Civil Rights & Earlham Archives

ANDERSON, S. E. “Black Students: Racial Consciousness and the Class Struggle, 1960-1976.” The Black Scholar 8, no. 4 (January 1, 1977): 35–43. Doi: 10.2307/41066103.

This is a history of the black power movement which follows SNCC from its birth to demise. The article takes note of other similar originations and their fights for civil rights.  This makes it relevant as it a history of the entire student civil rights movement.  There is enough background research to make it a credible resource. The largest problem is that it is out of date; even so, it is usable.

Biondi, Martha, “Student Protest, “Law and Order” and the Origins of African American Studies in California. Contested Democracy. Ed. Manisha Sinha. New York: Columbia University Press. 2007 print. 259-27

The essay speaks of the roles of black activism on campus, as such it is useful, for it tells the reader what the black students wanted to take out of college, or explains why they went to school, which was mostly to bring the skills they learned back to their communities, in order to raise the black community out of stagnation, which explains their demands for relevant classes.  The essay is highly readable, and the information inside of it matches the other info this study found, so it is reliable.

Feagin, Joe R. “The Continuing Significance of Racism: Discrimination against Black Students in White Colleges.” Journal of Black Studies 22, no. 4 (June 1, 1992): 546–78.

This article shows how racism is still part of college culture. It is useful because it shows how little has changed. The relevance to my study is that it makes the same claims for a need for appreciation of black culture as most Black Student Unions do, about twenty years after the Civil Rights Movement ended.  Feagin’s knowledge is collected by interview, but he is careful to give every interviewee a voice, still reporter bias is possible.  In addition, this is a problematic resource because much may have changed in the twenty years since it was first written.  

Hamm, Thomas D. Earlham College, a History, 1847-1997. Bloomington, IN. Indiana University Press. 1997. Print. 255-262.

The book is a history of Earlham.  The section addresses indicated racial tensions on campus including the creation of B.L.A.C. (Black Leadership Action Committee) in 1968 and Earlham’s involvement in The Freedom Summer. This source is useful because it addresses Earlham’s place in the civil rights movement. Hamm Is an Earlham Professor, which raises questions about possible reporter bias..

Rogers, Ibram. "The Black Campus Movement and the Institutionalization of Black Studies, 1965-1970." Journal of African American Studies 16, no. 1 (March 2012): 21-40. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 30, 2014).

In this article written for the purpose of showing how the Black Campus movement occurred on a national scale, Ibrams tracks the history of the movement, which, in addition to its description of the movement’s effects on the students, makes it useful. Judging by the long list of references at the end of the article, Ibrams can be deemed a reliable resource, and given the recent publication of the journal, up to date.  

Lefever, Harry G.  Undaunted by the Fight: Spellman College and the Civil Rights Movement 1957-1967. Macon, Georgia; Mercer University Press. 2005.

  Undaunted by the Fight is a good account of Spellman College’s involvement in the Civil Rights movement.  Starting with a history of the all girls black college, and then going on to document as much of the Civil Rights Movement as can be fit in one book about one school, Lefever does an excellent job at making the students civil rights activism feel personal.  There is information in it about how student activism affected the entire King family, which is interesting, as most other texts only focus on Martin Luther King Junior. It also covers the dangers of involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, including the attack on and subsequent death of Ruby Doris Smith. Though the text focuses on the activists, it reminds the readers in the epilogue that those who were active were in the minority, which is important to keep in mind. Although the text is factual, as it has the bibliography and footnotes to prove it, it is relevant to this study for the way it makes the fears and hopes of Civil Rights activists at Spellman College feel personal to the reader, especially if one wants an example of how college activism felt.   As a bonus, it is filled with poignant photographs.

Philips, Donald E. Student Protests, 1960-1969: An Analysis of the Issues and Speeches. Washington DC: University Press of America. 1980.  Print.

 This book is not directly associated with the Black Student Movement. Instead it is a study of student protest as a whole.  It evaluates the methods that students, including those involved in SNCC and other civil rights organizations used.  It shows how these movements worked, what sort of culture they invoked, and how they failed.. Like the other texts in this study, it covers the nonviolent era and the student demand for power. It seems reliable, although all the data is second hand; it matches what the other texts say about the movement.   Its relevancy is in its examination of the methods and failures of student protests, because it is important when studying a movement to understand the methods. As a secondary source with well documented research, this study is likely credible.  It would, however, be more useful if written in more accessible language.

Smith, Donald H. “Social and Academic Environments of Black Students on White Campuses.” The Journal of Negro Education 50, no. 3 (July 1, 1981): 299–306. doi:10.2307/2295159.

This document describes the factors that made it hard for black students to thrive on white campuses. They include racism on the campus in the form of a Bourgeois education, and economic factors, as this was poor time for the economy.  It describes the reasons that black student unions needed to exist and the cultural pressures against them, which makes it useful, as one cannot study black organization without acknowledging the positive and negative ways whites reacted. Smith may not be credible, as several of his citations are links to his own studies, and the rest are newspapers, but the article is too interesting to leave out  

 Turner, Jeffrey A.  Sitting in and Speaking Out: Student Movements in the American South 1960-1970. Athens Georgia, University of Georgia Press. 2010. Print.

 Turner’s book is a good overview of activism on southern campuses.  It covers the first sit-ins, to the Black Power movement, and everything that went on in between.  It also covers the student Activism of both races, and devotes at least half a page to almost every college involved as long as that college was southern.  Near the end of the book, it focuses on what the Black students wanted from college, which was some degree of control.  It also shows the violence employed by both races.  The source is useful because it shows the development of the student moment from the first sit-in in 1960 up until the black power movement of the late sixties. Relevance is questionable because it only speaks of southern universities, but the broad overview, and the fact that it includes white students place as well as black activism makes it am important read if a person wants to understand student activism in the civil rights movement.

“The International Civil Rights Center & Museum.”  Accessed April 6, 2014. http://www.sitinmovement.org/.  BURRIS, Greensboro Historical Museum, F.D. Bluford Library Archives, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Lewis Brandon, Paul Gaston, Jack Moebes, Sit-In Movement, Inc. and International Civil Rights Center & Museum staff.

This website provides a helpful timeline of the sit-in movement, and the entire civil rights movement.  There is not much more information than that.  The timeline does list the numbers of students involved, but only that. Overall it is not useful.

by Rachel Samuels