The 1960s Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives Matter: Social Protest from a Negotiation Perspective

Abstract

Today’s Black Lives Matter movement rests on the foundation of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and lessons from that earlier period are relevant to advancing racial justice today. Both movements provide rich material for understanding how social protests can be viewed as * I thank Tom Kochan, Cherie Potts, George Roth, and Mary Rowe for comments and emendations on early drafts. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved negotiation stories. This article uses a negotiations lens to (1) interpret key events and features of these two movements, and (2) suggest how the current movement might be sustained in ways that advance racial justice.