Writing History's Next Chapter
Scholars Timothy McCarthy and George Lipsitz discuss the connection between our responsibilities in the world today and two historical periods: the civil rights movement and the Reconstruction era.
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Moving for Work in Alabama and Mississippi
Roosevelt Williams describes different jobs he held and how he moved around the segregated South to find work in the 1930s and 1940s.
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Voting in Alabama
Roosevelt Williams describes voting in segregated Alabama in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Scottsboro Affair
Consider the nature of justice with this reading about the Scottsboro Affair in which nine black teenagers were accused of raping two white women in the 1930s.
The Southern Lady and Belle: The Companion to Southern Literature by Joseph Flora and Lucinda MacKethan
Authors Joseph Flora and Lucinda MacKethan describe the social stereotypes of the "Southern lady" and the younger "Southern belle."
Letter From Birmingham Jail
Read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s response to suggestions that his nonviolent demonstrations were unwise and untimely in these excerpts from his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
What Is Islamophobia?
Use this explainer to help students understand Islamophobia and how it manifests in contemporary society through various tropes.
Journalists and Social Media
Journalists discuss how social media was used in the aftermath of Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri.
The White Citizens Councils
Historian David Halberstam describes the White Citizens’ Councils and their efforts to actively oppose integration in the South in the 1950s.
Being Well Born: New Civic Biology by George William Hunter
Read excerpts of George William Hunter’s book about the now-disproved idea that traits like intelligence and morality are handed down from generation to generation.
The Birthday Party: Outside the Magic Circle by Virginia Foster Durr
In her autobiography, Outside the Magic Circle, white southerner Virginia Foster Durr recalls how the customs of the Jim Crow South affected her seventh birthday party.