Part 2: Unit Execution and Rationale
This curriculum has been developed for a grade 10 Civics class, although teachers of American history would likewise be able to make ample use of it. It is intended to be taught over a period of five weeks, although teachers should amend or supplement the timeline, readings, and activities as best suits the needs of their classrooms. The guiding principle for this unit is to have students critically evaluate and examine Black voices in relation to the Declaration of Independence, to understand how the document was interpreted and used in writing and oratory over the past two and a half years centuries of the United States America. As part of this aim, students will understand how literacy and reading were seen as pathways to freedom and apply those lessons to their own quests for knowledge and civic participation. To achieve the learning goals of this unit, students will engage in an inquiry-based model of learning, using a series of essential questions to guide their exploration of Black readings of the declaration. The unit will incorporate close reading of texts, including the Declaration itself, writing creative responses to ideas presented in the material, conducting independent research, collaborating in groups, and academic writing to engage in the unit’s essential questions.
Essential Questions
In the introductory lesson of this unit. of the unit, students will be tasked with answering the following questions over the duration of their learning. The column on the right aligns these questions with the material covered in Part 1.
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Essential Question |
Learning Objective |
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How did Black readers interpret the Declaration of Independence over time? |
Students will be able to critically analyze texts in comparison with each other over different historical time periods. |
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Does the presence of slavery and racial injustice in America contradict the claims of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equally?” |
Students will be able to evaluate a text and build arguments to address claims in a text. |
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Why was literacy considered by so many as a pathway to freedom? Is it still? |
Students will be able to understand how literacy is an important part of civic development and engagement. |
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How do we bring about meaningful social and political change? |
Students will be able to understand the methods one employs to purposefully bring positive changes to their communities. |
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What does the Declaration of Independence mean to you? |
Students will be able to express their ideas through writing about a foundation document of the United States and apply that learning outside of the school environment. |
Weekly Plan
This plan covers broadly the ideas and topics students will learn over a given week alongside the suggested readings and activities. If shortening this unit, it is recommended that teachers merge the content of weeks two and three, or weeks one and two. Additionally, the week devoted to literacy, week four, can be merged with either weeks one, two, or three. Depending on the needs and structure of the classroom, particular time periods can also be excluded. if including the final paper as part of the execution in the unit, introduce it to students at the beginning, and have a final due date one week after the conclusion of the instructional portion of the unit.
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Week |
Topic Covered |
Content and activities |
Suggested Readings |
|
1 |
Introduction to the ideological origins Declaration of Independence |
Students are introduced to the essential questions of the unit. Close read and analyze the Declaration, as well as its origins. Have students consider the deleted passage from the Declaration on slavery. Use Banneker’s letter to reinforce the emphasis on Black voices and interpretations in the unit. |
Declaration of Independence Locke’s Two Treatises Jefferson’s Writings Letter of Benjamin Banneker |
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2 |
Black Response to the Declaration in American Revolution |
Students will analyze how Black people living in the colonies responded to the Declaration of Independence. Students will consider British offers of freedom to enslaved Americans, as well as petitions to state governments for manumission due to service in the war. |
The Petition of Prince Whipple to the New Hampshire Government Lemuel Haynes Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation |
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3 |
Abolitionism and the Declaration |
Students will be introduced to the abolition movement of the 19th century and understand how these activists used the Declaration in their pursuit of civic change. Students will understand the prominence of Black leaders in the movement, as well as the intersection between the abolitionism and suffragism. |
Declaration of Sentiments Writings of Sarah and Charlotte Grimke Hosea Easton Douglass’s What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? |
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4 |
Literacy in the pursuit of freedom |
Students will analyze how literacy was seen as a pathway to freedom. They will engage in primary source research in learning the story of how Frederick Douglass learned to read, using the Columbian Orator. They will also engage in primary and secondary source analysis of the attempts to found a Black College in New Haven. |
Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom The Columbian Orator College for colored youth: an account of the New-Haven city meeting and resolutions: |
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5 |
The Declaration and the Civil Rights Movement to Today |
Students will read and compare the speeches of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., analyzing their political philosophies and approach to activism. Students will conclude the unit by reading the erasure poetry of Tracy K. Smith and making their own erasure poem using the Declaration of Independence. |
Malcom X, By any means ncecesarry King on the Emancipation Proclamation and I have a dream Tracy K. Smith’s Declaration |
Sample Lesson Plans and Activities
These sample lesson plans reflect the types of activities that students should engage in over the duration of the unit. As always, teachers should modify and supplement as neeed.
Lesson 1 – Close Reading the Declaration of Independence
This lesson should be delivered in the first week of the unit. Students are assumed to already have some familiarity with the Declaration of Independence. If you wish to supplement with additional secondary source readings, I recommend Jack Rakove’s annotated version of the text.
Guiding question – Did the American revolutionaries really believe that “All men are created equal”?
Objective – Students will be able to analyze why Thomas Jefferson’s passage on slavery was omitted in the Declaration of Independence and how it affected the document’s meaning.
Teaching Plan – Begin by reading the Declaration of Independence, read either aloud as a class or silently and on their own, have students individually divide the document into sections, and underline any phrases that stand out to them. Consider the timing for the first part of the lesson. After the reading is concluded, students will share with the rest of the class passages or phrases that struck them. If a student also underlined that phrase, they should raise their hands. Have the students explain why they did that. Next, ask students to share the sections they divided the text into. It should roughly follow this model: preamble, statement of rights, justifications for independence/ airing of grievances, and conclusion. On a sheet of paper, either notepaper or a graphic organizer, students should detail the purpose of each section. Have students first share their answers with pairs, and the pairs will report their conversation to the rest of the class.
Students will then read Jefferson’s omitted passage to the Declaration, and a bit of his later writings on the circumstances of its removal.
On the same sheet of paper, students will respond to the following two questions: did the phrase “all men are created equal” include Black people? How did reading the omitted passage change your ideas about the Declaration of Independence? Allow a similar format as the previous discussion and devote the remaining time to facilitating the discussion in the class.
Lesson 2 – The Texts of Freedom
In this lesson, students will analyze the passages from the Columbian Orator that struck Frederick Douglass (note that some speeches and texts appear multiple times, depending on class size, you may wish to pair up some of the short speeches and include some of the longer ones.)
Guiding question – How did the readings in the Columbian Orator inspire Frederick Douglass on the path to freedom?
Teaching Plan – Review with students Frederick Douglass’s experiences learning to read from the previous lesson. In that lesson, they read his account of learning how to read. For homework, they were asked “How did Douglass view literacy?” and “How did the institution of slavery affect the slave owner Mrs. Auld?” Allows students a brief space to discuss their responses with the class.
For the first part of the lesson, have student revisit the views that Douglass expressed in “What to the slave is Fourth of July?” on the Declaration of Independence. Emphasize his dissatisfaction with the document and its failure to live up to its promises, and how this compared with the analyses of other abolitionists. This can be written or in discussion.
Next, revisit the part of My Bondage and my Freedom where Douglass mentions the Columbian Orator. Pair students into groups and distribute the selections from William Pitt (who had five speeches in total, which may be shortened) the speech from Charles Fox on the Revolution, the speech from Richard Sheridan on Catholic Emancipation, and the speech from John Aikin. In their groups, students will read the text, underlining anything that stands out to them, and anything that might have stood out to Douglass. The groups should be prepared to share with the class a summary of the text they read, and how they think it affected Douglass’s beliefs and ideas. Allow plenty of time for students to share and discuss and conclude by having students compare the ideas found in each text. Students should be prepared to share at least one quotation from the text. Have students share their findings, and, if time allows, give students space to make comparisons between the ideas in the different text. Include a graphic organizer so that students can write down what they hear from their classmates. For homework, have students answer the guiding question listed above for this lesson.
Lesson 3 - Erasure poetry and the Declaration of Independence.
In this lesson, students will read through Tracy K. Smith’s poem “Declaration” and participate in the creation of their own erasure poem using the Declaration of Independence.
Guiding question – Does the Declaration of Independence stand true today? Has it fulfilled its promises?
Teaching Plan – As students enter the class, present them with a copy of the poem “Declaration.” For this part, do not reveal to students that the text was made exclusively using passages from the Declaration of Independence. Again, follow a close reading protocol. Students read for gist, underlining key phrases, then answering the question “what was the poet’s intended meaning?” When students have finished reading the poem, have them share their written responses with the class. In the discussion, ask students about the language and the interesting structure of the poem, and how that might influence the poem’s meaning. If a student has not yet noticed that the words were taken directly from the Declaration of Independence. Next, ask students what they think about Smith’s ideas, and how we might view that in light of current events in the country today.
Next, pass out a copy of the full text of the Declaration and a sharpie, and have students create their own erasure poem by crossing out certain words and parts of the text. Emphasize that the choice is theirs to what their poem may look like. Allow students ample time to work and then allow volunteers to read their poem to the class. Have students reflect, either written or verbally, on what the process of writing the poem was like, and how it affected their understanding of the Declaration of Independence.
Final Project
Using the materials and readings in the course, students will write a paper answering one of the essential questions of the unit (see above.) Set expectations for length according to the needs and skills of your students. My suggestion is a four-to-five-page paper that incorporates at least three of the sources read in the class, and students must also find one additional source to supplement these three. No matter which question students choose, the paper should require that students include some of their own interpretation of the Declaration of Independence and make relevant connections to the present day. If applicable, allow students other modes for completing their project, such as an extensive poem, visual art, or media, as long as it meets the requirements of using sources found in and outside of class.
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