Merrimack College CM 401A "The Sixties"

Blog usage poll

The History Channel TV Listings

Features Beverly Carter and Gloria Carter Dickerson, who suffered abuse when they broke the color line at Mississippi schools in the 1960s.

The combined efforts of your contributions are starting to amaze me! I have never seen as much information gathered independently and shared communally, so rapidly!

The posts added today have contributed substantially to background you'll need to write this brief essay. I would strongly urge people to examine the sites your classmates have added, in addition to the Essays' I've provided.

These essays include:
-"Color Line in Little Rock" describes the world's reaction to the US government's seeming endorsement of "White Superiority" by not sending troops to enforce black student's rights to go to school;
- "JFK's Rhetorical Responses" provides a traditonal rhetorical analysis of the situation, Kennedy's possible choices, and his actual statements;
- "Public Opinion Polls" is a summary of major opinion polls results of national and regional surveys that provide genuine data on how the countries various "publics" felt at the time;
- "Reporters View of the Deep South" describes the day-to-day issues and reactions a reporter must navigate while attempting to provide an accurate but unpopular story.

Referring to facts from these articles will result in a higher grade.

Review my directions for the essay below in the Blog. I would suggest you try to find either one person with a wide variety of exposure to the topics or a few different people to cover the various sections to feature in your essay. A more powerful piece is created when a reader can identify with the subject, as opposed to a soulless "law" or "event". As Communicators it's essential to connect with the audience.

Again the idea is to compare and contrast the events of our early Civil Movement with that/those of another countries, focusing on media attention, editorial content, governmental responses - policy and "spin", and/or effects on public opinion or public perceptions of the issues.

While Racial Issues are the main topic of the "American" side of the story, it would be fair to compare the Civil Rights movement with many international Human Rights movements. Typically one group is being dominated by another, through a variety of methods. It seems that most countries will call internal problems "Civil Rights problems" or a more benign name, but another countries same issues will be called "Human Rights violations".

HURIGHTS OSAKA - Human Rights Issues

This site features a range of "Human Rights" issues from around the globe. these include:
Women / Indigenous peoples / Ethnic minorities / Refugees / Migrant workers / Caste discrimination / Human rights and development / Labor / Bonded labor / Child labor / Child rights / Psycho-social approach / Domestic violence / National security law / Peace / Right to information / People with disabilities / Trafficking / Torture

This site is NOT comprehensive. It gives a brief overview of general situations in specific places. However, if you find a topic that interests you, there is ample material to begin your own investigation.

Good Luck and Good Hunting! (GL,GH!)

Read the Essay in the Links section "Crossing the Color Line in Little Rock". This section is at the top right hand of the Blog. Click and an Adobe PDF file will open. (I would skip the update that you'll be offered.)

By Monday, post a 250 word essay that describes Civil Rights issues in the United States from a global perspective.

After looking at the problems in our country compared with problems in other parts of the world, what observations can be made?

What effect does a comparison with other sovereign nations have on an "internal issue"?

Use the essay as a starting point, but employ different examples than the essay uses to illustrate your points.

Include specific events, describing them succinctly, and include ramifications of the actions/inactions, media coverage, and/or results.

Class today will review Civil Rights in the Fifties to prepare for the essay.

academics | Communication Studies

This could be you fifty years ago. What was their background? What did they know about the world? How were they learning? What did they have ahead of them? What technology did they have access to?

In a few paragraphs, compare the description of the current definiton of a Communication degree with what you think theirs may have been.

Nice job, Folks!

We got up and running faster than I thought we would!

I have made some general comments and realized that some timelines were added simply as tests. This was not graded, please accept these comments as guidelines for future posts.

I deleted some of those timelines to save space, if your entry resembled one of the one's I left posted, please consider the comments.

I also deleted "test" comments.

Let's keep crossed fingers and push onward through the fog here. This could be an interesting way for all us to explore different directions and still be heard over the crowd!

I particularly like the postings that highlight a single item with some depth and originality. Sometimes a novel selection can add to overall considerations.

All students should go to this link and download the Google Toolbar. This will add a number of items to your Internet Explorer toolbar. Google Toolbar

In addition to putting a Google search entry, Google news and there will also be a great pop-up blocker.

But by far, the most important feature is the Blogger icon. This will allow you to make a Blog entry while browsing. As you're surfing and find something of interest, click the "B" icon and an entry box will pop up, with the current link highlighted. You can then edit the comment title and add comments around the "active" URL link in the box.

This will only work after you've registered with Blogger, as seen in previous comments.

Images can be added but require an additional, but simple step that I'll demonstrate in class.

Students will sign up with Prof. Power at start of class, and "invitations" will be emailed to all students, a few at a time.

Then they will follow the link in their email, and register with Blogger, using first name and optional last name or initial.

Once you've joined Blogger, you can add posts.

Posted by: Prof. John / Saturday, January 31, 2004

This site, from Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, will provide some background on the general conditions concerning
Civil Rights at work during the 20th century.

Civil Rights in an Uncivil Society