Socratic Seminar groups and questions
Link to the Google Doc groups – http://bit.ly/JVUR4Y
For the earlier hours, I decided to change up the questions. Everybody has to do question #1, and then you pick one question for your part.
1.Compare the degress of success or failure of the Civil Rights Movement and Populist Movement. Consider: a. legislation passed, b. effectiveness of legislation, c. difference between stated goals and accomplished goals, d. effect on the dominant culture of the U.S.
Part 1 / Group 1 (choose only one)
#2. Why were many whites suprised by the black revolt of the 1950s and 1960s?
#3 Why did Truman and his advisers feel a need to “act on the race question” immediately following World War 2? What evidence exists to support Zinn’s answer to this question?
Part 2 / Group 2 (choose only one)
#4 What compromises did civil rights leaders make in order to have federal approval of the 1963 March on Washington? Why do you think they felt that federal approval was worth such compromise?
#5 What do you think Zinn means by this “….but voting was not a fundamental solution to racism or poverty?”
Part 3 / Group 3 (choose only one)
#6 Why did King speak out against the war in Vietnam? Why did he not speak out against the war earlier than he did?
#7 How was “busing” an “ingenious concession to protest”? Did it contribute to deferring the dream (from Langston Hughes’ poem)?
Your 2 questions on the Zinn chapter need to be emailed / typed and turned in by Monday’s class period.
If you’ve lost your chapter, here’s a copy of Howard Zinn’s book online (free), starting with Ch. 17. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinn17explo.html
The civil rights movement is very influential in our culture. The fact of the Matter is, is that without it we would not be close to where we are today. Although not as successful at the start, it sure got the us government involved, especially presidents to pass laws for civil rights. Eventually they did get legislation moving forward and enforced but not till late in the movement. The legislation was not the main issue in the case of civil rights however. It was enforcing those laws so that everyone was I biding by them. This took even longer than the legislation. Even though economic equality was promised, this never did just become true. Gradually over time, this became true for many African Americans, but never to the level that was promised. Even today there is still much economic inequality between blacks and whites that was never really addressed. The civil rights movement has been influential. We have a black president and also have many civil rights legislations.
5. Zinn means by the statement made, that the voting legislations were useless, because they were not enforced properly. The people going to vote were denied, threatened and abused. These people were also still poor. The voting legislation didn’t automatically make the AAs economically sound. There was still poverty and aggression toward blacks.