Students will identify some of the intersectional liberation movements that developed within and alongside the Black freedom struggle and analyze the ways other movements for political equality and self-determination were influenced by the strategies of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Essential Knowledge
10.A. The Black freedom struggle and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights intersected in many ways. Several prominent members of the movement were also important voices in the movement for LGBTQ+ civil rights.
10.B. As the Civil Rights Movement continued to work toward improving the daily conditions of life for Black people across the country, some activists created separate feminist movements to address the specific concerns of Black women, including the sexism they faced within and beyond the Civil Rights Movement and the racism they faced from white feminists.
10.C. The successes and strategies of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s influenced other justice and civil rights movements in the United States, including but not limited to efforts to secure fair treatment for farmworkers; the American Indian Movement (AIM); and movements for disability, gender and LGBTQ+ equality.
10.D. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s as part of the Black freedom struggle continues to overlap with and inspire other movements. Intersectional protests are a strategic tactic for collective liberation.
Related Resources
- [10.A.] Educators should teach students about the life and work of Bayard Rustin, a critical contributor to the movement and an openly gay man. The Throughline podcast episode “Remembering Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington” is a great place for educators to learn more. Students can read the Henry Louis Gates Jr. article “Who Designed the March on Washington?” (available from PBS).
- [10.A.] Students can learn about James Baldwin, one of the country’s most influential writers of the movement, by listening to (or reading the transcript of) “American Lives: James Baldwin, ‘Lifting the Veil,’” NPR’s interview with Randall Kenan, editor of a collection of Baldwin’s essays, speeches and articles. The LFJ lesson “James Baldwin: Art, Sexuality and Civil Rights” is also a good starting point.
- [10.A.] Students should learn about other activists who worked within multiple movements, starting with the Them article “Kiyoshi Kuromiya, the AIDS Activist Who Marched With Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” and resources from the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice.
- [10.A.] LFJ’s Queer America podcast offers recommendations for teaching LGBTQ+ U.S. history. For an overview and for teaching ideas about intersectional civil rights movements, educators can listen to the episodes “Re-Examining the 1960s, Part One” and “Re-Examining the 1960s, Part Two.”
- [10.B.] The Third World Women’s Alliance (TWWA) was one of the first Black feminist groups of the civil rights era, founded in 1968. Students can browse the archive of Triple Jeopardy, their bimonthly newspaper, to find examples of the issues that concerned TWWA members.
- [10.B.] To learn about Angela Davis and the role she played in the movement, students can read the short biography from the Zinn Education Project “Jan. 26, 1944: Angela Davis Born,” which includes interviews with Davis and a link to the transcript of her speech “Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Closures and Continuities.”
- [10.B.] Students should understand both the activism and the philosophy behind the Black feminist movement. They can learn about the Combahee River Collective (named after Harriet Tubman’s daring raid) and read the organization’s 1977 “Combahee River Collective Statement.”
- [10.C.] The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture created the online exhibit Black Power! The Movement, The Legacy, which students can explore to learn more about some of the key figures of the Black Power movement and how the movement intersected with others, including the Young Lords and Brown Berets.
- [10.C.] For examples of how the work of the Black freedom struggle intersected with the work of the United Farm Workers, read Cesar Chavez’s “Commonwealth Club Address.” Reviewing the pamphlet “Right To Work” Laws - A Trap for America’s Minorities, co-written by Chavez and Bayard Rustin, students can see how the two movements aligned themselves to work together for change.
- [10.C.] To understand how those fighting for civil rights for Indigenous people employed strategies used by those in the Black freedom struggle, students can learn about the occupation of Alcatraz and the formation of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Educators and students can find more resources through the Zinn Education Project’s “Native American Activism: 1960s to Present.” Additional primary sources focusing on AIM are available through the Digital Public Library of America’s page The American Indian Movement, 1968-1978.
- [10.C.] Students should also recognize the ways the disability rights movement intersected with the Civil Rights Movement. To do so, they can read about Brad Lomax, whose obituary was featured in 2020 in the New York Times article “Overlooked No More: Brad Lomax, a Bridge Between Civil Rights Movements.”
- [10.C.] To see how organizations like the Black Panthers supported disabled activists, students can review the May 7, 1977, edition of The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service and read how the Black Panthers spread the word about disability rights and materially supported the San Francisco 504 sit-in.
- [10.C.] For a good example of how the women’s liberation movement took its cues from the Black freedom struggle—as well as an example of how women’s liberation movement leaders centered white women in their priorities—students can read Gloria Steinem’s 1969 New York magazine article “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation.”
- [10.C.] For an overview of the ways that the early fight for LGBTQ+ rights drew on the strategies of the Black freedom struggle, read the NBC News article “Different Fight, ‘Same Goal’: How the Black Freedom Movement Inspired Early Gay Activists.”
- [10.C.] Among those inspired by the Black Panthers were Puerto Rican nationalists in New York City who founded the Young Lords, a radical organization that called for self-determination of Puerto Ricans on the island and in the United States. In the Museum of the City of New York lesson “Power to All Oppressed People: The Young Lords in New York, 1969-1976,” students can read the Young Lords’ “13 Point Program and Platform” to see how the group modeled its work after the Black Panthers and their 10-Point Program.
- [10.D.] To understand the connections of the Black Lives Matter movement to those in detention facilities, students can read the article “Immigrants Stage a Hunger Strike for Black Lives Inside ICE Detention Facility.”
- [10.D.] Mildred Loving’s piece “Loving for All” will help students see the connections to multiple movements that one activist makes regarding a pivotal court case.
- [10.D.] “A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement” by Alicia Garza, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, provides students a background on the foundation and reason for the movement and how and why solidarity must center Black queer women’s liberation if liberation is to be achieved.
