Young women and young men marching with American flag. Residential street with homes in background.

15 – Civil Rights / Nonviolence

Updated 2025 Fall

Background Reading

“Civil Rights.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-rights/

“Nonviolence.” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Center. Stanford U.

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/nonviolence

Texas Pathblazers

Great Debaters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Debaters

East Texas History
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ethj/vol40/iss1/8/

J. Leonard Farmer, Sr
Overview by Gail K. Beil

Farmer Sr. in spectacles and dark suit — J. Leonard Farmer, Sr.

Isaiah 2:4
http://biblehub.com/isaiah/2-4.htm

Matthew 6:10
http://biblehub.com/matthew/6-10.htm

Famous Austin, TX Lectures

Howard Thurman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Thurman

Jesus and the Disinherited

1948 lectures delivered at Huston-Tillotson University, Austin, TX at the invitation of Dr. J. Leonard Farmer, Sr.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Jesus_and_the_Disinherited.html?id=VhmpTBx_Ms4

Howard Thurman’s broadcast on the evening of MLK’s assassination, April 4, 1968 (YouTube)

King

Background

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

Classic Text

Letter from Birmingham Jail

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

Online Archive of King’s writings at Stanford

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/about-papers-project

Chavez

Background

Cesar Chavez

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Chavez

Acuña on Overlooked Intellectuals (background)

http://mexmigration.blogspot.com/2014/01/acuna-overlooked-public-intellectuals.html

March to Sacramento Begins. March 1966, Delano, California. Photo by Harvey Richards. (Wikimedia)

Farmworker Strike (video)

“Prejudice and Pride” Episode 5 of Latino Americans go to 59:00

Classic Text

Plan of Delano (pdf)

Gender/Sexuality

Talia Bettcher. “Feminist Perspectives on Trans Issues.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2014

Refugee Rights

Alexander Betts. “The Normative Terrain of the Global Refugee Regime.” Ethics and International Affairs, Oct. 7, 2015. ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org

Database Suggestion

Azaransky, Sarah. “Citizenship In Jesus And The Disinherited.” Black Theology: An International Journal 11.3 (2013): 281-304. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.

“In this section, I argue that Thurman equips us to analyze contemporary American experiences of racism and citizenship on the US-Mexico border, in three specific ways. First, Thurman suggests that racial identity affects a person’s citizenship status. Second, Thurman considers how the citizenship status of White citizens is sustained by an “other-than-self reference.” Third, Thurman illustrates that unscrambling racial identity from citizenship may allow White citizens to become human.” (Azaransky 295)