primary source materials and video links of those who created and led the civil rights movement.  Third, learners will engage through online discussions based on carefully crafted prompts designed to engage critical thinking.  Fourth, learners will engage in project based learning to engage critical thinking on social theory.   

The FLEX format of this course can provide a more personal learning experience between teacher and learner.  As the learner submits assignments, the teacher and learner may engage in discussion either through posts or through asynchronies video posts.  The value in this format is that it can allow for a more individualized attention and interaction.