AMS-30035 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2022/23

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2022/23

This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module allows students to study one of the most dramatic processes to shape contemporary America: the struggle for African American civil rights. From a South blighted by Jim Crow segregation and lynching to today's America, where equality before the law has been achieved but racial fissures remain, we will assess the aims and achievements of black leadership, and the contribution of ordinary men and women, black and white, Northern and Southern, to re-shaping American society through activism. The module also addresses the relationship between mainstream civil rights activism and more radical protest that became increasingly prominent as the 1960s progressed (AMS-30045 addresses this issue in more depth).
This module gives students an in-depth familiarity with the mass movement for civil rights, with a particular focus on the 1940s through the mid-1960s. The module will be informed by the latest scholarly debates concerning the nature of mass civil rights activism, the length of the civil rights movement, and the roles of violence, gender, and foreign relations in the struggle for civil rights. This module will give students the ability to apply advanced source analysis and historiographical methods to piece together the narrative of the Civil Rights movement, and consider how scholarly debate reflects contemporary race related issues. Moreover, students will evaluate the value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. Students will consult a range of primary and secondary materials as the basis for seminar discussions.

to introduce students to the role of civil rights conflict in the shaping of contemporary America
to assess the aims and achievements of black leadership in the Civil Rights Movement;
to document and evaluate the contribution of mainstream protests by ordinary men and women, black and white, Northern and Southern, in re-shaping American society
to document and evaluate the broader African-American contribution to American society and culture

Intended Learning Outcomes

recognise and explain the particular issues and debates associated with the struggle for Civil Rights and racial equality in the United States: 1,2
1,2
1
assess the relative merits of conflicting interpretations of significant events and phenomena, recognising the complexity and diversity of historical situations, events and belief systems: 1,2
conduct sophisticated analysis of primary source material with due regard to provenance, content, and interpretation: use constructively source materials both in evaluating primary and secondary accounts and in developing original interpretations fostering competence in the handling and analysis of evidence:

Study hours

12 x 2-hour seminars;; 12 x 1-hour workshops 50 hour seminar preparation; 20 hours short paper preparation; 44 hours long essay preparation.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment