Every year I do an activity on the fugitive slave law & civil disobedience. We talk about whether protest is worthwhile and when, if ever, it's ok to break the law to stand for moral principles.

In past years, most students were pretty cynical & said protest wasn't helpful; they wouldn't risk their own safety and security for civil disobedience. Today, numerous students said that the risk to the country of not protesting for what is right was greater than the personal risk of getting arrested.

What has changed, beyond the random mix of students? My best guess is that the frequency of protests, esp by young people, has an influence, as does the very real sense in their generation that there are serious and urgent problems in the world. That said, when I asked how many of them had ever engaged in protest or civil disobedience, only 3/23 had.

The full lesson is on my website: https://cassandragoodhistorian.com/2021/04/15/a-lesson-in-ethics-slavery-resistance/

#histodons #history #teaching #ethics

A lesson in ethics, slavery, & resistance

Several years ago, I designed a lesson as part of a faculty ethics workshop at Marymount University that has now become one of my favorite discussions of the semester in my early U.S. survey course…

^{Cassandra Good}