The U.S. Civil Rights Movement through a Multidisciplinary-Comparative Prism

FAIN: FW-50306-11

Michael Lawrence Clemons
Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA 23529-0001)

The proposed project focuses on the enhancement of Politics of the Civil Rights Movement. Currently the course is limited to a focus on the origin, nature, and impact of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in a domestic context, organized into four major units: social movement theory, the rise, operationalization, and impact of the Civil Rights Movement. I propose to enhance the humanities content of the course by broadening it to focus on the movement’s symbiotic relationship with the global arena. A multidisciplinary, comparative approach will be employed. Attention will be given to nonviolent tactics, social change institutions, leadership, and related worldwide developments. Although the thrust of the project is the global impact of the U.S Civil Rights Movement, it is also concerned with how movements around the globe may have helped shape the Civil Rights Movement.