TYPE OF SITE AND PURPOSE
The Resistance to Jim Crow web site is designed as a teaching resource for 7-12 grade teachers and students. Developed in partnership with the social studies programs in the Fairfax County, Virginia and Washington D.C. school systems, this site will be a primary resource for teachers and students. More than detached consultants, teachers and students are primary stakeholders in the design and content of the site. An advisory group of teachers and students met online and in person (with university stakeholders) twice a month to conceptualize and respond to key design components of the site. This collaboration has resulted in new ways of learning and teaching on the web. Resistance to Jim Crow seeks to tell the stories of ordinary people who fought against segregation in America. The term resistance, as used in this site, refers to individual and group efforts to oppose, interrupt, or stop unjust practices and policies of racial segregation in America. The period following Reconstruction through the late 1960s is the focus of this project. Additionally, the term resistance refers to efforts of individuals and groups to achieve individual and community goals despite unfair civil rights restrictions imposed on African Americans. The site intends to show that African Americans were not passive victims of the unjust system of segregation; indeed, ordinary citizens fought against this oppression on a day-to-day basis. White citizens also participated in acts of resistance.
CONTENT
Resistance to Jim Crow provides a rich resource of historical information on how ordinary American citizens actively and passively fought against de facto (practiced but not the law) and de jure (legal) segregation in America. This site contains interviews with people who were directly involved in opposing segregation through individual or group acts of resistance. Photos, full transcripts, and audio of each interview are included. In some instances, partial videotaped interviews are included. Students and teachers can learn more about collecting and examining oral history interviews by linking to “Making Sense of Oral History.” This essay contains information on preparation, implementation, and interpretation of oral history interviews. The links from this essay, to oral history websites and guidebooks are particularly useful. Oral history interviews conducted by high school juniors and seniors will be selected for posting in the online student Scrapbook. This scrapbook will house an on-going collection of photos, documents, and interviews conducted by students. Interested students must complete an online tutorial and attend a workshop on collecting oral history.
Teacher resources include detailed lesson plans for 7-12 grade students. Designed by teacher consultants these lesson plans include innovative and interactive approaches to teaching about the topic. While many of the lesson plans resemble those found in other excellent sites, several experimental examples are included in each category (link). These lesson plans contain actual links to video presentations by award winning social studies teachers, and can be used in a distributive education format. The video presentations contain interactive activities for students to engage in as active participants. Essays written by teachers and historians provide updated scholarship on the subject. Additional teacher resources include: annotated bibliographies, images, music, primary source documents, and community and documentary videos.
Teachers and students can participate in monthly discussions about segregation, social justice, discrimination, activism, race and racism, and resistance through the monthly online Town Hall meetings. These discussions will feature online guest facilitators or individuals who participated in the oral history interviews. Different formats will be designed for students, and teachers (i.e. students and teachers will not participate in the same Town Hall Meetings). These discussions will take place on the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Related lesson plans and class discussions will precede and proceed the Town Hall Meetings to integrate the learning experience for students. Students and teachers can post their reactions to the Town Hall Meetings by linking to Participate and following the e-mail prompts.
The Image gallery will include photographs and documents of historical events and places in which ordinary people resisted segregation, as well as, photos of interviewees. A sample selection of photographs is included on the homepage. These photographs represent examples of key issues that often led to individual or community resistance. The key issues or categories for this site include education, legal/law, jobs, and public services. In line with the theme, these images will reflect acts of resistance. Social and family portraits will be minimal.
STRUCTURE AND NAVIGATIONMichael O’Malley argues that “the look and feel of a website…are part of its ideology, part of its thesis or argument, and just as we would reject a paper with a jumbled and incoherent thesis, we should reject web materials with a jumbled or inconsistent design.” (p.4). In considering this assertion, Resistance to Jim Crow was designed to symbolize segregation in America and resistance to segregation. The color selection is intended to address this focus. The black and white colors represent the racial groups central to the theme (i.e. whites and African Americans). Red was selected as a power color, connoting that resistance to Jim Crow was empowering for African Americans. Links within the text are also red. Additionally, as O’Malley suggests, “red denotes something ‘hot,’ some action. (p. 5). Indeed, Resistance to Jim Crow is all about taking “action.” O’Malley adds that, “the graphics should function to strengthen the overall argument of a page.” (p.5). He insists that, “a web sites design harmonize with its content and with the message it tries to convey.” (p. 6). The “For Teachers Only” and “For Student Only” signs represent protest against segregation, particularly as manifested in Southern States. Signs on sticks were and are used in protest marches; while, “For Colored Only” and “For Whites Only” signs were posted to indicate restrictions and the separation of races in the Jim Crow South. This site seeks to turn the tables by asserting agency over oppressive symbols. In this case, oppressive signage is appropriated to symbolize protest. A template was designed to insure uniformity in the pages.
Resistance to Jim Crow is structured so that users can link to key information through a variety of channels. The homepage opens with an easy to identify selection menu at the top of the page. The menu on this page and subsequent pages contain links to: Overview, Education, Law/Legal, Jobs, and Public Services. Each page, links back to the homepage. The overview provides information on “how to” navigate the site, as well as, the history and impact of segregation in America. These links contain historical overviews and examples of de facto and de jure segregation and discrimination in each area. Each section contains further links to related bibliographies, lesson plans, images, activities, stories (interviews), resources, and related links. For example, the education link opens with a historical overview of discrimination practices and laws specifically related to education. Users can link to resources, which contain archives of primary documents (i.e. newspaper articles, letters, legislation, contracts, etc.) on the subject. Images include photos of segregated schools, efforts to desegregate schools (i.e. students being escorted by police), and photos of people and places that were interviewed for this project. Resources contain annotated bibliographies and essays on segregation and desegregation in education. Related links contain websites, oral history collections from different projects and museum exhibitions.
The homepage also contains photographs of events and incidents representing each of the key categories in the menu. Users can click onto these photographs and learn more about events involving ordinary people, and the extraordinary impact of their activism on the larger community. An overview of the event is provided with links to similar acts that did not result in headlines. These lesser-known acts also impacted the community. The homepage photographs, selected from the Images archive, include student sit-ins, the Montgomery bus boycott, civil rights and voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, desegregation in Little Rock Arkansas, business boycotts, and ordinary citizens marching for “Justice for All.”
A major focal point of the site includes, “protest” style signs one “For Teachers Only” and one “For Students Only.” Symbolic of signs used to segregate black and white citizens during Jim Crow, these signs are intended to represent the appropriation of power. Users can click onto the signs to link to pages designed specifically with teachers or students in mind. For Teachers Only links to an extensive collection of Lesson Plans for 7-12 grade teachers; Resources for the classroom (i.e. encyclopedias, documentaries, maps, primary source materials, and images); opportunities to Participate by sharing resources with other teachers, developing lesson plans for the site, providing feedback on effective pedagogy, and posting extended comments about Town Hall Meeting discussion topics, and Related links to useful websites and projects. For Students Only links to Resources to enhance learning; Participate contains interactive activities and games of interest to 7-12 grade students, students can also share their thoughts and suggestions in this section; the Scrapbook project allows students to develop skills in oral history collection, interpretation, interviewing and writing, and Discussion Group encourages students to continue dialog on topics related to the Town Hall Meetings, as well as, comments on the site.
The bottom of the homepage and subsequent pages contain direct links to Stories, Images, Lesson Plans, Resources, Participate, and Town Hall Meeting. Stories contain full transcriptions of interviews conducted for this project. The format will be designed and organized similar to the University of Southern Mississippi oral history site (i.e. Audio, Photographs, Topics Discussed, library catalog, biographies of each person, and full transcriptions.) From Stories users can link to the student Scrapbook project, oral history how to sites, and oral history collections on segregation and the fight for Civil Rights. Resources include documentaries, footage from community based initiatives and events, music which reflects the mood and thoughts of the period, and archives of primary source materials. Contents of links to Town Hall Meeting, Participate, Lesson Plans, Resources, and Images were described earlier. All pages are hyper linked to insure ease in navigation.BENEFITS OF DIGITAL FORMAT
This site is unique in that it contains an extensive collection of materials, which focus on resistance to segregation by ordinary citizens. While other sites contain materials useful in the general study of segregation in America, Resistance to Jim Crow fully examines one aspect of segregation. In some cases the actions of ordinary citizens made headlines; however, many of the stories and faces in the masses are unknown. This site seeks to document these lesser-known stories. The expansive nature of digital format provides space for lots of documents. There are many advantages to using digital format in history. Indeed, in “The Pasts and Futures of Digital History, Edward L. Ayers argues that “the new technologies seem tailor-made for history, a match for the growing bulk and complexity of our ever more self-conscious practice, efficient vehicles to connect with larger and more diverse audiences.” (p.1). First and most obvious is the easy access of information to a broad audience. Secondly, the digital format allows for on-going updates, additions, and improvements with minimal cost and less effort than other formats. This is particularly helpful here, as new interpretations and materials emerge from the interviews. Thirdly, this site provides excellent opportunities for the exchange of ideas with peers and experts in the field. Most importantly, people who experienced and resisted Jim Crow can engage in online discussions with a diverse audience, as well as, exercising agency over the way their stories are told.
Unique to this site is a more focused and prominent commitment to student learning and involvement alongside teachers. Unlike other sites on segregation/Jim Crow, Resistance to Jim Crow provides “one stop shopping” for students and teachers interested in resistance. Lastly, the on-going collaboration with the Fairfax County and Washington, D.C. public school systems and GMU insures stakeholders in the continued development, maintenance, and use of the site. Student and teacher input insures that the needs and interests of the primary audience are addressed. They are more than consultants; as stakeholders they are invested in the overall success of the project.
Michael O’Malley suggests that “the more dynamic character of the web can help academic subjects break out of the boxes that contain them, and bring the life of the mind into the student’s daily practice of living.” (p. 2). In this regard, Resistance to Jim Crow is also unique in that it takes new media in new directions. For example, videotaped lesson plans, featuring “master” teachers, with interactive components allow for a distributive learning experience. Home schoolers can work independently on home or library computers, enjoying an active learning environment. Further, through the Scrapbook project high school students will gain hands on experience in oral history collection, interpretation, and interviews, while contributing to the site.REVIEW OF RELATED SITES AND PROJECTS
Several related websites and projects are useful in developing content and structure for this site. Sites related to key components of Resistance to Jim Crow are included in this review. The Civil Rights in Mississippi oral history site contains an extensive collection of stories and materials about the Civil Rights struggle in Mississippi. Resistance to Jim Crow will focus on resistance covering a broader geographical area. Civil Rights in Mississippi is listed as an exemplary oral history website in the History Matters project at George Mason University. The home page contains links to: Digital Collections, Oral Histories, Manuscripts, Photographs, Manuscript Finding Aids, Civil Rights in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Other Civil Rights Resources, Copyright, and a Special Collections Digital Lab). The Digital Collections link takes the user to a different site, which is not hyperlinked to the Civil Rights in Mississippi home page. By entering the keywords “Civil Rights” in the search archive box, an over 500 primary source menu of items appear. By clicking onto “Photographs” from the main menu, a photo log (Herbert Randall) containing over 200 items can be accessed. The photo log should not be confused with an actual collection of images. This log simply lists numbers and descriptions in a list format; there are no actual photos available. A bit confusing, this link connects the user to the University of Southern Mississippi McCain Library and Archives site, which is not hyperlinked to the original homepage. While, as in these examples, the navigability is a bit choppy, the materials housed in this site and subsequent links are invaluable and extensive. Resistance to Jim Crow will provide smoother navigation. Subsequent links are easy to navigate and takes the user directly to materials. The organization and cataloging of the transcripts are exemplary. The format for individual interviews includes links to the USM libraries, and the USM Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Each entry is protected by copyright, and includes a detailed index of “topics discussed,” a biography of each interviewee, an overview of the transcript and full transcription, library source catalog, geographical areas discussed in the interview, time period covered, and special notations. Some audio interviews and photos are also included. Similar uniformity is seen in the manuscript collections, which are named in honor of the collections’ original owners or leadership. These features make research easy for students and teachers; a similar format will be used in Resistance to Jim Crow.
Another helpful oral history site on segregation is Behind the Veil. This project, through extensive collections of oral history, intends to “correct historical misrepresentations of African American experiences during the period of legal segregation in the United States.” An on-going project involving collaborations with other colleges and universities, this site is also connected to the Remembering Jim Crow project and site housed at Duke University. Behind the Veil is co-directed by historians; however, there are no essays contained here. Resistance to Jim Crow differs in that primarily teachers and historians will provide lesson plans and essays. Behind the Veil also contains interviews conducted by undergraduate students. In the “American Communities: An Oral History Approach” section student work is posted. Users will find photographs, documents, and segments of taped interviews. The high school student Scrapbook will resemble this project. Remembering Jim Crow provides a good working definition of “Jim Crow” which will be included in this site’s overview. They explain, “for much of the 20th century, African Americans in the South were barred from the voting booth, sent to the back of the bus, and walled off from many of the rights they deserved as American citizens. Until well into the 1960s, segregation was legal. The system was called “Jim Crow.” Like Remembering Jim Crow, Resistance to Jim Crow will also include the stories of ordinary white Americans who resisted segregation; however, the stories in Resistance to Jim Crow will focus more on whites who resisted versus those who observed Jim Crow. Similar to the intent of Behind the Veil, Resistance to Jim Crow will focus on untold stories of ordinary people. Transcriptions of interviews have not yet been posted; however, Behind the Veil will contain an invaluable and extensive collection of untold stories. Links to Behind the Veil will be included in this site. Behind the Veil documents “African American Life in the Jim Crow South, “ while Resistance to Jim Crow will include examples of de facto segregation in the North. The photo archives (gallery) in Behind the Veil, center on everyday life portraits of ordinary people in social settings. While the Image collections in Resistance to Jim Crow will include significantly fewer social photos, these will be included only in relationship to a larger context. The majority of the images in Resistance to Jim Crow will center on active and passive forms of resistance. In line with the overall interpretation of the site, these images will denote “action.”
The History Matters project contains excellent resources for oral history on line. “Making Sense of Oral History” written by Linda Shopes, provides “a place for students and teachers to begin working with oral history interviews as historical evidence,” it also includes tips for evaluating oral history sites. Unfortunately, hypertextuality is not regularly used in this essay so reading may be a bit tedious, especially for students. The “Oral History Online” section is most useful. It contains a list of exemplary oral history sites, oral history guides, and tips for evaluating oral history on line. Students and teachers can use this information as part of their preparation for conducting oral history interviews. A link to this site will be included in Resistance to Jim Crow. Resource links will also include the Southern Oral History Project (SOHP) based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A rich resource, this site contains a guidebook and other materials helpful in assisting interviewers organize their interviews. Additionally, SOHP “actively promotes a wide range of oral history outreach efforts designed to facilitate the use of oral history in classrooms and community scholarship.” Resistance to Jim Crow will offer similar online and actual workshops for teachers and students.
The History of Jim Crow site designed as a resource for teachers contains a wealth of information. The teacher resources and interactive activities for students are comprehensive and well organized. Easy to navigate, this site offers uniformity in content and presentation of lesson plans, and essays written largely by history professors. Resistance to Jim Crow will include similar lesson plans, and essays with uniform formats, which makes readability easier for the user. As mentioned earlier, some experimental lesson plans will include videotaped interactive presentations by “master” teachers. This allows for a distributive learning environment. The History of Jim Crow does not contain such lesson plans.
Resistance to Jim Crow will include simulations, detective-like games, word games, online quizzes for extra credit, and other interactive activities in which students will have to make decisions and choices in these interactive environments. Additional activities for students can be found at <http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/simulations.htm>. The History of Jim Crow simulations were designed “to motivate students to learn more about this period in history.” In these interactive activities, which include “Historical Simulations, Cognitive Organizers, Essay Questions, Mini Quizzes, Primary Source Analysis, and Prediction Centers,” students engage in decision-making process which leads to different paths. These activities provide excellent opportunities for interactive student learning and will serve as a model for this site.
Sample games and activities can also be found on the Educators Guide to Internet Resources and the Scholastic teachers site . The Educator’s Guide contains resources that help teachers “integrate technology in the curriculum.” More over, a section entitled, “Student Research and Educational Games” provide student users with a variety of self-paced interactive games and activities. The Scholastic Teachers site houses simulations and games such as “History Mystery.” With modifications on graphics this game concept will be attractive to older students.TECHNICAL PLAN
The History of Jim Crow site incorporates some of the new media features that will appear in Resistance to Jim Crow; therefore, the designers were contacted to share their suggestions in developing the technical plan. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX (education version) is the primary software used to construct this site’s web pages. Daniel Jorissen of Mindwise Media, the technical designers of the History of Jim Crow website, suggested that “Microsoft FrontPage is a good tool for building Web sites, and the manuals show you how to create rollovers, popup windows, and many of the other features used at Jimcrowhistory.org.” Dreamweaver is preferred over Frontpage because it allows for more flexibility. While both software packages allow for convenient design, Dreamweaver tends to be more consistent and provides file transfer mechanisms. Resistance to Jim Crow will be in a flat html format. To install video and sound clips, conversion to the MPEG format allows these resources to be uploaded achieving accessibility on the browser. Photoshop 7.0 will be used because it has tools which allow historians/designers to create high quality images, modify images, create shading and shadows, and crop or enlarge images. This allows for the custom design of images. As suggested by Paula Petri, images will be saved as Tif files to insure the highest quality. Photoshop is helpful in creating sharp graphic designs and images. Macromedia flash software will allow graphic images to resemble a moving picture. The digital archive of images will be achieved by uploading image files to related pages. Rollovers, flash, hyperlinks, and tables are features that can be achieved by using Dreamweaver. In order to fully explore the site, users will need to download the following software: Real Player or Media Player; Macromedia Flash plug-ins.
To achieve the online monthly Town Hall Meetings web crossing software is needed. GMU has a web crossing server which enables online discussions. The Instructional Resource Center site explains that, “Web Crossing is a software product published by Lundeen & Associates that runs on a Web server allowing users to create and participate in online discussion forums. These discussion forums can be either synchronous (real-time chat) or asynchronous (message posting in a "bulletin board" format) and can be accessed by any user with a Web browser (no special software or plug-ins are needed - a Java enabled Web browser is required for the synchronous chat feature). Townhall is George Mason University's Web Crossing server.” The availability of this software and trained technicians provide an excellent resource for online discussions, as well as, a “bulletin board” for further comments and suggestions.
CONCLUSION
Most of the sites examined, for this proposal, focus on legal segregation in the American South. Resistance to Jim Crow also intends to include acts of resistance to de facto segregation practiced in the North. The interactive activities such as the student Scrapbook project, and the monthly Town Hall Meetings are concepts not fully developed on related sites. The exclusive focus on resistance makes this site unique. While Remembering Jim Crow has a section on resistance, the scope of resistance in Resistance to Jim Crow is much more extensive. Further, the design of this site is symbolic of the racial tensions, as well as, the efforts to resist inequities in American society. Teachers and students can actively engage in the learning and teaching process. A strong commitment to student users is evident throughout the site. This equal attention to student and teacher resources is not evident in the other sites examined for this project.
Behind the Veil
<http://cds.aas.duke.edu/btv/btvindex.htm>Civil Rights in Mississippi
<www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/crda/index.html>Educators Guide to Internet Resources
<http://users.cwnet.com/jedman/index.html>George Mason University Instructional Resource Center
<http://www.irc.gmu.edu/townhall>Remembering Jim Crow
<http://americanradioworks.org/features/remembering/index.html>Scholastic Teacher Resources
<http//teacher.scholastic.com>Southern Oral History Project (SOHP)
<http://www.sohp.org>The History of Jim Crow
<http://www.jimcrowhistory.org>Edward L. Ayers, "The Pasts and Futures of Digital History," (1999)
<http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/PastsFutures.html>Daniel Jorissen, Mindwise Media, LLC for the Jim Crow History website design. (dan@mindwise.com)
Michael O'Malley, "Building Effective Course Sites: Some Thoughts on Design for Academic Work,"
Invention,Spring 2000. <http://chnm.gmu.edu/assets/historyessays/e1/buildingeffect1.html>Paula Petrik, "Photoshop For Historians" Guest lecture in Clio Wired Class, 9-30-02
Linda Shopes, "Making Sense of Oral History," (1999)
<http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/>