Open Yale Courses

AFAM 162 - Lecture 22 - Public Policy and Presidential Politics

In this lecture, Professor Holloway gives a political biography of Jesse Jackson as a way to help understand the shifting cultural politics of the 1960s, the rise of a different array of politics in the 1970s, and the high politics of the 1980s. Professor Holloway traces Jackson’s ascension into Martin Luther King’s inner-circle, his work in Chicago with Operation Breadbasket and then later with Operation PUSH, his reaction to King’s assassination, his national economic boycotts, and his 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns.

AFAM 162 - Lecture 21 - The Politics of Gender and Culture (continued)

With Martin Luther King’s assassination, the collapse of SNCC, and the self-destruction of the Black Panthers, one would think that all promise had faded in regards to the possibility of black political and social advancement. But in this lecture, Professor Holloway examines moments of hope for black political organization, including Carl Stokes’s 1967 mayoral victory in Cleveland, the formation of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969, and the 1972 National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana.

AFAM 162 - Lecture 20 - The Politics of Gender and Culture

The early 1970s marked a moment of social confusion, violence, and cultural excitement carried over from the late 1960s. In this lecture, Professor Holloway canvasses some of the political turmoil of this era and the ways that it was reflected in popular culture. By examining musical achievements like Marvin Gaye’s album, What’s Going On?, and some of Stevie Wonder’s songs recorded around this time, it becomes clear that black cultural producers were wrestling with Vietnam, economic despair, ecological despair, poverty, and urban decay.

AFAM 162 - Lecture 19 - Black Power (continued)

As the movement moved out of the South and away from a largely Christian orientation, it became clear that people were prepared to enlarge the struggle so that it became linked to international issues including the war in Vietnam, the spread of capitalism, and the exploitation of developing countries. Yet for every moment of great promise, there was a moment of great confusion and despair. In this lecture, Professor Holloway traces the competing lines of activism, change, struggle, frustration, and political brinksmanship that occurred in the late sixties.

AFAM 162 - Lecture 18 - Black Power

Just as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X have been mythologized in American history, organizations and individuals affiliated with the Black Power call have also been romanticized as well as demonized in such a way that the truth behind their image has been lost.

AFAM 162 - Lecture 17 - From Voting Rights to Watts (continued)

In this lecture, Professor Holloway focuses on the events between 1964 and 1966 that contribute to a fundamental shift in the tone and tactics of the civil rights movement. By examining the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party’s quest to seat alternate delegates at the Democratic National Convention in 1964; “Bloody Sunday” and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery; the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act; and the riots that summer in Watts, a poor neighborhood in Los Angeles, Professor Holloway reveals that people were struggling with the new tactical change in the movement.

AFAM 162 - Lecture 16 - From Voting Rights to Watts

In this lecture, Professor Holloway revisits Malcolm X’s life in order to offer a more nuanced interpretation of the black leader than is traditionally taught. Professor Holloway links Malcolm X to a tradition of black intellectuals and political activists like Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and Robert Williams, and he explores the philosophy of the Nation of Islam (NOI), the organization for which Malcolm X is the national spokesman before his split with Elijah Muhammad in 1964.

AFAM 162 - Lecture 15 - From Sit-Ins to Civil Rights (continued)

In this lecture, Professor Holloway offers a richer portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. than his “I Have a Dream Speech” speech provides. Though King’s message and delivery are precious moments in this nation’s history, and excerpts are familiar to virtually all American school children, King’s opinion of society and its remedy have been frozen in time and reduced to a few moments of his famous speech.

AFAM 162 - Lecture 14 - From Sit-Ins to Civil Rights

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement have become embodied in each other. But in this lecture, Professor Holloway asks: what of the other activists in the struggle? What of the other organizations involved in the struggle? And what of the history of the struggle before King reluctantly emerged on the scene?

AFAM 162 - Lecture 13 - The Road to Brown and Little Rock

In this lecture, Professor Holloway presents an overview of the civil rights events that took place between the end of World War II and Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. A critical survey of the histories behind such famous events as the desegregation of the Armed Forces, the formation of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), the elimination of the all-white primary, and the Supreme Court’s Brown decision demonstrate how complicated the story of the civil rights movement is.

You are here