The Course
HIS 200: Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee

Although all of the photos students see in Bobby Lovett’s book The Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee: A Narrative History are in black and white, Paula McGhee doesn’t want her students to see the movement as a distant memory – or as simply a struggle between blacks and whites.

“I think that most college students of today believe that the Civil Rights Movement is over and that racial equality has been achieved,” explained McGhee, instructor of the J-Term course HIS200:  The Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee and director of diversity programming at the College. “The Civil Rights Movement in the United States has progressed in stages but it’s still continuing with challenges from institutionalized racism and discrimination based on separate or converging categories – not just race, but also gender, religion, age, sexuality and class.”

McGhee, whose graduate specialty is the history of the U.S. South in the 20th Century, said segregation figures prominently in this period of history and that Tennessee – because of its geographical divisions (that also suggest cultural divisions) – offers a unique study of the Civil Rights Movement.

After reading Lovett’s 2005 work, she decided a “living history”-type course focusing on the state during the Civil Rights Movement would be appropriate for the College’s January Term, a three-week period when students choose one three-hour class that concentrates on one subject. J-Term courses are designed to give students opportunities for up-close, hands-on experience and reflection.

McGhee’s syllabus includes reading assignments from Lovett’s book as well as John S. Lewis’ Walking with the Wind:  A Memoir of the Movement. So that students can place Tennessee’s civil rights events in a national and regional context, she has scheduled viewings of the award-winning “Eyes on the Prize” television series. Class presentations and day trips to Nashville, Clinton and the Highlander Center in New Market are also on the syllabus.

“The Nashville trip will include attendance at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation at Fisk University,” the instructor said. “Students will also visit the legendary First Baptist Church at Capitol Hill, where the Nashville sit-ins were organized; Meharry Medical College; and the American Baptist Theological Seminary. At Tennessee State University, students will meet with Dr. Bobby Lovett, author of our primary text.

“Students will visit the Green McAdoo Cultural Center in Clinton and tour the museum there, which shares the struggles of the Clinton community as it integrated very early after the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

“The Highlander Center visit will allow students an opportunity to explore an institution which was pivotal and groundbreaking in its integrationist position and training in nonviolent methods,” McGhee added. “Students should become aware of the persistence of an institution of this magnitude and its continued efforts to guarantee human rights for all. I want students to hear about the current initiatives of the center and understand how the Civil Rights Movement continues today.”

One place students won’t have to board a van to visit and understand its role in civil rights is Maryville College. Lovett references the school’s contributions numerous times in his book, highlighting influential Tennesseans such as 1880 alumnus William H. Franklin, the first African-American to graduate from Maryville College; and William Jasper Hale, a Maryville College student who went on to become the president of Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School (now Tennessee State University).

“Maryville College is fortunate to have a long history of civil rights activism.  From the founding of this college in 1819, students, faculty and staff have fought to guarantee the right to education regardless of race and ethnicity,” McGhee explained. “As the students see the institution in light of its historical contributions to the continual Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee, I anticipate that they will feel a greater obligation to continue their alma mater’s legacy of diversity.”

For students who are interested in activism, McGhee has set aside class time to talk about social movements – their formations, motivations, effectiveness and, in some cases, their breakups – and uses the Civil Rights Movement as a backdrop against which students can compare and contrast groups that push for change.

At the end of the course, McGhee expects students to be able to identify, describe and explain the significance of at least 10 important episodes, events and outcomes of the Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee. Among other objectives, she expects them to understand complicated debates related to race relations such as integration vs. separatism, nonviolence vs. meeting violence with force in self defense, and mutuality vs. self-sufficiency.

And she expects students to be more sensitive to how people treat each other.

“As the students see similarities between the overt racism and inequities of legalized segregation and the quiet and institutional barriers that exist today, I believe they will become leaders who will question all forms of discrimination and human rights violations within the United States and throughout the world.

“Hopefully, this course will encourage them to exercise their rights as citizens and community members to work for justice and equality for all.”