1. What role did girls and college-aged women play in the “classical phase” of the Civil Rights
Movement (1954-1965)? How did their activism inspire and lead to gains in the movement? How
did they help to change the fabric of American society?
2. Compare and contrast black women’s involvement in a civil rights organization of the past (such
as SNCC) with one of the present (such as Black Lives Matter).
3. Discuss the important contributions of two of the following women to the Civil Rights
Movement: Septima Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, and/or Dorothy Height.
4. Examine black women’s involvement in a modern-day civil rights issue impacting African
Americans (such as poverty, mass incarceration, housing discrimination, police brutality, etc.). How
are these black women activists responding?
ASSIGNMENTS AND IMPORTANT DATES
1. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (Due Date: April 25)
You are required to produce an annotated bibliography for the research essay. Your annotated
bibliography must include the title of your research essay and the bibliographical information and
one-paragraph description of at least seven sources. These sources must be credible: mainly from
the library or refereed journals you have accessed from the library databases, but also from
credible newspapers, magazines, or pamphlets, etc. You also must include at least one primary
source—and preferably not one covered in class. (You are free to use readings from class—as they
are from viable sources—but be sure to have at least three outside sources.) Blogs, Wikipedia,
and other sources containing unverified information or editorializing are not permitted;