Questions for Culture During the Civil Rights Movement

  1. How has the outpouring of literature and writing during the Civil Rights Movement affected your life?

  2. How has Maya Angelou used setbacks in her life to inspire her poems and stories?

  3. How do you interpret Nikki Giovanni's "The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr."? Do you agree that "death is a slave's freedom"? Why or why not?

  4. Eldridge Cleaver, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X were all jailed at one point in their lives, and while in jail all three men wrote significant pieces of literature. Compare Eldridge Cleaver's "'The Christ' and His Teachings" (Soul On Ice, Folsom Prison, Sept. 10, 1965), Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (1965), and Malcolm X's "Satan and Saved" (The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Chs. 10-11). How do these writings compare? Do they have any common themes? Did being in jail affect the ways these men viewed society and life?

  5. How has the O.J. Simpson trial and verdict affected the way society views African-Americans?

  6. How do you feel about the million-dollar salaries professional athletes receive? Do you feel they are "worth" what they get paid?

  7. Do you feel athletes provide acceptable role-models for today's youth? What values do they promote? What values do they dismiss?

  8. Compare and contrast the political views and methods of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. How did their audiences' perception of them differ? Would their speeches still be as effective today? Why or why not?

  9. Why did the "sit-in" tactics work better in the Southern states than in the Northern states? What more effective methods were used in the North? Have these tactics been implemented in recent times? (eg: The Million Man March)

  10. Do you feel the black militancy groups helped further the Civil Rights Movement, or do you feel they detracted from its cause?

  11. Has rap music has a positive or negative effect on society? Why do you feel this way? How has rap music changed society's views of African-Americans and women?

  12. How does the recently-released movie Malcolm X compare to the autobiography Malcolm X? Why do you think the movie was released when it was?

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