Civil Rights Students Zoom with Dr. Payne

In his Civil Rights Movement course, Upper School History teacher Andy Bigelow leads students through an interdisciplinary experience between the history and literature of this momentous period. As he was working on the text I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle, Bigelow seized upon an opportunity to connect his class with the book’s author, Dr. Charles M. Payne, in a Zoom experience.

Dr. Payne is an academic, author, the Henry Rutgers Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Rutgers University–Newark, Frank P. Hixon professor in the School of Social Service Administration at The University of Chicago and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. He is considered an expert in urban education and school reform, social inequality, social change and modern African-American history.

I’ve Got the Light of Freedom details the history of the early Civil Rights Movement in the South from the perspective of countless unsung heroes who risked everything to advance the movement. In his Zoom with Bigelow’s students, Dr. Payne shared his story as a teacher at Williamsburg who fostered the growth of a one-week unit on civil rights to a year-long course. He decided to write this book to focus on the people lower in the hierarchy of history and provide a better historical accounting of the Civil Rights Movement than was available at the time.

Dr. Payne said he was pleased that young people still used his book to teach organizing, as building relationships is a timeless skill. Conversely, he is disappointed that once money began flowing into the movement, corruption often quickly followed.

Dr. Payne welcomed questions from students and offered insights into his personal motivations to push through sadness and hurt while writing, the people who proved to be his most abundant resources, the presence of sexism at the time of the movement and more.

In closing his time with these students, Dr. Payne emphasized that the history currently taught gives too much importance to those at the top of hierarchies versus those at the bottom, stating, “You can’t understand how this country has changed and who paid the price by looking at it from the bottom up. The little people have much to teach us about change in their time and our time.”

Parker thanks Dr. Payne for taking time to hold class with students and add an extra dimension to their coursework.

Check out photos from the Zoom here.