On October 8, AAS 104 students left their books behind to speak directly with living history: a man who was active in the civil rights movement. Students in DAAS Teaching Professor Scott Ellsworth’s course, “Nonviolence: From Montgomery to the World,” were already learning about the historical period from course texts like David Halberstam’s The Children. But that day, they had a unique opportunity to learn from Ron Ginsburg, 91, a former attorney for the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, who traveled the South working on voter registration efforts in the 1960s.
Ginsburg shared personal experiences from that era with the students, including the Selma-to-Montgomery March (also known as Bloody Sunday) and being in Selma during the murders of activists Jimmie Lee Jackson, Viola Liuzzo, and James Reeb. In particular, Ginsburg recalled when police dogs were released on the crowd during the march. A deeply meaningful moment for him was protecting a little girl who was being attacked by dogs; after, she showed him the cattle prod burns she had received from the police.
For freshman Kevin Wilson, Ginsburg’s insights not only provided connections to the course material but also illustrated the reality of what they are learning.
“I learned about the murder of the three [Jackson, Liuzzo, and Reeb] … I think it was the class before, and then he brought it up and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you were there.’ That was really crazy,” said Wilson.
In class, Ellsworth and his students explore and analyze various nonviolent resistance movements.
Ellsworth explained, “The way things are discussed in college classrooms, which can be very theoretical at times — when you bring people like [Ginsburg] who have these real-world experiences, things get very real. Bringing in people who were a part of things has a power that goes beyond what you can write or read in books.”
Ginsburg and Ellsworth connected serendipitously over email after Ginsburg read Ellsworth’s new book, Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America. After some correspondence, Ellsworth invited Ginsburg to speak to his students, and the nonagenarian flew to Ann Arbor from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Ginsburg’s visit was significant for students because they were able to talk directly to someone who experienced the climate at that time.
“I felt like having the opportunity like this to get a raw, firsthand perspective, that's something that you don't get every day,” said freshman Maraya Finklea.
