Politics and labour initiatives came to the forefront during this decade for student activists in... more Politics and labour initiatives came to the forefront during this decade for student activists in Memphis, and the trajectory of their work was influenced by the long history of grassroots activism in the area before the traditional beginning of the civil rights movement. A local Black Power group, the Invaders, and other student organisations, as well as the local NAACP chapter and community leaders worked together to promote racial and social equality on campuses and the city during the late 1960s. There was conspicuously successful cooperation between groups with complementary interests and within generations. The Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968 included student, organization, and union participation, and the Black Monday campaign of 1969 was a series of weekly nonviolent marches through the city involving school-aged children for the desegregation of Memphis’ schools. These coordinated efforts involving labour and racial issues demonstrate the complexity of grassroots activism by minority groups as well as the complicated balance organisers sought when involving students in local, established movements. Contemporary debates over minority employment as well as the establishment of black studies programs and black student associations on Memphis university campuses deepens the understanding of the contestations of these issues. Evaluating the development of grassroots engagement in Memphis at this time deepens the understanding of the associations between civil rights, student activism, and labour history.
This paper will consider the broader implications of the Vietnam War on campuses across Tennessee... more This paper will consider the broader implications of the Vietnam War on campuses across Tennessee. It will examine the protest at Memphis State University over flying the American flag at half staff following the May 4, 1970 shootings at Kent State, and the appearance of President Richard Nixon at the University of Tennessee (located in Knoxville, Tennessee) during an evangelical crusade led by Reverend Billy Graham later that month. Both of these campuses witnessed activism (liberal and conservative) throughout the 1960s over in loco parentis issues prior to the escalation of Vietnam War protests, and the war only escalated emotions. The reactions of university administrations and the surrounding communities to protests speak to the complexity of the issues addressed by the war, while the comments by the more conservative students at both universities broadens the understanding of pro-war activism, an under-researched area. The episodes in Memphis and Knoxville present significant anti-war incidents in a state that has often been unlooked in studies of Vietnam-related protests; the war activism on these campuses involved campus-wide strikes, war moratoriums, administrative concerns of student unrest, questions of student apathy, and the appearance of not only a noted religious figure, Reverend Billy Graham, but also President Richard Nixon. This paper will exploit previously little-used administrative files to uncover the managerial attempts to manage student protests on campus, essential for a fuller understanding of campus war activism. Even in a relatively conservative state politically, the Vietnam War was a hotly contested issue by students and administrative figures across university campuses.
The presentation was on my PhD research, on student activism in Tennessee between the 1950s and 1... more The presentation was on my PhD research, on student activism in Tennessee between the 1950s and 1970. The 1960s were notorious as a period of student uprisings and awakening worldwide. However, scholarly studies of activism in the United States have traditionally focused on University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University, campuses in the west and northeast of the country. The South, an area of tremendous black student organisation during the Civil Rights Movement, has surprisingly been overlooked. Although a region renowned for its political conservatism, white and black students at universities in the state nevertheless organised and campaigned over issues of race, foreign policy, labour, and student rights on campus. The period witnessed remarkable change on campuses in the student body’s racial and gender composition. Tennessee—often known as ‘the Three States of Tennessee’—allows a fascinating study of student activism in a southern context, given the variability of the state’s geography and demographics, from the mountainous and heavily white eastern portion, to the western region where blacks were far more numerous and plantation agriculture more pervasive. Through archival research, and interviews with former student activists I provide a history of student activism across the major public and private universities in the state. My talk outlines the major characters and events of the narrative, from the Brown decision invalidating segregated public education in 1954 to the riots following shootings at Kent State University in 1970, and highlights the personal connection I have to my research as a native Tennessean.
Images of demonstrators being attacked by police dogs, batons, water hoses, and being harassed by... more Images of demonstrators being attacked by police dogs, batons, water hoses, and being harassed by other citizens came to define the civil rights movement on a national level during the mid-twentieth century. Using the oral recollections of black activists, this paper examines the manner and success of their organizing efforts in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both community leaders and government officials in the city believed that they had better race relations than other areas further south, so a greater emphasis was put on negotiations and demonstrating peacefully than Tennesseans had seen occur elsewhere. Genuine efforts were made to keep violence out of demonstrations and to ensure the fair prosecution of activists and instigators. Student activists from the Knoxville area contended that public officials were generally sincere in their concessions to integration, and saw relations between adult and youth activists as significant to the success of these events. Knoxville’s black population was relatively small compared to other Tennessee cities such as Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga. White and black students protested for civil rights and student equality, almost exclusively organized by local groups they formed themselves, with the exception of SNCC’s involvement in the area beginning in 1963. It was more common to have associations with national civil rights groups during this time, if not only for funding of everyday operations but also for bail money and connections. Demonstrations began in Knoxville in early 1960 following negotiations between civic leaders which students believed had stalled. These interracial marches throughout downtown were successful in encouraging many public accommodations to desegregate, but gained traction again in 1963 when they targeted the last few businesses that refused to desegregate. It is by teasing out these differences of opinion between significant black youth leaders in the city that Knoxville emerges as a valuable case study of student organizing.
Nashville, Tennessee was a hive of student organising in the 1950s and 1960s. Aside from the wel... more Nashville, Tennessee was a hive of student organising in the 1950s and 1960s. Aside from the well-known role of Nashvillians in the planning and execution of sit-ins and freedom rides, students organised themselves into groups to agitate for the passage of local and national civil rights reforms, an end to the Vietnam War, and greater economic opportunity for black and white citizens. The liberal activist groups that emerged in Nashville in the 1950s and 1960s consulted and cooperated with previous radical institutions formed during the New Deal era to an unusual degree, especially the Highlander Folk School and the Southern Conference Education Fund. The 1960s generation of activists sought out the advice of these earlier groups and also benefitted from their financial support. As such, many of the tactics used by earlier ‘long left’ activists in their efforts to impact labour laws and race relations were exported to the later generation of student organisers. Though an increasingly rich field, research on southern student activism has generally focused predominantly on the 1950s and 1960s, overlooking the connections between the civil rights-era generation of activists and earlier groups that lobbied for changes in the economic and social status quo. Much like the historians who have urged the consideration of a ‘long’ civil rights movement in recent years, this paper examines the long roots of student organising in Nashville, with a broad concentration on the years 1940 to 1964.
"Originally built as a military secret, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was a secure community for governme... more "Originally built as a military secret, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was a secure community for government employees participating in the production of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Over time, the secluded residents of Oak Ridge developed a perception that their experiences in the town made them distinctive. Residents largely derived their sense of exceptionalism, a view many still hold today, from the great influence the federal government held in town matters: beginning with its establishment as a town in 1942 until the late 1950s, Oak Ridge was placed under the direct control of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This long period of the AEC’s control greatly shaped the ways youth viewed what was going on around them and how they validated their place in history; in doing so, it rewrote the narrative of individuals growing up in the East Tennessee area, not just those in Oak Ridge.
My research explores the experiences of youths in Oak Ridge from the 1950s through the 1970s, a period that saw the dismantling of segregated race relations in the post-war South. With recollections that highlight the challenges of black and white identity in a small, desegregated community, this paper demonstrates the difficulty of pinpointing inaccuracies in memories and how those incorrect assumptions speak to the value of oral histories. As a combination of interviews and written recollections, this work presents the distinctive approach of using both methods to gain a deeper sense of the cultural framework for the personal stories. Oak Ridge offers a distinctive opportunity to evaluate the individual experiences of blacks and whites as a greater appearance of racial equality was established in the creation of the federal town’s municipal policies, particularly those concerning the desegregation of its schools, businesses, public facilities, and churches. "
Published in The Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 2013
http://www.pa... more Published in The Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 2013
My MPhil dissertation was submitted June 2013 at the University of Cambridge. I am happy to send ... more My MPhil dissertation was submitted June 2013 at the University of Cambridge. I am happy to send the document to those interested.
Politics and labour initiatives came to the forefront during this decade for student activists in... more Politics and labour initiatives came to the forefront during this decade for student activists in Memphis, and the trajectory of their work was influenced by the long history of grassroots activism in the area before the traditional beginning of the civil rights movement. A local Black Power group, the Invaders, and other student organisations, as well as the local NAACP chapter and community leaders worked together to promote racial and social equality on campuses and the city during the late 1960s. There was conspicuously successful cooperation between groups with complementary interests and within generations. The Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968 included student, organization, and union participation, and the Black Monday campaign of 1969 was a series of weekly nonviolent marches through the city involving school-aged children for the desegregation of Memphis’ schools. These coordinated efforts involving labour and racial issues demonstrate the complexity of grassroots activism by minority groups as well as the complicated balance organisers sought when involving students in local, established movements. Contemporary debates over minority employment as well as the establishment of black studies programs and black student associations on Memphis university campuses deepens the understanding of the contestations of these issues. Evaluating the development of grassroots engagement in Memphis at this time deepens the understanding of the associations between civil rights, student activism, and labour history.
This paper will consider the broader implications of the Vietnam War on campuses across Tennessee... more This paper will consider the broader implications of the Vietnam War on campuses across Tennessee. It will examine the protest at Memphis State University over flying the American flag at half staff following the May 4, 1970 shootings at Kent State, and the appearance of President Richard Nixon at the University of Tennessee (located in Knoxville, Tennessee) during an evangelical crusade led by Reverend Billy Graham later that month. Both of these campuses witnessed activism (liberal and conservative) throughout the 1960s over in loco parentis issues prior to the escalation of Vietnam War protests, and the war only escalated emotions. The reactions of university administrations and the surrounding communities to protests speak to the complexity of the issues addressed by the war, while the comments by the more conservative students at both universities broadens the understanding of pro-war activism, an under-researched area. The episodes in Memphis and Knoxville present significant anti-war incidents in a state that has often been unlooked in studies of Vietnam-related protests; the war activism on these campuses involved campus-wide strikes, war moratoriums, administrative concerns of student unrest, questions of student apathy, and the appearance of not only a noted religious figure, Reverend Billy Graham, but also President Richard Nixon. This paper will exploit previously little-used administrative files to uncover the managerial attempts to manage student protests on campus, essential for a fuller understanding of campus war activism. Even in a relatively conservative state politically, the Vietnam War was a hotly contested issue by students and administrative figures across university campuses.
The presentation was on my PhD research, on student activism in Tennessee between the 1950s and 1... more The presentation was on my PhD research, on student activism in Tennessee between the 1950s and 1970. The 1960s were notorious as a period of student uprisings and awakening worldwide. However, scholarly studies of activism in the United States have traditionally focused on University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University, campuses in the west and northeast of the country. The South, an area of tremendous black student organisation during the Civil Rights Movement, has surprisingly been overlooked. Although a region renowned for its political conservatism, white and black students at universities in the state nevertheless organised and campaigned over issues of race, foreign policy, labour, and student rights on campus. The period witnessed remarkable change on campuses in the student body’s racial and gender composition. Tennessee—often known as ‘the Three States of Tennessee’—allows a fascinating study of student activism in a southern context, given the variability of the state’s geography and demographics, from the mountainous and heavily white eastern portion, to the western region where blacks were far more numerous and plantation agriculture more pervasive. Through archival research, and interviews with former student activists I provide a history of student activism across the major public and private universities in the state. My talk outlines the major characters and events of the narrative, from the Brown decision invalidating segregated public education in 1954 to the riots following shootings at Kent State University in 1970, and highlights the personal connection I have to my research as a native Tennessean.
Images of demonstrators being attacked by police dogs, batons, water hoses, and being harassed by... more Images of demonstrators being attacked by police dogs, batons, water hoses, and being harassed by other citizens came to define the civil rights movement on a national level during the mid-twentieth century. Using the oral recollections of black activists, this paper examines the manner and success of their organizing efforts in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both community leaders and government officials in the city believed that they had better race relations than other areas further south, so a greater emphasis was put on negotiations and demonstrating peacefully than Tennesseans had seen occur elsewhere. Genuine efforts were made to keep violence out of demonstrations and to ensure the fair prosecution of activists and instigators. Student activists from the Knoxville area contended that public officials were generally sincere in their concessions to integration, and saw relations between adult and youth activists as significant to the success of these events. Knoxville’s black population was relatively small compared to other Tennessee cities such as Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga. White and black students protested for civil rights and student equality, almost exclusively organized by local groups they formed themselves, with the exception of SNCC’s involvement in the area beginning in 1963. It was more common to have associations with national civil rights groups during this time, if not only for funding of everyday operations but also for bail money and connections. Demonstrations began in Knoxville in early 1960 following negotiations between civic leaders which students believed had stalled. These interracial marches throughout downtown were successful in encouraging many public accommodations to desegregate, but gained traction again in 1963 when they targeted the last few businesses that refused to desegregate. It is by teasing out these differences of opinion between significant black youth leaders in the city that Knoxville emerges as a valuable case study of student organizing.
Nashville, Tennessee was a hive of student organising in the 1950s and 1960s. Aside from the wel... more Nashville, Tennessee was a hive of student organising in the 1950s and 1960s. Aside from the well-known role of Nashvillians in the planning and execution of sit-ins and freedom rides, students organised themselves into groups to agitate for the passage of local and national civil rights reforms, an end to the Vietnam War, and greater economic opportunity for black and white citizens. The liberal activist groups that emerged in Nashville in the 1950s and 1960s consulted and cooperated with previous radical institutions formed during the New Deal era to an unusual degree, especially the Highlander Folk School and the Southern Conference Education Fund. The 1960s generation of activists sought out the advice of these earlier groups and also benefitted from their financial support. As such, many of the tactics used by earlier ‘long left’ activists in their efforts to impact labour laws and race relations were exported to the later generation of student organisers. Though an increasingly rich field, research on southern student activism has generally focused predominantly on the 1950s and 1960s, overlooking the connections between the civil rights-era generation of activists and earlier groups that lobbied for changes in the economic and social status quo. Much like the historians who have urged the consideration of a ‘long’ civil rights movement in recent years, this paper examines the long roots of student organising in Nashville, with a broad concentration on the years 1940 to 1964.
"Originally built as a military secret, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was a secure community for governme... more "Originally built as a military secret, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was a secure community for government employees participating in the production of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Over time, the secluded residents of Oak Ridge developed a perception that their experiences in the town made them distinctive. Residents largely derived their sense of exceptionalism, a view many still hold today, from the great influence the federal government held in town matters: beginning with its establishment as a town in 1942 until the late 1950s, Oak Ridge was placed under the direct control of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This long period of the AEC’s control greatly shaped the ways youth viewed what was going on around them and how they validated their place in history; in doing so, it rewrote the narrative of individuals growing up in the East Tennessee area, not just those in Oak Ridge.
My research explores the experiences of youths in Oak Ridge from the 1950s through the 1970s, a period that saw the dismantling of segregated race relations in the post-war South. With recollections that highlight the challenges of black and white identity in a small, desegregated community, this paper demonstrates the difficulty of pinpointing inaccuracies in memories and how those incorrect assumptions speak to the value of oral histories. As a combination of interviews and written recollections, this work presents the distinctive approach of using both methods to gain a deeper sense of the cultural framework for the personal stories. Oak Ridge offers a distinctive opportunity to evaluate the individual experiences of blacks and whites as a greater appearance of racial equality was established in the creation of the federal town’s municipal policies, particularly those concerning the desegregation of its schools, businesses, public facilities, and churches. "
Published in The Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 2013
http://www.pa... more Published in The Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 2013
My MPhil dissertation was submitted June 2013 at the University of Cambridge. I am happy to send ... more My MPhil dissertation was submitted June 2013 at the University of Cambridge. I am happy to send the document to those interested.
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My research explores the experiences of youths in Oak Ridge from the 1950s through the 1970s, a period that saw the dismantling of segregated race relations in the post-war South. With recollections that highlight the challenges of black and white identity in a small, desegregated community, this paper demonstrates the difficulty of pinpointing inaccuracies in memories and how those incorrect assumptions speak to the value of oral histories. As a combination of interviews and written recollections, this work presents the distinctive approach of using both methods to gain a deeper sense of the cultural framework for the personal stories. Oak Ridge offers a distinctive opportunity to evaluate the individual experiences of blacks and whites as a greater appearance of racial equality was established in the creation of the federal town’s municipal policies, particularly those concerning the desegregation of its schools, businesses, public facilities, and churches. "
http://www.palmettohistory.org/scha/proceedings/proceedings2013.pdf
My research explores the experiences of youths in Oak Ridge from the 1950s through the 1970s, a period that saw the dismantling of segregated race relations in the post-war South. With recollections that highlight the challenges of black and white identity in a small, desegregated community, this paper demonstrates the difficulty of pinpointing inaccuracies in memories and how those incorrect assumptions speak to the value of oral histories. As a combination of interviews and written recollections, this work presents the distinctive approach of using both methods to gain a deeper sense of the cultural framework for the personal stories. Oak Ridge offers a distinctive opportunity to evaluate the individual experiences of blacks and whites as a greater appearance of racial equality was established in the creation of the federal town’s municipal policies, particularly those concerning the desegregation of its schools, businesses, public facilities, and churches. "
http://www.palmettohistory.org/scha/proceedings/proceedings2013.pdf