The years 2014 and 2015 mark the fiftieth anniversaries of the two great legislative landmarks of the African American freedom struggle: the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Yet even as Americans celebrate these achievements in proclamations, monuments, and Hollywood films, they also enact voter ID laws restricting access to the franchise and furiously debate the meaning of several recent police shootings of unarmed black men.  What does the Civil Rights Movement mean at a time like this?  

In this lecture we will use the history of the Mississippi Freedom Movement, and of the 1964 Summer Project in particular, in order to explore Americans' continuing struggle over how the Civil Rights Movement will be remembered and represented. What stories find their way into the collective national narrative and what stories are obscured or forgotten? How are such choices made, and with what consequences? In short, what are the politics of memory?

By: Stevie Star
Last updated: Friday, 13 March 2015