I had some excellent social studies teachers in high school.

That's Midwood High School, in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York,

where I gained a good grasp of American government from Mr. Wilner,

and Mrs. Altman made sure I learned the basics of American history.

But neither taught me much about the civil rights movement, and nobody

taught me anything about the Black Freedom Struggle outside the South. It really is a shame I didn't

learn more about the Black Freedom Struggle, especially in northern cities like New York. My hometown

has such a rich history

of African American activism,

from the nonviolent direct action protests

of Corps in Brooklyn and Queens

to the black nationalist proselytizing

of Minister Malcolm in Harlem.

Now intuitively, I knew these were more than just riots.

Violence, for the sake of violence, just made no sense to me.

But I had no factual basis to support my hypothesis.

It was frustrating knowing there was more to know about uprisings.

And I suspect students feel the same way today

when they see people taking to the streets

in Ferguson, Minneapolis, and Louisville.

The civil rights movement was never strictly

a southern phenomenon.

...