Introduction
Historically, African–Americans are one of the least represented voting classes in America. This unit aims to enfranchise and grant tangibility to the lives of black students in urban areas. I teach in a 98% black school where there is very little political involvement at the local or national level. By illustrating for students the meager means from which several of our nation's leaders have come, they will hopefully feel that they too can participate in our country's democracy.
In showing students that all presidents do not come from backgrounds of means, wealth, education, or even positive family lives, students may be more apt to willingly engage in the systems of their government. While a mass of literature seems to exist on this topic, the three Presidential autobiographies isolated in this unit (Lincoln, Clinton, and Obama) provide the best breadth for students in a high–needs school. The initial lives of all three places each in relative poverty, with minimal paternal influence and the motivation to pull oneself up from obscurity. In other words, these are the prototypical "rags–to–riches" narratives. This creates a space of correlation and empathy for urban students to reinforce the exploration that anyone from any circumstance can navigate their way into the office of the presidency.
The implementation of this unit is two–fold. Students will examine and analyze the autobiographies of three Presidents and one fictionalized graphic novel account. From this point of entry students will then hypothesize and actualize their own background and life with the reality of becoming President themselves. Students will write an argumentative essay defending their own background merits and presuppose their own ability to becoming president based on their current life factors and status. Additionally, students will draw out and illustrate their knowledge of presidential biography, quite literally, by creating their own fictionalized graphic novel of their possible ascendancy to the highest office in the land.
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