Joshua Clark Davis, Postdoctoral Fellow, Duke University
Proposal Type: Panel
Abstract:
Seeking: I am looking for presenters for a panel on Civil Rights Public History on the Edge. 2015 is a fitting year to re-assess the state of the public history of the long Civil Rights Movement (CRM). Not only will it mark the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but 2015 is also the scheduled opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.. With the opening of this institution that will cover the CRM more than any federal museum before it, the public history of the Civil Rights Movement will arguably be more vital and more accessible in the United States by 2015 than ever before. Yet many aspects of the Movement will remain on the edges of public history or even absent from public history work altogether. Current public history on the CRM, especially as seen in museums, privileges the classical phase of the movement, the so-called Montgomery-to-Memphis narrative that starts with Rosa Parks and ends with Dr. King’s death. Such narratives do have value, but tend to offer a chronologically, geographically, and thematically narrow view of the movement that overemphasize King and a few other leaders’ work while leaving out many of the earlier and later chapters of the movement, as well as many of its local grassroots campaigns and more radical aspects. In addition, accessible and historically sound materials about the CRM on the Internet remain uneven, scattered, and particularly hard to find in regards to local and radical activist work. The guiding questions of this panel will include: how can public historians incorporate into their work the considerable new insights and analyses that Civil Rights historians have made in the last fifteen years, insights that still barely resonate with audiences outside the academy? What are some of the high-impact opportunities to do online work around the CRM, and what are some of the particular challenges of doing online historical work around the CRM? What can public historians do, for example, to bring attention to under-discussed topics such as civil rights activism in the North and West; the welfare rights movement; the Black student movement; civil rights work centered around labor; radical aspects of the CRM that may be politically unpopular; and forgotten but vital local civil rights campaigns? To this effect, the organizer’s paper will address the public history of the Black Power movement.
Related Topics: Digital, Civic Engagement, Memory
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to share contact information for other people the proposer should reach out to, please get in contact directly: Joshua Clark Davis, joshua.davis[at]duke.edu
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