Exploring Civil Rights through video production By Madison Dean Washburn University continues to expand its students’ knowledge on important topics in history, including civil rights. Exploring Civil Rights is a class that goes above and beyond the typical conversations surrounding civil rights and the movement itself. “I decided to take [this] class…to really learn the truth about what happened,” said Kim Korber, a senior mass media major. “I remember as soon as I got to college [I learned] that some of the things I learned in high school weren’t correct.” The upper-division course can be taken as a history, mass media or English credit and applies each subject into the class in different ways. History is the main focus and covers civil rights. English is included in the discussions that are held during the class and the required reflection papers. The mass media element, which was implemented a few years ago, allows students to create a video documenting their trip to the South. The trip is a huge part of this course. Students visit museums and important historical sites such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s first church, the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the University of Mississippi’s campus. The road trip covers Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. Matthew Nyquist, an assistant professor in the mass media department, was recruited to the team of teachers last year. “It’s been one of my highlights of being at Washburn,” Nyquist said. “There’s really no better way to experience history than to do it firsthand.” During the trip, students learned about the violence and activism during the civil rights movement through stories, pictures and videos. Some of them were graphic, which can have a
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Photo by Matt Nyquist
Students stand with civil rights activist Dr. Flonzie Brown Wright in front of her first house in Canton, Mississippi. Brown Wright tells stories from the movement and her work with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
huge impact on those who are exposed to them. “This class is phenomenally important because it gives you a first-hand experience of very important history that most of us, including myself, [are] ignorant of,” Nyquist said. Introducing a mass media aspect in the class pushes students to learn about how to process and report what they learned during the trip through film. “I think with media it’s … thinking about what’s important and portraying that and making sure I’m learning and being able to show that to other people,” Korber said. The trip successfully took place during spring break this year, before the Coronavirus outbreak forced isolation. While at home, students still have the opportunity to edit and submit a video about what they learned during the trip in hopes of helping to educate others about civil rights.
