Disrupting the Dream: Teaching Civil Rights History at a Twenty-First Century Community College

Abstract

Teaching the civil rights movement as civic engagement requires demystifying how social change happens and enabling students to see themselves in the evolving narrative of an inclusive U.S. democracy. Contextualized with personal and theoretical frameworks, this chapter reflects on my experience as a new professor facing challenges and developing teaching strategies to create a civically engaged course centered on race and the civil rights movement. This required confronting students’ “post-racial longing” and truncated understanding of the civil rights movement. Teaching strategies included decentering charismatic male leaders, highlighting student activism, linking past and present, using art and alternative learning experiences, and asking direct questions about students’ lives. Excerpts from student writings demonstrate evolving awareness of the links among the history studied, their own lives, and recent high-profile events involving race such as the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown.