In STCC 1960s class, unsettled history offers insight into today’s social movements

By LAURIE LOISEL

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Professor J. Anthony Guillory believes many people today have a fundamental misunderstanding about the social movements that roiled the United States in the 1960s. They think those upheavals got the job done.

Guillory’s Social Change in the 1960s, a three-credit course in the history department, urges students to look closely at the iconic revolutions of that era: Vietnam War protests, the civil rights movement, the fight for women’s liberation and gay rights.

“Our perception of civil rights is that a lot of things are settled. We had the movement. Things are better. Stop,” Guillory said. “These movements may not have been as effective or powerful as we tend to talk about. The work is not done.”

Guillory, who earned a Ph.D. at UMass Amherst in 2015, has taught at Springfield Technical Community College since 2012. He also teaches at the University of North Texas where he is a lecturer in the department of history and advisor to the African American Studies minor.

It was while he was teaching a U.S. History survey course at STCC that he got the idea to develop a course that would focus entirely on a period commonly referred to as the “long sixties,” from about 1954 to 1975. That section of the survey course tends to be hugely popular among students, he noted. Meanwhile, as a historian, he came to believe there was much room for people to engage with discussions about the period in a way that could be illuminating.

Using videos, including the famous “Eyes on the Prize” PBS series and “Stonewall Uprising,” the book “Reassessing the Sixties: Debating the Cultural and Political Legacy” and articles about lesser known movements of the time, Guillory sets students on a path of reflecting on movements whose history, as he puts it, “is not quite settled.”

He likes challenging students’ preconceived ideas about how much real change those social movements affected.

A lot of people are referring to this as the new civil rights movement. Richard Greco, STCC dean of liberal and professional studies

“There’s not a single group that we can look at and say we accomplished this,” Guillory said. “The stories are either more complicated, more nuanced or didn't quite end the way they thought.”

Richard Greco, STCC dean of liberal and professional studies, said he was excited to put Guillory’s 1960s class on the course list for this semester because he felt there were comparisons to be made between the movements of the 1960s and the current racial justice protests under the Black Lives Matter movement.

“A lot of people are referring to this as the new civil rights movement,” he said. “History doesn’t really repeat itself, but there are patterns that emerge, and we can learn from those patterns to identify what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong and how to avoid the same pitfalls.”

Guillory understands why people want to make the comparison between the Civil Rights and the Black Lives Matter movements, but he believes they are distinct, each a product of their times, and that today’s movement is not a continuation of the earlier one. “They’re asking for something very different,” he said. “Their approaches are very different.”

He hopes to help students develop a fuller understanding and critical view of the historical context in which such movements are created.

“I look at issues of continuing debate, so civil rights is still a conversation, LGBT is still a conversation, Vietnam is still a discussion,” he said. “I look at topics that have had and continue to have historical impact.”

He also poses questions about the ways a political movement might have been limited by the times into which it emerged, for example, the broader civil rights movement’s approach to gay rights, or, as he put it, “the way in which many people who were supportive of civil rights efforts were quite unhelpful with the advocacy for LGBTQ people.”

Mainly, Guillory’s goal is to get students to question their assumptions about absolute truths.

Greco noted that when Guillory was on the STCC faculty full-time, he taught both in-person courses and online courses. He said he is pleased that after his move to Texas he could continue teaching at STCC. “Anthony is an extremely intelligent and invaluable resource to our institution,” Greco said.

He is particularly excited about Guillory’s course on the spring roster, Historical Urban Development, which will look closely at the growth of Massachusetts gateway cities like Springfield, Worcester, Lowell and Pittsfield.  He believes history courses always have great relevance for contemporary times.

“We’ll never understand who we’re becoming until we understand who we were,” Greco said.

Interested in applying to STCC? Visit stcc.edu/apply or call Admissions at (413) 755-3333.

About Springfield Technical Community College

STCC, the Commonwealth's only technical community college, continues the pioneering legacy of the Springfield Armory with comprehensive and technical education in manufacturing, STEM, healthcare, business, social services, and the liberal arts. STCC's highly regarded workforce, certificate, degree, and transfer programs are the most affordable in Springfield and provide unequalled opportunity for the vitality of Western Massachusetts. Founded in 1967, the college – a designated Hispanic Serving Institution – seeks to close achievement gaps among students who traditionally face societal barriers. STCC supports students as they transform their lives through intellectual, cultural, and economic engagement while becoming thoughtful, committed and socially responsible graduates.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jim Danko, (413) 755-4812, jdanko@stcc.edu

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