American Studies 430  
The South 
11:00-12:25, T-Th
SB108
Spring, 2001
Roger Williams University
Michael R. H. Swanson
Office:  CAS 111
Hours: 9:00-10:00 M, T, Th, F
or by appointment
Phone:  401 254 3230
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
For Tuesday, May 1

    Read: in Major Problems,

         Chapter 11, Turning points?
         All Documents pp. 317-331

    and...in The American South,

         Chapter 25, the section on the Depression through the section on Southern Agriculture pp.   639-654

The photo montage which has formed the background of the web pages for this course was created from one of the most remarkable collection of photographs I've seen.  The Unlikely source was the Department of Agriculture during the depression years of the 1930s.  Many of the United States' finest photographers worked at documenting the effects of the depression, not only on the South, but on all regions of the country.  Clicking on the images below will take you to the websites which contain some of these images.  Browse a while and let your senses respond to what you see.  Do this a couple of times for the greatest reward:  first, before you read today's assigned text, and then, again, afterwards.

TONIGHT! "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"  CAS 129 7:00"
Photographs by Dorothea Lange
Photographs of Walker Evans
Gordon Parks, Photographer. "Washington, D.C. A machine shop worker who lives in the Southwest section."
Gordon Parks "Washington, D.C. Panhandler on 7th Street, N.W.."
Rare Color Photographs... browse by state.
For Thursday, May 3                                                  Civil Rights, Civil Wrongs

READ, in The American South, A History,
Chapter 26, The End of Jim Crow  pp. 676 - 713

... in Major Problems, 
Documents 1 through 4, pp. 351 - 360

The story of the modern civil rights movement perhaps begins with the desegregation of the military, achieved by executive order of Presindent Harry S. Truman, a southerner from Missouri.  We pick up the story there.
WEB WORK

The "Veterans" of the modern civil rights movement are graying now.  The Internet has afforded many of them an opportunity to recount their contributions to this unique moment in American history.  In preparing for this week's work I ran across a very special web site which I want you to visit and spend time in.  Click to visit the home page of the Civil Rights Veterans Organization, and once there, click  on the word Veterans in the column at the left.  Then browse through the stories these people recount... what they did then, and what they're doing now.  Many were about your age when they were involved.  I want to get a sense of how you react to what they experienced.  There are about one hundred testimonies there, more or less, plus remembrances in the "memorials" section.  I'd like everyone to read at least 10, more if you have the time.  (MAKE THE TIME... THIS IS SOUL STIRRING STUFF).
More wonderful things can be found all over the web.  Browse the links at the Civil Rights Veterans Organization to take you to some of them.  Many of these aren't "slick" productions, but the heartfelt work of very committed people.
The Greensboro Sit-ins
Montgomery Bus Boycot
Powerful Days: The Civil Rights Photography of Charles Moore
Selma, Alabama, Voting Rights Museum
The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia
"Jim Crow" refers both to the system of segregation in the south and to the negative images of the blacks which rationalized segregation.  Click on the image to the left for further information and images.