Creating Lives: An Introduction to Biography

Rationale

If we want students to understand and connect information they find in their research, then we must provide multiple opportunities for students to present, publish, and preserve their findings. Biography is the ideal text for entrance into the nonfiction realm; followed closely by documentary. Together, these literary forms enable adolescents to experience the lives of others who have made a significant difference in the public arena. Surely, students will learn of the private and public lives of unconventional and heroic figures. Conversely, these texts may take students where they often complain, into the lives of people with whom they have little in common, knowledge about, or interest in. Yet, a powerful documentary or biography teaches students about the troubles, joys, pain, and circumstances outside of their own limited experiences while giving them the opportunity to reflect back on their own lives. Perhaps, by holding up a mirror, students will see a world that looks just like their own yet find something they did not know was there. Until this revelation occurs students are just skimming the factual surface of other people's lives. The study of biography forces one to confront assumptions about nonfiction, while carefully considering what one does not know, before adamantly asserting what one does know. In order to become skilled in reading and understanding biography students need to critically consider the following:

1. What is the biographer's relationship/attitude to the subject?
2. At which points in the text is the biographer present?
3. How does the biographer shape our perspective on the subject?
4. What role do, diction, tone, and voice play in providing deep insights about the biographer for the reader?

The answers to these questions are multilayered and open-ended. To explore these complex relationships requires a deep and intimate knowledge of a subject as well as a few standards for writing biography. Another facet for students to consider is one's purpose for writing a biography, and ultimately to decide what a reader is meant to experience at the end of the story. An example of this is found in Biography: A Very Short Introduction, where, Hermione Lee asserts that biography raises moral issues and can teach one how to live our life or "open our minds to lives very unlike our own" ² thus providing history and knowledge of self. Students and their lives are potential history makers and can examine their family history against the blueprint of a real person they encounter in reading biographies. This examination can catapult students to say, "wow, I did not know that could really happen!" It is my hope that each student will experience an "aha" moment when they understand that an adolescent Obama struggled with the same issues of wanting respect, being accepted by a peer group, and defining himself as an "individual" as they do. These are universal themes in the life of every adolescent which transcend race, geography, and time. How valuable it would be for adolescent students to read nonfiction texts and film and to experience the lives of others who have made a difference in the public arena. And what could be better than a nonfiction text written and documented for students to learn of the public lives of unconventional and trailblazing characters—both male and female. Students will study and learn from the biographical journey of Barack Obama and his experiences while searching for a racial identity, a community, a faith, and a partner. In viewing Obama biographical documentaries, listening to his speeches, dissecting Obama political images, and reading Obama political biographies and his memoir Dreams from My Father, students will gain deep insight into Obama's personal struggles to figure himself out as an adolescent black kid in a world dominated by whites. Obama poignantly expresses this point: "I learned to slip back and forth between my black and white worlds, understanding that each possessed its own language and customs and structures of meaning, convinced that with a bit of translation on my part the two worlds would eventually cohere." ³ Obama's search for roots and racial identity would plant the seeds for a journey that began with him reading African-American writers who had the same questions. In high-school Obama independently read Richard Wrights, Native Son, poems of Langston Hughes, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, The Souls of Black Folks, the essays of James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man ⁴ to see what his great predecessors had to say about the ubiquitous question of race, identity, and an African-American male's place in a racially polarized society. Biography definitely has the ability to cause one to closely examine a life unlike one's own; however, with a caveat: one must know that the life being lived must be shaped into an identity. The quest for identification is still the Holy Grail in the adolescent African-American community as adolescents assert their manhood, attempt to define their womanhood, and consistently define and redefine their self-worth.

Inextricably linked with the journey for identification is the question of conformity which influences the life of every adolescent in high school. Unfortunately, sometimes students will conform to self-destructive behavior in the belief that they are doing their own thing. This fact is revealed in Philadelphia where a startling landmark study ⁵ revealed that half of all incoming freshmen drop out of high school between their freshmen and sophomore year. Of the half that remains, many conform to a culture of no disrespect, no snitching, and no tomorrow; just today. The results have been deadly, both figuratively and literally. Like Obama Philadelphia students frequently engage in journeys for respect, for an absent father, for a community, and ultimately for their role in a large urban school community and city. The results of their perilous journeys often leave them with more questions than answers and causes them to believe that others (present and absent) are responsible for the ills in their life. To challenge this assertion about "others" students will interview a matriarch or patriarch in their extended family to understand how much they have been shaped by their family's past, and present circumstances. Moreover, students will confront their daily subconscious choices that reflect their family values, standards, beliefs, and traditions. The awareness of such choices is critical knowledge for students to have so they can contemplate the consequence of each choice. Students will then write a biographical sketch which illuminates values and practices specific to their family.

Unfortunately, conformity to this code of conduct means not conforming to the universal maxim that education is a passport to opportunity. In fact, this type of nonconformity stands in sharp contrast to Dr. King's view that "the world's hope lies with the hope of a secure and livable world, lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood." ⁶ Apparently, Barack Obama agreed with Dr. King by aspiring to create an exemplary life and not conform to society's rhetoric about African-American males growing up in single- parent families or living exclusively in a black world or white world. Obama, in fact, transformed conformity and became an exemplary nonconformist. Obama longed for racial identity and experienced racism, he lived abroad in impoverished communities but was not poor, and he felt isolated and lonely living in an all-white world yet feeling loved, and pursued a broad range of political and academic interests. These circumstances and his personal attributes make Obama an ideal candidate for intensive study in biography. Additionally, what's critical for students to understand is that each time Obama consciously chose to "not conform" to the status quo he was closer to reconciling all his different "selves" into the person he would ultimately become. Hence, the majority of his choices created a rich legacy that prominently displays his unique philosophies, gifts, and talents. So, the primary objective of this unit is: to have students learn invaluable lessons from Obama's journey, learn from African- American writers who have chronicled similar experiences, and understand that their lives have value in and outside of their families. Ultimately, this unit is designed for students to open their minds and discover, they too, can make a significant difference in the public arena. Hopefully, when students discover what price is paid for conforming to expected commonplace behavior, versus what can be gained by "not conforming" to the bandwagon, they will experience epic pivotal moments and challenge themselves to create change that will fill them with hope and pride.

Students will begin to see themselves as having unfolding life stories, which can be created through positive life choices. Students will no longer believe that things just happen or that their life stories have been predetermined by the neighborhood they are growing up in or the schools they are attending. This realization will reveal that their life has value and they can have lives which contribute greatly to humanity.