Two Societies: The Writing of the Summary of the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1039-1061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick Loessberg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Final Report ◽  
National Advisory Commission ◽  
Advisory Commission ◽  
Kerner Commission ◽  
Separate And Unequal ◽  
Key Participants

The Kerner Commission examined the riots that occurred throughout the United States in 1967. The summary of its Final Report concluded that the nation was moving toward “two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” So powerful is the wording that it continues to be invoked whenever there is a Ferguson-type incident. While much has been written about the reaction to the Kerner Report, little has been known about the summary’s development or why it has endured. New interviews with key participants and an examination of Kerner Commission files have not only resulted in the discovery of information which runs counter to what was previously thought, but helps explain why the summary is still influential after almost fifty years.

Perceptions of Racial Progress and Mistreatment Today

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-270
Author(s):  
Theodore Davis
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Advisory Commission ◽  
Standards Of Living ◽  
Advisory Commission ◽  
Commission Report ◽  
Separate And Unequal ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Racial Progress

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to examine why race relations in the United States were in such a state of confusion that it had resulted in civil disturbances. By 1968, the trajectory of race relations and racial disparities, with regard to the quality of life and standards of living, were such that the commission wrote, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one Black, one White, separate and unequal.” Since the start of the twenty-first century, economic recessions, natural disasters, and civil unrest have exposed the continuation of pervasive differences in the perceptions of racial progress between Blacks and Whites. This article aims to examine perceptions of racial progress and the continuation of unfair racial treatment within the context of the commission’s “two nations” thesis. The findings of this article suggest that Blacks remain considerably more pessimistic than Whites about the state of racial affairs in the US today. How do we explain this conundrum in light of the passage of the civil rights legislation of the 1960s? We begin with the premise that race is still a problem in today’s society, but it is a problem in ways that are very different from when the Kerner Commission report was released.

On Understanding Everything: General Education, Liberal Education, and the Study of Religion

PMLA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 460-466
Author(s):  
Amy Hollywood
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
General Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Reason And Faith

In October 2006, the Harvard University task force on general education issued a preliminary report describing and justifying a new program of general education for Harvard College. Contending that “[g]eneral education is the public face of liberal education,” the task force enumerated what a person liberally educated in the twenty-first-century United States should know—or, perhaps better, know how to think about in reasoned and nuanced ways (Preliminary Report 3). The report called for seven semester-long courses in “five broad areas of inquiry and experience”: Cultural Traditions and Cultural Change, The Ethical Life, The United States and the World, Reason and Faith, and Science and Technology. In addition, the task force suggested that students be required to take three semester-long courses that “develop critical skills”: writing and oral communication, foreign language, and analytic reasoning (6). Not surprisingly, “Reason and Faith” generated some of the most heated discussion—and it was the first suggested requirement dropped by the task force, replaced in December 2006 by a new category, “What It Means to Be a Human Being.” By the time of the final report, this too was gone, replaced by “Culture and Belief,” an area of inquiry that may include the study of religion but is broader in scope than what was initially proposed (Report of the Task Force 11–12).

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