ANGELA DAVIS: BRIDGING CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT

ESSAY INFORMATION
?    Historian Jacquelyn Dowd Hall has redefined the Civil Rights Movement from its traditional direct action phase time frame of 1955 with the Montgomery Bus Boycott (though some start with 1954 and the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision) to 1965 and the passage of the Voting Rights Act to include the New Deal era (1930s) forward into the 1970s in what she calls the long civil rights movement. Along the same lines historians Peniel Joseph and Yohuru Williams, who are central to the emerging discipline of black power studies, take a similar view when studying the Black Power Movement. As marginalized black voices called out from the segregated neighborhoods in urban areas outside of the South that could not tangibly take advantage of the gains made through civil rights legislation, the cry changed from we shall overcome to umgawa, black power; therefore, setting the stage for the traditional time frame of the Black Power Movement (1966-1975). Newer interpretations however do not separate civil rights and black power, but show them on a longer continuum (1954-1975) that encompasses the longer black freedom struggle.
?    Watch Black Power the Mixtape documentary to gain some perspective on the Black Power Movement and read Angela Davis’s biography, Angela Davis: A Biography. In a well-crafted essay of 4-5 pages, analyze how Dr. Davis’s life bridged the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and affected her future endeavors.
?    You may utilize any of the other readings that have been assigned in the class to help strengthen your argument.
?    The essay, like the other reviews completed is worth 25% of the cumulative grade.
?    Any cited material should be in the form of footnotes or endnotes and adhere to citation methods in Kate L. Turabian’s, A Manual for Writers of Research
?    Make sure that your essay contains scholarly information and thoughtful analysis, not simply opinion (like many of the previous assignments).    Do additional research if necessary to ascertain more information.