Teaching the history and legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, vice president of equity and inclusion at Mount Holyoke College, met with other college educators to craft tools and classes to teach the history of the Civil Rights Movement.
As questions over how American schools teach Black history grow more urgent, Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, vice president of equity and inclusion at Mount Holyoke College, met with more than two dozen educators and veterans of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to discuss how to teach college students about the Civil Rights Movement.
A recent article in USA Today reported on the three-day summit that was hosted by the SNCC Legacy Project in Washington, D.C., and aimed to equip educators with tools to teach about this watershed moment that changed the nation.
“This is the time [when] students want to learn about the Civil Rights Movement. They want to know these stories,” said Sanders-McMurtry.
This summit came at a critical time as the federal government is currently seeking to adopt restrictions regarding what history can be taught in classrooms and at institutions. In August, President Trump complained on his social media platform that the Smithsonian focused too much on “how bad Slavery was.”
Sanders-McMurtry added that the Civil Rights history is a source of inspiration for current college students who want to protect their rights.
“College students care deeply about what’s going to happen in the world,” she said.
