Freedom Summer: U.S. South

Course Description

GLST 251: Cultural Perspectives, Freedom Summer: A Study Tour of Civil Rights Sites in the South (3 cr)

Embark on a 14-day study tour of the Civil Rights Movement in the American South where you will march in the footsteps of activists, dialogue with Civil Rights leaders, visit museums, monuments, and churches, and analyze the role that music played throughout: This is Freedom Summer SST. The course is co-led with faculty and students from IU South Bend. An intensely personal and academic experience, you will encounter this history first-hand, meet people who contributed to this defining time, be immersed in the current and past culture of social change, and consider your own agency in participating in the democratic process.

Course Overview

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE, LEARN, DO. . .

Visit the Equal Justice Initiative, Highlander Research and Education Center, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, King Center, National Civil Rights Museum, places in the Mississippi Delta, and more, and explore how the Civil Rights Movement was a collective response of everyday people.
Reflect upon your personal understanding and assessment of the history of race, class, and gender and systems of inequality in the U.S.
Note and evaluate changes in race, gender, ethnic and class relations and civil rights in the South since the era of the Civil Rights Movement, with a particular focus on the role of music.