In 1963, 250,000 people gathered for the March on Washington where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered "I Have a Dream," one of the most eloquent speeches in American history. This January, 40 years later, eight Macalester students will celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the Twin Cities as part of the culmination of their J-term course. "The Civil Rights Movement: History and Consequences," is the brainchild of Assistant Professor of African-American Studies and Political Science Duchess Harris.

Following Macalester's announcement in 2000 of academic excellence, multiculturalism, internationalism and civic engagement as the college's four core valuin which "multiculturalism and civic engagement would meet."

In conjunction with The Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs, Inc. (HECUA), Harris has spent the past two years creating a curriculum centered on HECUA's pedagogical model of student based learning. Harris will be the Program Director for the course and Sarah Carpenter '00, who works for HECUA, will be the teaching assistant in charge of logistics.

The course will explore the history, philosophy and consequences of the American Civil Rights Movement and try to understand challenges to democracy in the United States today.



"When I think about the beauty of the United States, the civil rights movement always comes to mind and, of course, pain," Kalle Dahlquist ‘04 said. "The power and potential of this struggle and its people was one of the things that I came here [from Sweden] to learn more about."

The course begins on Jan. 2 in the Twin Cities with a brief orientation. On Jan. 3 Chuck McDew, who formerly led the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and currently teaches at Metro State University, will address the group. The following day, the class will depart for a two-week study tour of significant civil rights sites in the South. They will travel on a tour bus and watch documentaries on the road.

The field study tour will stop in New Market, Tenn. at the Highlander Center for Education and Research; in Atlanta, Ga. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District; in Birmingham, Ala. at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; in Montgomery, Ala. at the Southern Poverty Law Center and Rosa Parks Museum; in Selma, Ala. at the National Voting Rights Museum and for a visit with Mayor James Perkins, the first African American man to be elected in Selma; in Memphis, Tenn. at the National Civil Rights Museum; and in Chicago, Ill. because Harris wants to show that "the civil rights movement impacted the North. I want them to understand that concentrated poverty has everything to do with what happened in the rural Southern South."

Throughout the field study tour students will keep a minimum of one journal entry per site. The purpose of the journal is to integrate theory with practice and help students reflect on their experiences.

Another aspect of the tour in the South is the "linking up with alumni who live in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama to get their perspective on how the South is today in the early twenty-first century and to hear about how their experiences at Macalester impact them now," Harris said. "There is an energy in the South. The South wants people to know their story. When the new mayor of Selma, one of the hotbeds of racial conflict in the entire United States, found out we were coming down he blocked out that entire day to meet with us."

The course will wrap up with one week of integration seminars in the Twin Cities. While here, the class will, among other things, learn about contemporary issues of justice in the African-American community and participate in Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

"We are intentionally letting the program end in the Twin Cities so people will be aware of what they can do locally and so it doesn't feel like we're 1,000 miles away from where the civil rights movement happened," Harris said. "Social engagement begins at home."

"As exciting as the history aspect is to me, I am even more drawn to the course because of the practical contemporary consequences of the Civil Rights Movement," Anneli Terry '04 said. "I think that this will offer valuable perspectives and challenge me as I seek out how to live for a difference."

A final aspect of the course is the Group Study Project Comparative Press Analysis. The students will break into five groups and tackle topics such as Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala. and Bloody Sunday in Londonderry/Derry, Northern Ireland. They will use national, international and "Negro" press to discern the perspective of each article.

In preparation for the program, Harris participated in a week-long program over the summer with HECUA in Northern Ireland. "I wanted to be able to explain how the civil rights movement had impacted the world globally and how Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama in 1965 influenced the people in Northern Ireland who had a Bloody Sunday in 1972," Harris said.

At the informational meeting on Oct. 10, interested students were informed that the application date for HECUA has already passed, but 8 out of the 20 spaces are being reserved for Macalester students. The International Center encourages Macalester students to fill out the paperwork as soon as possible. The cost of the program is $2,900, due largely to the high quality of the bus and decision to stay in hotels.



The cost is one area of concern for students interested in participating. "I went to Dean of Academic Programs Ellen Guyer to seek advice and help," Dahlquist said. "She was understanding and said she will help me look for grants, scholarships or other funding sources that I can apply for. It gave me some new hope that I will be able to participate. A comment I have to HECUA in general: Please take the economics question more seriously because there is a certain paradox to in the same sentence speak about social justice and a $3,000 fee for a four week project," he continued.

In the spring Harris will also be teaching a newly designed course entitled "Blacks in Paris: Where Multiculturalism and Internationalism Meet." The course is cross-listed between African-American Studies and Humanities and Cultural Studies. It will explore Black expatriates in Paris and the art, literature, music and political protest created in Paris. Over Spring Break the class will fly to Paris and go on three walking tours of the expatriate experience.

"I want to bring a global perspective to the African-American Program and show all Macalester Students that African Americans have traveled the world and influenced the world," Harris said. "It's not just that Paris influenced Blacks, it's that Blacks influenced Paris."

There will be an informational session on Oct. 29 at noon on the fourth floor of Old Main.

"I think these are two extraordinary learning opportunities for Macalester students to learn from books and then go out in the world and see how the ideas of those books compare to what they see in the real world," said History Professor Peter Rachleff. He will be the African-American Studies Program chair next semester.