What Was it Like to be in Dr. Farmer's Class?

This is a syllabus from the Fall semester of 1994 for Dr. Farmer's Civil Rights course taught at Mary Washington College. 

When Dr. Farmer began working for the school in 1985, he was 65 years old and was a physical reminder that the Civil Rights Movement was not that long ago. By the end of his time at Mary Washington College, Dr. Farmer had lost total eyesight and mobility in both of his legs.

Students who would register for Dr. Farmer's class would only be required to write one paper and take one exam; but, would be given a hefty list of books to read. A lot of the pieces of literature found on Dr. Farmer's bibliography are his own pieces of writing. Dr. Farmer's course on the Civil Rights Movement was not only an American history class, but a class on Dr. Farmer's personal history and memories. 

Dr. Farmer's lectures were said to be passionate and strong. Visitors can watch some of his lectures on our website in the Lectures collection. 

A list of rules to be followed while in the classroom with Dr. James Farmer that was created by Dr. Porter Blakemore, head of the History and American Studies program at Mary Washington College. 

Dr. Porter Blakemore has been a faculty member at the University of Mary Washington since 1979 and during the period that Dr. Farmer also worked at the college, Dr. Blakemore was serving as head of the History and American Studies program. 

Due to Dr. Farmer's physical disabilties, Dr. Blakemore organized this list of class rules to discourage and inhibit students from abusing their ableist privileges. The list of rules seems fairly basic, but these issues were prevalent enough to inspire Dr. Blakemore into creating a concrete list of rules.