Author Question: What role has literature played in the civil rights movement? Give some examples of books that have ... (Read 85 times)

Yolanda · **on:** Jul 10, 2018

What role has literature played in the civil rights movement? Give some examples of books that have been important, and describe what effect they had on particular movements.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Compare and contrast the use of nonviolent civil disobedience and litigation during the civil rights movement. Which was more successful and why?

What will be an ideal response?

momo1250 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 10, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Describe how literature has played a role in raising public awareness of civil rights issues, which has helped to energize and mobilize civil rights movements.
2. List some influential publications and describe their effects, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852, which raised awareness of the realities of slavery and helped to inspire the abolitionist movement; John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath in 1939, which told a story of tenant farmers that helped Hispanic rights activists motivate movements for farm workers' rights; and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique in 1963, which raised women's awareness of their plight and helped inspire the women's movement in the 1960s.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Compare nonviolent civil disobedience and litigation, noting that both were techniques successfully used to advance the civil rights movement.
2. Contrast nonviolent protest and litigation, noting that nonviolent protest entails breaking the law, while litigation entails using the law.
3. Make an argument that either nonviolent protest or litigation was a more successful strategy during the civil rights movement. Protests and other forms of civil disobedience led to public uproar in the North over discriminatory and segregationist laws in the South, which eventually led Congress to enact the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Litigation, however, brought down Jim Crow laws (Brown v. Board) without using young people as human targets, as often occurred during civil disobedience events.