Vietnam War

One of my former profs at UH, Steven Mintz, has created a wonderful resource for teachers and students, Digital History.

Follow this link to the Vietnam War teaching module, and review the chapter on maps. Check back in the next day or two for additional links, and an assignment.



In the meantime, some of you asked about chemical warfare during the Vietnam War, referred to by some as an example of "ecocide." Here's a website about agent orange and its effects, and several other sites with pictures of the effects of chemical warfare.

One. Two. Three. Four.

[Photo credit here.]

JFK Assassination

To supplement our brief discussion of JFK and the 1960s, I want to draw your attention to several notable websites that deal with the assassination. There is a stock industry of books related to the assassination, as well as tons of movies and documentaries.

John McAdams has one of the most extensive sites on the event, and follow this link to find what is available from the National Archives.

Here's another site with multiple resources and another with various angles of analysis. Check out some audio, video, and visual resources surrounding the assassination, as well as another intersting site here.

Here are some of the autopsy photos I mentioned in class, and here's a whole collection of websites with material to keep you busy reading over the summer.

There are of course many YouTube video clips available on the subject, and here's the brief clip we watched in class.

So, what do you think?

[Photo credits here and here.]

Of Cathedrals, Churches, and the Civil Rights Movement

At the Washington National Cathedral recently, scholars and preachers gathered to remember MLK, the Christian prophetic preaching tradition, and the continuing quest for racial and economic justice.

John Lewis spoke, whose statement from the March on Washington we read in class, as well as Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Taylor Branch, featured in the King documentary we watched, among others.

Listen here.

Malcolm X

Today's discussion centered on Malcolm X, his significance in the Civil Rights Movement, and the how his points of view changed over time. You may also want to listen to a Malcolm X address from December 1964--the same month King delivered his Nobel Prize speech--and read more about Spike Lee's 1992 movie Malcolm X.

Although we didn't discuss it in class, an important book on the subject is theologian James Cone's Martin & Malcolm: A Dream or a Nightmare (1992). Read an interview with Cone in which he discusses the book.

Equally important is Manning Marable's forthcoming biography of Malcolm X. Marable is involved in the Malcolm X Project at Columbia, and has talked about this work in several places. Check it out here and here.

Other primary materials include some of the FBI files on Malcolm X. Read Ossie Davis's eulogy for Malcolm X here and watch a video here.

[Photo credit here.]

Till(ing) History

Since Emmett Till is such an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement, I think that it is important we continue the discussion from last week.

Meet Devery Anderson--author, writer, historian, and educator who currently lives in Utah. He has a website devoted to Till's life and significance, and is working on a book about the subject.


From his website, he recounts what spurred his interest in the life of Till: "I first became acquainted with Emmett Till in the fall of 1994, as a student at the University of Utah, after watching the first segment of the PBS documentary series on the Civil Rights Movement, Eyes on the Prize. Emmett’s murder and the subsequent acquittal of his killers left me sad, angry, and full of questions. What happened to the killers after their acquittal? What happened to Emmett’s mother? Was she alive, or had she died somewhere in obscurity? Why was I not already familiar with this case?"

Well, Devery is intimately familiar with the case, and has graciously agreed to respond to questions, comments, and thoughts about the Till case. So take what we've discussed in class, and ask any questions about the Till case, Emmett's late mother, or other relevant historical questions. Peruse Devery's excellent website; there's tons of wonderful material worthy of discussion.


Post your questions and thoughts in the comments section.


In the meantime, here's a poem Devery wrote about Till:

Destined for obscurity
Until you took a south-bound train.
But soon we saw your battered face,
And we felt your mother’s pain.

Because bad men, with their hearts of stone,
Who delight in dirty deeds,
Unknowingly fulfilled the word
That it’s a little child that leads.

And “black” meant “brave” those summer days,
Enduring threats and fear.
But the Tallahatchie’s deeper now
Because it holds our tears.

Tried, acquitted, they walked the streets
They bragged, then lived in shame.
Living life disowned, alone,
In prisons without names.

Making sense of senseless acts
Decades later, now we see.
Despite the walls now broken down,
We’re just beginning to be free

An only child, a mother’s son,
You moved a sleeping land.
And as one of heaven’s angels,
You’ve moved us once again.

New Martin Luther King Documentary, Sunday @ 7 p.m.

Students, a new MLK documentary will premiere on Sunday evening at 7. If you get a chance to watch any of it, take an opportunity to do so and leave your comments.


The documentary's website is here. And check out this musical meditation on Martin.

Emmett Till

Part of our Civil Rights Movement unit covers the life, times, and significance of Emmett Till. In years past Till's story has impacted students in deep and profound ways since he was only 14 when brutally murdered in August 1955.

Keith Beauchamp's stunning documentary The Untold Story of Emmett Till is a great resource to learn about the topic, and therefore worthy to see and discuss. (Read about another important documentary here.)


Here's a poem about Till, a great web resource and labor of love devoted to Till, and here Cornel West weighs in. An author has created a Till blog, and here's an FBI report on Till. Finally, here's a story on Till and the use of images in history.

With what we've discussed in class about the Civil Rights Movement, and in light of viewing the Till documentary, simply leave your thougths and reflections about Till in the comments section. Why do you think Till is an important figure to study? In your opinin, what is his significance to the Civil Rights Movement?