The Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Institute is announcing the unique, in-kind gift to the Institute of “The First Amendment and the Civil Rights Movement,” text and materials comprising an online course developed in partnership between Florida’s Stetson University and the Freedom Forum of Washington, DC.
C.T. Vivian
“This excellent educational resource is a natural fit to further the Johnson Institute’s mission of fostering understanding of the U.S. Constitution,” said Thomas Rains, Executive Director of the Judge Johnson Institute. We are honored that the authors and the Freedom Forum would entrust the Johnson Institute as the keeper of these resources.”
“The First Amendment and the Civil Rights Movement” incorporates multimedia resources from the Newseum and written and documentary film materials. Many of the cases highlighted took place in Montgomery, AL, and were presided over by Judge Frank Johnson, including Browder v. Gayle, which stemmed from the Montgomery Bus Boycott beginning in 1955, and Williams v. Wallace, which authorized the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. Since 2021, the Johnson Institute has co-hosted the course with the Freedom Forum.
Arlam Carr
With today’s relaunch, the text and materials of “The First Amendment and the Civil Rights Movement,” are structured in a way on the Judge Johnson Institute website to allow for excerpts from the videos and text to be used independently and free of charge by a wide audience–students, educators, and professionals.
The materials, written and developed by Robert Bickel, Professor Emeritus of Stetson University and Gene Policinski, Senior Fellow for the First Amendment for the Freedom Forum, were originally designed as a multimedia course for use by higher education faculty, students, working professionals, and others who wish to explore more fully the intersection between the movement and the First Amendment. (In 2021, the Institute interviewed the authors of the course.)
Starting today, the materials and a full list of interviewees can be found at the following URL: https://www.thejohnsoninstitute.org/1st-amendment-and-the-civil-rights-movement
About the Authors
Professor Emeritus Robert Bickel has been a member of the faculty of Stetson University for more than 35 years. Professor Bickel’s interest in the Civil Rights Movement began in college in 1960 and included the involvement of students in protests against the racial segregation of higher education and the summary retaliation against students for their participation in Civil Rights Movement activities. Professor Bickel earned his J.D. Degree, with highest honors, from Florida State University in 1968. In 1975, while serving as General Counsel for the University, he completed the summer Institute for Educational Management program at Harvard University. In 1965 & 1966, he worked with the first training programs created under the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson.
Professor Bickel has taught and written extensively on the subject of Constitutional Law and Civil Rights History, The First Amendment, and Employment Discrimination Law. He is a recipient of the American Bar Association’s National Award for Continuing Education and has served as an elected member of The American Law Institute. His many published articles and papers include the judicial failure to recognize the duty of states and the federal government to remedy the present effects of historical racial discrimination.
In 2006, Professor Bickel created a travel course that allowed students to travel to major cities identified with the Civil Rights Movement, including Montgomery, Nashville, Birmingham, Selma, Memphis, and Atlanta to meet with Movement veterans and learn this history through firsthand storytelling, an approach to learning championed by Professor Derrick Bell.
Gene Policinski is a Senior Fellow for the First Amendment for the Freedom Forum, where he contributes to the weekly “First Five” commentary on First Amendment issues, responds to news media inquiries, and participates in the wide spectrum of Freedom Forum programs.
One of the founding editors of USA Today, he is a veteran of a 27 year career in journalism, including Gannett Co., Inc. A longtime proponent of diversity as an essential element of a free press, he is a member of the board of directors of "Journalisms," a regular news column on diversity in the news media. As a veteran multimedia journalist, he writes, lectures and is interviewed regularly on the news media and current First Amendment issues. His archived and latest posts may be found on the web site of The Freedom Forum.