Friday, April 20, 2012

Question 4, RACC 2012

Were there any differences in respect to the issue of respectability, as it relates to the Joan Little situation as opposed to the Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks era?

Monday, February 27, 2012

RACC 2012 Question 3

Briefly discuss your overall assessment of the Scottsboro Boys film and incident. Describe how whites and the state of Alabama vilified Haywood Patterson as an archetypical "Incubus”. Also explain how the Scottsboro Boys case helped expand the legal rights and civil liberties of blacks in America.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Discussion Question 2 - RACC 2012

Question 2 – RACC 2012
Identify the following organizations and the focus of their activities: ACEJ, WPC, SNYC and STJ. Comment on the Claudette Colvin incident. Give a brief assessment of your OWN opinion of the overall incident. Your statement must include: what crimes she was charged with; the name of her attorney and his legal strategy in pursuing her case; the finding and sentence of the local court. Finally explain how she ended up with the ultimate legal vindication.

Friday, February 3, 2012

RACC 2012 Blog Question 1

How courageous were Recy Taylor and Rosa Parks in trying to hold the rapists as well as the larger community accountable for their treatment of black women? Also was the black male leadership justified in using “respectability” as the basis for choosing which black women to defend in rape cases?

Friday, January 20, 2012

RACC 2012 Pre-Test

RACC 2012 Pre-Test

At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance --- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power
by Danielle L. McGuire



1. The case which ruled that laws against inter-racial marriages were unconstitutional was
A. Loving vs. Virginia
B. Brown vs. Georgia
C. Farmer vs. Alabama
D. none of the above

2. At the time of her arrest in Montgomery, Rosa Parks
A. had lived a quiet, non-political life
B. already had a long criminal record
C. was a veteran civil rights activist
D. had just moved to Montgomery and had little experience with segregation

3. The term miscegenation refers to
A. the requirement that blacks and whites to use different bathing and medical facilities
B. the mingling of blood lines through interracial sex
C. the forcible sterilization of those convicted of rape
D. the use of underage minors for prostitution

4. The term incubus refers to
A. a process to sterilize males
B. a make demon believed to have sex with a sleeping woman
C. a form of rape that does not involve intercourse
D. none of the above

5. The phrase used by some of Joan Little’s more radical supporters to justify her killing the man who raped her was
A. “power to the ice pick”
B. “our bodies ourselves”
C. “never again”
D. “by any means necessary”

5. One of the main reasons Rosa Parks was selected as the symbol for the Montgomery bus boycott was because she
A. was new to Montgomery and did not have links to existing institutions
B. was a long-time member of Martin Luther King’s church
C. was a childless widow who didn’t have to worry about reprisals against her family
D. she exemplified middle-class “respectability”




6. Norman Cannon was
A. a civil rights lawyer from Atlanta who prosecuted many rape cases
B. the Alabama judge and segregationist who said black women liked violent sex
C. a black man in Florida who was castrated for having sex with a white woman
D. the first white man to get a life sentence in Mississippi for raping a black woman

7. . Albert Turner, Sr.
A. played a key role in the March on Washington.
B. helped organized the Selma to Montgomery march and was graduate of Alabama A&M.
C. was a key organized for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
D. organized the Freedom Rides as a student at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.


8. Segregations tried to discredit civil rights activists by portraying them as
A. sexually promiscuous
B. Communists
C. anti-Christian
D. all of the above

9. Rosa Lee Ingram and Fannie Lou Hamer were different from Rosa Parks because they
A. were middle-class professional women
B. were poor share-croppers
C. lived in the North
D. none of the above

10. According to Mcguire, black women who were the victims of sexual violence
A. usually kept quiet out of shame
B. only told a few friends out of fear of reprisal
C. often used public testimony as a form of resistance
D. frequently took justice in their own hands by killing their attackers

RACC 2012 Lecture and Discussion Agenda

Department of Social Sciences
RACC 2012
Study and Discussion Guide
Reading Across the Campus and Community (RACC) is a program developed by the Department of Social Sciences since 2003 to encourage students, faculty and the community to read, discuss and share ideas on issues, events and developments as documented by writers and scholars, and their implications to society. Each academic session, the faculty chose a book of interest and curiosity to read. The objectives of RACC are as follows:
 To encourage reading among students, faculty and the community
 To develop reading and comprehension skills
 To prepare student to meet some of the identified standards in all areas
 To develop vocabulary necessary for writing and communication
 To provide a platform for exchange of ideas and academic discourses

Selected Reading: At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance --- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement form Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle McGuire

Student Learning Outcomes for RACC 2012
1. Understanding how race, class and gender impact the civil rights movement.
2. Understanding how African-American women were victims or racial sexual violence.
3. Understand how the struggles of African-American women helped fuel and sustain the civil rights movement.
4. Understand how selected court cases helped transform the legal status African-Americans.
5. Learn how to navigate in the Second Life Digital environment: create an Avatar and successfully navigate the RACC 2012 Second Life museum.

Lecture and Discussion Format
The importance of this section is to explore and discuss issues and developments articulated in the chapters in greater detail with relevance and application to contemporary issues and debates. While providing leadership, students will be actively involved in the discussions, including taking and answering questions.

Online Discussion Blog Address: http://racc2012.blogspot.com
Second Life Display: Contact Department of Social Sciences
(256) 372-4285 or (256) 372-5330

RACC KICKOFF
January 24: 12:00 noon
• “Slut Walk” – March from Foster Dorm to the LRC
• Faculty Lecture/Overview of RACC Program and Book
• Discussion of Chapter One by Mr. Douglas Turner

February 9th: - 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. - LRC
• Faculty Panel – Discussion of Chapters 2 and 3 by Dr. Edward Bond

February 23rd: - 12:30 p.m. - Drake Hall Lecture Room
• Viewing of Film: “The Scottsboro Boys”

March 22nd - 12:30 p.m. - LRC
• Presentation on Court Cases by Attorneys Will Culver, Mark Debro and
Angela Redmond Debro

April 3rd: - 12:30 p.m. - LRC
• Discussion on Chapter 5 and 6 – Social Work Club

April 10th – 12:30 p.m. - Drake Hall Lecture Room
• Viewing of Film: “Eyes on the Prize: Bridge to Freedom”

April 12th – 12:30 p.m. - LRC
• Lecture – Chapter 7 and 8 - Political Overtones/Civil Rights Connection

April 24th - 12:30 noon – 2:00 p.m. – Elmore Gym
• Author’s Lecture – Author/Professor Danielle L. McGuire

RACC Welcome

RACC 2012

The Department of Social Sciences (DSS) welcomes you to Reading Across the Campus and Community (RACC 2012). Once again we are focused on creating a collegial program centered on reading, provocative analysis and discussion. This is our contribution to the students of Alabama A&M University and community as we encourage you to become life-long readers and scholars. This year’s selected work is At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance --- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle McGuire. In cooperation with the Department of Athletics, the Social Work Club and the Learning Resources Center (LRC) we have established a semester long series of activities aimed at providing greater insight on issues and concerns addressed in the book. Of particular note, we are very grateful to Diane McArthur of the LRC for building our Second Life feature. We strongly encourage you to learn how to access and venture into the Second Life venue. Post to this blog will include a RACC 2012 Agenda of activities, a RACC 2012 Pretest and a RACC 2012 Study Guide and Discussion Questions. We encourage you to share your views and perspectives via our on-campus discussions and this blog. The DSS faculty initiated RACC, but our goal and continuing emphasis is for you the students and community to take ownership of the process as an extra-curricular, self-directed program of study and learning.