Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Struggle for Black Voting Rights

The discussion will center on racial segregation in 1865 – 1965; Jim Crow; black disenfranchisement; poll taxes; literacy tests; white primaries; grandfather clauses; NAACP; Plessy v. Ferguson; Brown v. Board of Education; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Civil Rights Movement; Freedom Rides; Children’s March; President John F. Kennedy; President Lyndon B. Johnson; Civil Rights Act of 1964; Selma; Montgomery; Birmingham; Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Tracing the long history of Black disenfranchisement and racial segregation in the United States from the Reconstruction Era to the 1960s, this program describes the various strategies employed by civil rights activists, with a special emphasis on the civil disobedience protests of the modern Civil Rights Movement, and culminates in Martin Luther King Jr.’s decision of whether to lead protesters across Pettus Bridge on the famous protest march starting in Selma, Alabama on March 9, 1965.

Robert Cozzi, US History Teacher at Heritage High School and Debate Coach at Mountain View High School, will moderate the discussion. He will be using the Harvard Business School (HBS) Case Method. Pioneered by HBS faculty, the case method puts you, the audience, in the role of the chief decision-maker as you explore the challenges facing political, civic, and business leaders across the globe. Learning to think fast on your feet with limited information sharpens your analytical skills and empowers you to make critical decisions in real-time.

Hosted by League of Women Voters. Case reading will be sent to registrants via email one week before the program.

To join this online program, you will need a computer, tablet or phone with a camera and microphone. The link to join the event will be emailed to registrants. A phone number will be included to allow you to use a phone as speaker and microphone, if necessary.