Discussion Questions
October 19, 2015

1. What is King's approach to civil rights?  What are the problems according to King?  What does he hope to achieve, and how is it to be achieved?
2. How would you describe the objectives of Carmichael?  Of Malcolm X?  Of the Black Panthers?  On what points would they agree with one another and on what points would they disagree?
3. How different were the objectives of the above three and those of King?  Is there a common ground on which all could agree?  Are their objectives the same?
4. What does the collection of letters tell us about both black reactions and white reactions to the civil rights movement in 1964?  What does it tell us about life in the south for blacks in the early 1960s?
5. Why do universities become the centre for so many of the "movements" of the sixties?
6. What is the message of Kennedy's speech?   What was your reaction to it when you read it?
7. Why was Brown vs. Board of Education such a landmark decision?  What did it do?
8. It could be argued that Brown was a failure.  How?  Why?
9. The Montgomery Boycott marked a decisive turning point for the Civil Rights movement.  How?  What was it's significance?
10. Why is the Greensboro protest so significant?
11. How can you explain the failure at the executive level to act decisively and lead during the crisis?