The events spawned two landmark legal cases—the Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education (1961) extending due process rights to students and the Sullivan v. NY Times (1964) requiring malice for journalists to libel public officials. These teaching tools shaped from the primary and secondary sources offer students from a variety of disciplines (education, journalism, sociology, history, public administration, and college student personnel) the opportunity to vicariously live through these events. Educators can use these resources to facilitate dialog about the challenges leaders experience in addressing today’s real-world problems, but from an emotionally safe distance of 60 years.
Case Study Materials
Video: Sitting Down: But Not Staying Seated
A 7-Minute You Tube Video about the Sit-in produced with the support of a NASPA Channing Briggs Small Research Grant. The video is available through ASCA for members only. To request access if not an ASCA member, please submit a request via this Microsoft Form.
Case Study Reading – Boyd and Lowery (2013)
A 1-page introduction to the basic information about the events of the Dixon v. Alabama Supreme Court Case of 1961.
Boyd, K. D. & Lowery, J. W. (2014b). Dixon v State of Alabama Board of Education (1961): The birth of today’s
student conduct process. In Boyd, K. D., Holmes, R. & McCarter, J. (Eds.), Core content facilitator’s guide: Best
practices in student conduct hearing board training Series (p. 61) College Station, TX: Association for Student
Conduct Administration.
Special Edition Newspaper of Spring 1960 Events
An in-depth communication of the facts associated with the Alabama State College Student Sit-ins arranged as Newspaper articles. These articles organize the facts by Rest’s Components of Ethical Action, leading the reader to examine the events’ participants actions from each of the ethical dimensions influencing the participants actions.
Boyd, K. D., Staples, C., Leftwich, B., & Lyu, W. (2020). The Montgomery Tribune: Spring 1660 sit-in special
edition [Conference Materials ASCA 2020 and NASPA 2020 – 60th Anniversary]. ASCA 2020 Washington, DC.
Student Demonstrators’ First Statement of Purpose Facsimile
This file recreates the demonstrations’ intellectual leadership rationale for the protests that they wrote and delivered by Eleanor Shepherd and Aner Ruth to the local newspapers the night after the initial Courthouse Sit-in.
Adams, J. & Boyd, K. D. (2020). Facsimile of Original Documents: First Student Statement to the Press,
Original in Montgomery Advertiser (February 29., 1960, p. 1-2) www.csctw.org
Montgomery 1960 (Version 1.0)
The historical online experience allows participants to see themselves in each of the moral leader comparators lived experiences as told by them and see the original documents and newspaper coverage of the events. Original interviews and documents provide a deeper understanding of the participants perspectives and actions on these events. Version 1.0 of the game was designed using an ARIS game platform. Access to ARIS is limited to IOS devices. The team is currently working on a Version 2.0 prototype that once produced would be hosted on a team-coded website accessible on all platforms.
Instructions for Beta-Testing Version 1.0 – Request access via the provided form at the bottom of each page.
Maps and Tours
Through the Eyes of an Activist (Map)
Map of the locations included in a driving tour Mr. and Mrs. James McFadden gave Dr. Boyd of Alabama State University and the city of Montgomery sites important to Spring 1960 on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the sit-ins. For the best result, print this PDF map in color front and back. (Mary Bennett Undergraduate Researcher and Geographer)
An Interactive Map of the Driving Tour
Coming December 2020 – An Interactive Map of the driving tour Mr. and Mrs. James McFadden gave Dr. Boyd of Alabama State University and the city of Montgomery sites important to Spring 1960 on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the sit-ins. (Mary Bennett Undergraduate Researcher and Geographer)