Day 1: Settings, Part 1: Origins of the Movement

Tape 1 (Side A only)

The session begins with Henry Hampton calling the production staff to order.  After years of preparation and effort, he is entrusting the producers with "my child."

Senior Producer Judith Vecchione provides a basic overview of the education sessions, describing them as "eight days of content, ten days of school...a chance to work on something that has resonance for us and our audience."

Vincent Harding discusses the global and national context out of which the civil rights movement arose.  World War II brought the end of European colonial domination and a new role for the US in the world: "the last major bearer of 'the white man's burden.'"  Black veterans returned from the fight with a new understanding of what America must be.  They also realized that their struggle was national rather than local or regional.

Tape 2

Harding shapes the framework for the discussion and poses questions and observations throughout the session.  He characterizes the movement as being more than merely about civil rights, it was an attempt to make a better society. He examines the ways in which traditional institutions of African-American life, like churches and black colleges, fed the movement and were changed by it.

C.B. King remembers his military service and recalls his experiences as a lawyer in Albany, Georgia.

Tapes 3 (incomplete) & 4

Ruth Batson talks about growing up in Boston and how her experience as a parent brought her into the heart of the struggle to integrate the Boston public school system.

This is followed by Q&A and further reflections by Harding, King and Batson.