s/o American history - Civil Rights movement

[pixy0stix]

I'm not making this a clicky poll.

Where did you learn about the Civil Rights movement?

I'm more than a little floored that people never made it to the 60s-70s history in their classes, and I'm wondering if this was skipped over as well.

[hopecounts]

We just barely covered this, as the wrap up to the JFK assassination LBJ taking over, it was pretty much the last thing we discussed/learned.

[tacosforlife]

Briefly in 8th grade US history. A bit more in depth in 9th grade US history and in my 10th grade interdisciplinary western civ class. And then I got a more legalistic perspective when I took Civil Rights in law school, which focused on civil rights litigation/case law.

[alleinesein]

My mom is a huge history buff so I learned bits and pieces of it in elementary school from books we had at home.

As for formal education we spent about a month on it in US History (11th grade) and briefly touched upon it in Civics (12th grade) and I took an upper level US History class in college that focused on US History after 1945. 2/3rds of the class was the civil rights movement.

[josieposy]

It was grade school. Please don't ask me to remember specifics (class, grade, teacher).

[Cicero]

It's not something I ever really remember a specific time of sitting down and learning about specifically but it's also not something I can remember not knowing so it was probably middle school. I don't think we covered it in my AP US history class because we only made it up to like 1950. I do remember reading MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail in English as part of a greater civil disobedience theme but I don't remember how in depth that got.

[pt716]

May 1, 2015 14:37:09 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

We just barely covered this, as the wrap up to the JFK assassination LBJ taking over, it was pretty much the last thing we discussed/learned.

Yeap, this was where we ended too, and we even took US history for two years.

[pixy0stix]

I think we covered it in jr. high, then went on to cover it more in high school. I'm fairly positive we went all the way up to the Reagan administration, and then more current events. I remember vividly discussing Desert Storm.

The more that I think about it... I had 3 years of American history, and 1 year of world history. No wonder I'm pretty spot on with US stuff, but only have a fuzzy idea of world history (other than ancient civilizations).

[UMaineTeach]

we did the Amer. Rev. many times, but never the Civil War or making it to the 50's and up for any indepth study.

all I got was what might come up around MLKJ Day and Black History Month. I Have a Dream, She didn't give up her seat, segregated everything, the cotton gin, peanut butter...

[ESF]

I think we spent like 10 minutes talking about MLK in between the Korean War and the Vietnam War in my 10th grade history class.

We did not have AP history or any fancy specialized classes in high school. Everyone in 10th grade took a year long class in US History. That was the only history class available to anyone in my high school.

I took a survey course in US History in college too. I don't recall specifically discussing MLK at all. I think we ran out of time right around the McCarthy hearings, skipped ahead to a day or two on Vietnam, and that was the end of it.

What I know has come from my own curiosity as an adult, and more recently, this board.

[hopecounts]

May 1, 2015 14:48:21 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I think we covered it in jr. high, then went on to cover it more in high school. I'm fairly positive we went all the way up to the Reagan administration, and then more current events. I remember vividly discussing Desert Storm.

The more that I think about it... I had 3 years of American history, and 1 year of world history. No wonder I'm pretty spot on with US stuff, but only have a fuzzy idea of world history (other than ancient civilizations).

Ours  was reverse 2 years of world (freshman year ancient civ, sophomore modern history) then jr. year US history, civics sr year (part of it was filling out our voter reg. since most turned 18)

[lizlemon19]

I learned briefly about MLK and Rosa Parks in 4th grade. I -depth in 11th grade history . Some In English class.

[Cicero]

High school history for me was one year each of the following: Western Civilizations (so basically early world history entering around the Ancient Near East, maybe starting with the Phoenicians?), European History, US History, and Government and Economics. Most of my in depth US history knowledge comes from my history degree, but even that was probably less than 20% classes focused on the US.

[FloFTW]

Middle school and high school, in a variety of classes (history, language arts, civics, art).

[MarmeeNoir]

Lol I didn't even know other people didn't go to school on MLK day until late High School. I don't think I've had any formal schooling about that.

ETA: We did read To Kill A Mocking Bird in English, I that's it

[saz]

I know it was definitely covered in 8th grade but I learned about it prior to that as well. My dads side of the family is from Montgomery, AL so it's something we've always talked about when visiting.

[ESF]

I should add that there were brief mentions of MLK and Rosa Parks before 10th grade. And I recall in 6th grade everyone in the class had to do a report on an African American in February. There were probably discussions around that. Obviously, the concept of Jim Crow and the KKK was weaved in here and there. Oh, and Plessy and Brown v Board were mentioned too.

But in terms of learning about it as a movement to obtain equal protection under the law, no. It was more like "here are some names and dates for you to remember."

To be fair, though, that's sort of how everything was taught. Just a series of trivia questions to be answered. My high school teacher didn't do things like present themes or put anything in any sort of larger context. A little bit more so in college, but to the extent themes were presented, they weren't about equal rights.

[eclaires]

Pretty sure we talked about it every year for as far back as I can remember around MLK day. I think we also studied it more in depth at various points in grade school and junior high social studies. We also got to it in my high school American History class (honors - sophomore year). I do remember our teacher that year skipping some stuff and covering some stuff quickly so we could fully cover more recent American history. I remember him talking about how important he thought it was that we cover the 60s and 70s. Pretty sure we also covered it in my English class that year too which was American Literature. And then senior year, my AP Lit class covered a lot of American literature from various eras so we also talked about it then.

Then in college, my favorite class was a 500 level Recent American History class and we covered it extensively then.

[bronxgirl]

I first learned about MLK from my parents when I was around 4 or 5, but I don't remember how much they taught me about the civil rights movement as a whole. I started learning more in early elementary school (and more in each subsequent year) but I don't remember exactly when. I grew up in a liberal bubble so I didn't realize until these boards that not everybody gets extensive education about the civil rights movement and the holocaust.

[ringstrue]

We always did a big MLK Day thing (like all week or more) but honestly my US history teacher was crap.

[Deleted]

I honestly don't recall. I know I learned bits and pieces over the years, but I don't think I ever learned about certain things. Obviously I learned about MLK, but I don't think it really sunk in all the stuff he was involved in and what he did other than being a civil rights leader and his big speech. I don't really recall a specific civil rights unit in any of my classes and I'm pretty sure my american history class in HS didn't cover past mid 20th century.

I've read a lot of articles and seen some of the mainstream movies that have come out in the last several years (the Butler, 12 Years a Slave) and I feel like that's provided a little more information.

Honestly - I went to the National Civil Rights Museum last month and felt like that was eye opening to me. Much of the stuff they presented I had heard of, but I've never had it all laid out in one chronological story with as much detail. It was a fantastic museum and I felt like I really learned a lot and some of the fragmented pieces of what I knew fell together to make more sense to me.

I think much of this history has become more of a personal interest to me in the last few years. I have a horrible memory so it's entirely possible I learned a lot of this earlier but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention yet. Maybe I am seeking it out more now?

[jigsy]

I learned a very brief, white-washed version in 11th grade. Then in 12th grade, I watched a documentary about Emmitt Till at the Sundance Film Fest and was blown away and educated myself. I think that is when I really started to become a liberal.

[StrawberryBlondie]

I know we talked a little about Rosa Parks and MLK in grade school. Aside from that... College, maybe? American History class stopped after WWII.

[Deleted]

May 1, 2015 15:00:54 GMT -5 ESF said:

But in terms of learning about it as a movement to obtain equal protection under the law, no. It was more like "here are some names and dates for you to remember."

To be fair, though, that's sort of how everything was taught. Just a series of trivia questions to be answered. My high school teacher didn't do things like present themes or put anything in any sort of larger context. A little bit more so in college, but to the extent themes were presented, they weren't about equal rights.

I hate this, and I think this was my major problem with history knowledge. I feel like the big picture was never presented. Just a lot of memorization. What good does that do anyone?

I never liked history as a kid. Now that I can see its importance, I feel like I don't even know where to begin to teach myself all this stuff that I should already know. 

[blink]

I think we did MLK and Rosa Parks in elementary. I know we covered a little bit of Civil Rights in high school because we watched part of Roots and I think The Autobiography is Miss Jane Pittman (but I might have watched it at home), and I think we talked about the Little Rock Nine. However, most of it was very surface-level stuff, nothing about the lunch counter protests or Blood Sunday.

I learned more at the Civil Rights museum than I ever did in school, and that is honestly depressing to me.

[msmerymac]

Oh, we legit made it up to Reagan in school.

We learned about Plessy v. Ferguson, sharecropping, Brown v. Board of Education, Rosa Parks, lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Rides, Selma, MLK assassination, Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Things I don't really remember being covered that I learned on my own/in college: The Great Migration, Malcolm X, SNCC, Watts Riots (and others), and pretty much anything past the assassination of MLK.


It's weird to learn in school about the work the SCLC was doing, and other civil rights groups, about their successes, learn that MLK was assassinated, and then be like, "Okay, well, that's over! That's all of civil rights! People are equal now!" Um, there was a reason MLK was assassinated, right? Following the logic to its conclusion, obviously not everyone was cool with equal rights, yes? So the fight didn't END in 1968 with everyone being cool with everything.

ETA: I got a 5 on my AP US History exam. Bam!

[msmerymac]

Oh, and our set up was as follows: 9th grade: world history. 10th grade: european history (NY regents exam for both at the end of 10th grade). 11th grade: either regents or AP US history. 12th grade: either AP European or Government and economics. My high school started trying to let sophomores take AP european history instead of regular 10th grade european history at some point as well.

[omgzombies]

I missed pretty much everything after the Civil War in school. Partly because I moved around a lot, and thus I somehow missed the units on WWI, WWII, Vietnam War, Civil Rights (I did get a ton of repeats on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, things like the Louisiana Purchase, etc). However it's also in part to attending a really horrible public high school. Most of my knowledge about the subjects I missed comes from watching the history channel back when it was actually history and not just Pawn Stars and Big Foot sightings.

[open24hours]

I remember first learning about civil rights in elementary/middle school. I know it was a part of 8th grade civics. In high school, my AP US History class didn't touch too much on post WWII stuff.

My 12th grade government teacher was very big on teaching about civil rights. That's pretty much all we studied in that class (aside from the two week intro about subliminal advertising and how the government tries to control people with it).

[pinkdutchtulips]

a bit in my hs American History but the bulk of it came from my parents. when your dad's a lutheran minister of the progressive variety, you learn about the civil rights movement from them. my dad made a trip to the Rev MLK, Jr's church in GA or AL. my mom told us girls stories of what it was like to be denied a cc because the SHE in the couple was the breadwinner not the HE and this was the early 70's ! along w/ stories what happened to female schoolteachers then too - eek !!

my hs history class covered things up to the Cold War .. say what you want about CA public education but my history class was surprisingly well rounded

eta: whatever gaps there were from hs were filled in w/ Con Law II Civil Liberties that i took in undergrad