Sociology 3901: Worksheet--"Eyes on the Prize: Fighting Back," part I

1. How was the NAACP Legal Defense Fund involved in these school desegregation cases? Who were the black lawyers that played a major role?

2. How was Autherine Lucy kept out of the University of Alabama in 1956, and what was President Eisenhower's stance?

3. Why did the civil rights movement choose Little Rock, Arkansas, for their first effort at integrating a southern high school?

4. Why was Governor Orval Faubus so committed to keeping black school children out of the then all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, and what measures did he take?

5. What measures did President Eisenhower finally have to take to integrate the high school?

6. What was the experience of the Little Rock Nine in their year at the formerly white high school? Why weren't they back the next year?

Eyes on the Prize: Keys to the Kingdom, part I
1. What was the policy of the Boston Superintendent of Schools, the Boston school committee, and chairmen Louise Day Hicks regarding school segregation? How did they deal with a state law forbidding racially imbalanced schools?

2. How did the conflict over school segregation reach Boston? What were the schools that were ordered to integrate, and what neighborhoods were affected? How did South Boston react?

3. What happened to the black students bused into Boston South High School? .

4. How did President Ford respond? What about federal judge Garrity?

5. How many white students left the Boston public schools? What was the atmosphere for black students who were bused into South Boston High?

Sociology 3901: Groups--"Fighting Back" and "The Keys to the Kingdom?

1. What do you think would have had to happen in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's Brown vs Board of Education decision in order to minimize the kinds of conflicts portrayed in these video? In other words, could history have been different and better?

2. Imagine yourself a member of a minority group in a thoroughly racist and segregated society. Could you picture yourself taking part in the first integration of a high school or a university? What are your thoughts about this? Would your parents have allowed you to do it, assuming you were willing?

3. What do you see as the pros and cons of social policy making by the courts?