This course will use excerpts from the renowned TV series, Eyes on the Prize, as the basis for an examination of economic, social, and other forms of marginalization of Black Americans from 1954 through 1965. During the years from the Montgomery bus boycott to Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, great strides were made in an effort to secure basic rights and social justice for Black Americans. Through the use of archival film and interviews with people involved in the civil rights struggle, Eyes on the Prize is a compelling overview of the degree to which the United States has, and has not, fulfilled the promise written in its founding documents, especially in light of the current Black Lives Matter movement.
Larry Rand has a Bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard, and a Master’s in History from Trinity College. He taught history and constitutional law at Kent School in Connecticut for 40 years, eighteen of which were spent as chair of the history department. He is Program Director at the Taconic Learning Center in Salisbury, CT, an adult education program much like the LLP, where he has taught Constitutional Law and Documentary Films.
