Retrospectives, analyses, and opinions by Movement activists. Open to any veteran of the Southern Freedom Movement during the years 1951-1968 who is listed in the Activist Roll Call. See Submissions Policy for more information.See also: The Southern Freedom Movement for articles written by veterans at the time the Movement was active.
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in these commentaries are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Civil Rights Movement Archive.
Collection: What the Civil Rights Movement Taught Us
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2000, 1990s, 1980s, 1960s & '70s
2024
2023
| An Introduction to John O'Neal's Work and SNCC | Charlie Cobb |
| Bob Moses: Neither Victim Nor Executioner | Mike Miller |
| Death Knell for the Voting Rights Act ~ Yesterday & Tomorrow | Bruce Hartford |
| Thoughts on the
Supreme Court's ruling on Affirmative Action Admissions | Raphael Cassimere Jr. |
| American Hypocrisy | Bruce Hartford |
| From Stokely Carmichael to Kwame Ture | Charlie Cobb |
| Letters of Support for Expelled Tennessee Legislators | SNCC Legacy Project (SLP) |
| Dr. King ¡Presente! | Ted Glick |
| The White Supremacist Attack on Education | SNCC Legacy Project (SLP) |
| I Have Seen Freedom | Si Kahn |
2022
| Registering Black Voters one Soul at a Time | Sherie Labedis |
| "Politics is white folk's business!" The Citizens' Councils of Mississippi | Mike Sayer |
| More Than Condolences, My Late Husband Needs You To Vote | Shirley Sherrod |
| Statement on Presidential Medal of Freedom | Diane Nash |
| Commencement Address & Hall of Fame Induction | Raphael Cassimere Jr. |
| The U.S. Supreme Court's Attacks on Democracy | SNCC Legacy Project (SLP) |
| MAGA: Back to 1868 | Bruce Hartford |
| Civil Rights Activists Fought for America's Democracy ... | David Dennis Jr. |
| Interview on Being a Freedom School Teacher | Chude Allen |
| J'Accuse! Power, Control and Sexual Abuse | Fatima Cortez |
| Unsung Heroes & Sheroes of the Movement in New Orleans | Raphael Cassimere Jr. |
| The Ukraine War | Bruce Hartford |
| From Georgia and Virginia to Harlem and Beyond... | Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely |
| The Civil Rights Movement Did Not Fail | Bruce Hartford |
2021
| SCLC & Me (Taliaferro Co. GA movement) | Terry V. Howard |
| Banning Critical Race Theory Ignores Truths All Students Must Hear | Charles Prickett |
| Returning to 'Normal' in Education is Not Good Enough | Bob Moses |
| Jane Stembridge – A SNCC Origin Story | Maria Varela |
| Selma, and the Long Struggle for Voting Rights | Bruce Hartford |
| Teachers: We've Seen This Before and We Stand With You | SLP & CRMA |
| Oh, That Can't Happen Here — Can It? | Bruce Hartford |
| Statement on the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides | Bob Zellner |
| "More Than a Hamburger" | Courtland Cox |
| Jim Crow Voting Laws ~ Then and Now | Bruce Hartford |
| Hate Against Asian Americans & Asian Women | Marion Kwan |
| Wasn't That A Time: ... Freedom Singers Matthew & Marshall Jones | Susan Erenich |
2020
| Thoughts & Comments on the Mass Protests & Anti-Racist Movement of 2020 | ||
| Many Voices | Thoughts & Comments of Freedom Movement Veterans | |
| Courtland Cox & Charlie Cobb | Protest, Race, and the American Future | |
| National Council of Elders | NCOE Condemns Police Killings of George Floyd and Police Violence Against Protestors | |
| Peggy Damond Preacely | Reflection on the Night of May 30, 2020.....in Los Angeles | |
| Mike Miller | Black Lives Matter and the State of the Union | |
| Sheila Long | Fifty-Five Years Later | |
| Marion Kwan | My Take: Protesting in 2020 | |
| Josh Gould | I Ain't Mr. Jones | |
| Michael Rooke-Ley | Impossible to Ignore Any Longer: | |
| Harcourt Klinefelter | Speech at Black Lives Matter Protest, Almere, Netherlands | |
| Joyce Ladner | Democracy Dies in Darkness | |
| Jan Hillegas | Linking Past, Present and Future | |
| Sherie Labedis | Protest March | |
| Rubye Howard Braye | Black, Female, and Awake in America — 2020 | |
| Eric Mann | The Struggle for No Police in the Los Angeles Schools | |
| Ron Ridenour | Looking Back at Today's Uprisings |
2019
| From Protest to Power | Mike Miller |
| Statement by SLP on the racist assaults against Latinx people | SNCC Legacy Project |
| Fifty Years On, Looking Back on the Freedom Movement | Bruce Hartford |
| You Are Your Ancestor's Wildest Dreams! | Daphne Muse |
| Presentation to a Mennonite congregation | Chude Allen |
2018
| Power and Hope | Harry Boyte |
| Trump and the Incitement of Violence | SNCC Legacy Project |
| Remembering Mattie Bivens Dennis | SNCCC Legacy Project |
| In Memory of Mattie Bivens & George Greene | Dorie Ladner |
| The Kavanaugh Court | Bruce Hartford |
| Southern White Activists on Why They Joined the Movement | Multiple authors |
| Meditation on July 4th | Bruce Hartford |
| Selma: The Bridge and Beyond | Alma Jean Billingslea Brown |
| Building & Transferring Informational Wealth: SNCC Digital Gateway | Multiple authors |
| A Funeral Sermon for Charles F. McDew | Timothy L. Jenkins |
| Statement on Misuse of My Name | Diane Nash |
| The Great Silence | Bruce Hartford |
| Teacher Training: Freedom Summer Style | Mark Levy |
| Citizenship Then and Now: Launch of the Obama Foundation | Harry Boyte |
2017
| Cynthia Stokes Brown Stood Firmly in Her Power and Honored Her Truth | Daphne Muse |
| Remembrances of Mrs. Hamer on her 100th Birthday | Many friends |
| SLP Statement on the Rescinding of DACA | SNCC Legacy Project |
| Response to NY Times Op-Ed "Waiting for a Perfect Protest?" | Many Movement activists |
| Remembering the Mailman's March of 1963 | Muriel Tillinghast |
| Nonviolence after Charlottesville | Harry Boyte |
| Three Responses to Charlottesville: We Did it Before, We'll Do it Again Free Speech vs Hate Speech The Measure of Our Stride |
Bruce Hartford |
| The Cluster Bomb of 110 Trump Axioms | Timothy L. Jenkins |
| John Dewey and Citizen Politics | Harry Boyte |
| Three Voices on Horror, Defiance and Love | Allen, Bridgeforth & Hartford |
| This Button Was My Badge | Stuart Ewen |
| Honoring Their Departure | Daphne Muse |
| The Limits of "Clicktivism" | Bruce Hartford |
| Citizens as Co-Creators of a Democratic Way of Life | Harry Boyte |
2016
