Brandeis scholars spoke on the history of the Civil Rights Movement at a panel discussion focused on the year 1955 in the Intercultural Center Thursday, Feb. 16. The American Studies and African and Afro-American Studies departments sponsored the panel in commemoration of Black History Month.Moderated by Assistant Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams, "1955 at a Glance: From Emmett Till to Rosa Parks" featured brief lectures by six Brandeis professors and one history graduate student followed by a question and answer session.

Adams opened the event with his reading of "Self Explanatory," a poem written in response to the brutal lynching of Emmett Till, an African American teenager from Chicago, which took place in Mississippi in 1955.

Panelists examined the Till case and other facets of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the general social and political climate of the Deep South in 1955 as seen through their respective disciplines.

History graduate student Rob Heinrich discussed the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., lead by Martin Luther King Jr. and initiated after Rosa Parks' refusal to yield her seat on the front of a bus to a white passenger.

Prof. Steve Whitfield (AMST), whose 1988 book, A Death in the Delta, discusses the Emmett Till case, explored the significance of the incident and the question of, "Why is one victim's name so known? Why this particular case?"

Prof. Faith Lois Smith (AAAS and ENG) discussed literature written in response to Till's murder. Prof. Auslander (ANTH) spoke about preparations for a trip to the Delta region with Prof. David Cunningham (SOC) and a sociology class over February break. He said the class planned to record oral histories of residents of the area who lived through the years of racial segregation.

One challenge, Auslander said, would be "talking to local people about why [the Emmett Till] case resonates so much."

Prof. Cohen (AMST), who teaches a class on the 1960s that focuses in part on the Civil Right Movement, described several years during the middle of the decade when he left Brandeis for a career in activism in the Deep South, working as part of what he called, "a massive buildup of resistance in the South." Illustrating the intensity of the region's racial conflicts, Cohen recalled seeing a sign that read: "Nigger, Don't Let the Sun Set on You," threatening African Americans to stay out after dark.

Cohen also recounted what he remembered of the campus atmosphere during the Civil Rights Movement. He said that while many students today feel unsure of how to make a difference through social activism, to students of the 1950s and 1960s, "it was very clear what needed to be done."

"Many students went to the South to help the poor," he said. "Brandeis was a center of campus activism."

Adams said this point in the discussion particularly struck his interest, calling Cohen "our living historical reference to have been alive and very conscious at the time."

Prof. Doherty (AMST) spoke about the role television played during the Civil Rights Movement. Doherty said television was "a couple curves ahead of the country in regards to civil rights" and had helped introduce new concepts of diversity to sections of the public which had little contact with black Americans in their everyday lives. With increased television news coverage of current events, Doherty said, "People you wouldn't let in your front door are now in your living room."

The event was organized by American Studies Undergraduate Department Representatives (UDR) Lisa Debin '06, Julia Crantz '06, and American and Afro-American Studies UDR Jason Brodsky '07.

Debin said last semester one of the other UDRs suggested doing an event in response to Rosa Park's death but the scope of the event was widened to discuss the entire Civil Right Movement. "We realized that Rosa Parks and Emmett Till were the same year, and we know that we have a lot of scholars on Emmett Till in the American Studies Department and in AAAS too, so we decided to just do 1955 as a whole.