Parting the Waters/ Early Reconstruction (to p. 311)

1. Tell us the origins and difference between the First Baptist Church (Colored) and the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama; and then tell us one of the most critically significant characteristics you find in the Rev. Vernon Johns. What was the legacy of Reconstruction on these two churches?

2. What was the connection between John D. Rockefeller and Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta--and how was this connection significant?

3. Sum up King's overall experience at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. What was the impact of Reinhold Niebuhr on his aspirations there?

4. What did King want to accomplish at Dexter in his first year there in 1954 (September), and what event in the following year transformed the nature of his ministry? How?

5. How do you think King most influenced the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

6. Why was King tried and convicted, and what did his conviction illustrate about the leadership of the growing Civil Rights' Movement? What were the ideas of Civil Disobedience?

7. After the Greensboro sit-in, briefly explain three of the events you find most critical to the "quickening" of the Civil Rights' Movement.

8. In these first chapters, how does Branch depict the role of M.L. King in the development of the early Civil Rights' struggle? Do you think he overstates the significance of King in these early chapters? Why or why not?

Parting the Waters/ Movement (311-end)

9. (Chapters 8 & 9): If Theodore White romanticized the role of the president in The Making of the President, 1960, how does Taylor describe the relationship between presidential politics and the Civil Rights Movement in these chapters "Shades of Politics" and "A Pawn of History"?

JFK Acceptance Speech 15 July 1960: American Rhetoric/

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfk1960dnc.htm

10. (Chapters 10 & 11): What was the early relationship between the Kennedy administration and Civil Rights leaders concerned about voting rights, and how do you think this relationship was affected by the first Freedom Rides in May of 1961?

11. (Chapters 12 & 13): How do you think the Summer of Freedom Rides affected voter registration efforts, and then how do you think the actions of Bob Moses in McComb, Mississippi affected this relationship? McComb, Mississippi: http://www.mccombms.com/ & find Pictures in Google Images.

12. (Chapters 14 &15): In what ways was MLK's leadership critical in Albany, Georgia, and then more generally in 1962--in 'the last year of postwar innocence"?

(December 16, 1961 in Albany, Georgia)

13. (Chapters 16 & 17): In chapters 16 and 17, we see MLK's leadership tested. What did he mean by "I don't want to be a fireman anymore," and in the fight over "Ole Miss"?

14. (Chapters 18 & 19): What was the significance of King's Letter from the Birminghham Jail, and what was the public response to it? Why?

15. (Chapters 20 & 21): What was the "Children's Miracle," and in what ways were King's principles tested in the month before the March on Washington?

16. (Chapters 21 & 22 & 23): How did the March on Washington affect King and the Movement? What does Taylor mean by "crossing over" when he addresses "nightmares and dreams" in the final chapter?