Source evaluation
In this historical study, I have used a variety of literary sources including books, history professors, articles, direct quotes and internet sources. I have ranged these from famous quotes said by certain historians and individuals to the less known but equally important quotes which have backed up the range of evidence I have put forward for my argument. The majority of my resources were books written by historians including but not limited to Sanders, Direnfield, Carson and Verney.
Direnfield’s ‘The Civil Rights Movement’ provides a concise and clear judgement of the period under study- from emancipation to the period after Kings Death. Direnfield wrote retrospectively, meaning that he was independent from cultural bias present at the time of the events; this contrasts Claybourne Carson who was a contemporary of King although his historical interpretations are not excessively cluttered with contemporary bias. Direnfield provided clarity, however overstated the role of King in the Montgomery bus boycott and is potentially influenced by the glorification of Kings Reputation that appeared after his death. Furthermore, Direnfield tended to focus of the role of King and other individuals, such as Malcolm X or the Presidents had a negligible mention, prompting me to read and use a small quote from the Cambridge companion to Malcolm X to oppose this limitation. This text provided a clear biographical knowledge of X and allowed me to expand the focus of my question.
To oppose this limitation, I researched further the role of the legal system in the civil rights campaigns, using Claybourne Carson’s article discussing ‘Brown’ in The Journal of American History June 2004. Although Carson was a contemporary of King, his posthumous writings have a reduced level of contemporary bias and his status as a credible historian adds academic weight to the arguments his quotes are used to support. In contrast, although Vivienne Sanders was writing ‘King or Knave’ in post-King times, she is overwhelmingly critical of his leadership and so her arguments can only be used to validate criticism.
However I have done some independent reading off over sources and have seen what other individuals thought about King and the civil rights movements. Andrew Edmund Kersten I have also used a series of internet sources which have been written by historians and reliable sources to put forward a series of information.