Rationale

I used to think that it was ironic that the Civil Rights Movement appeared as a distant and intangible piece of history to many of my black, brown and working class students. But upon further reflection, for all of its victories, the movement for Civil Rights has fallen short of addressing the particular injustices that many of my students currently experience.

It is within this context, that the apathy I have perceived from 10 years of teaching is born. What is further ironic, tragically, is that much of the immediate suffering that my students face, is either self-inflicted or inflicted from members of our own families, our own communities. From gang and neighborhood violence, petty-crime, defiant and disrespectful attitudes, dysfunctional social relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, to low motivation for school, among many others, this behavior reflects values symptomatic of a larger, disturbing world-view.

So long as my students who are struggling most see these particular issues as isolated and disconnected from the larger history of the struggle of their forbears for Civil Rights, any study of this key part of history is rendered insignificant - just more things "we need to needlessly memorize". In their exploration of Civil Rights history, they will see that the positive values of self-determination, sacrifice, responsibility to self and community, intellectual discipline, creativity, faith in humanity, resistance to oppression, love of life and commitment to justice, run deep and permeate the fight for civil rights.

I see in teaching the history of Civil Rights, the opportunity to inspire my students to take the lessons from this period for their benefit. In engaging my students with this rich history, I hope to counteract some of the layers of dysfunction, that manifests in the form of ditching class, truancy and general defiance that gets our youth into trouble, incarcerated, or even killed. Daniel Solorzano and Dolores Delgado-Bernal classify such tendencies as "reactionary" and/or "self-destructive resistance" behavior and as something that must be redirected.¹ I intend to use this Unit to move my students toward a "transformative resistance", that summon the lessons of our past - in the fight for civil rights - to positively shape their future.

In William Julius Wilson's book, More than Just Race, Wilson identifies as one of the "legacies of historic racial subjugation...the extremely high crime rate among black males, including the violent crime rate".² He provides a useful framework for understanding the larger context under which teachers of black and brown youth operate. He continues,

I hope to further our understanding of the complex and interrelated factors that continue to contribute to racial inequality in the United States. In the process, I call for reexamining the way social scientists discuss two important factors associated with racial inequality: social structure and culture. Although the book highlights the experiences of inner-city African Americans....[f]ormal and informal aspects of inequality have also victimized Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans.³

Using this framework, I hope to raise student consciousness about the larger systemic forces (social structures) at play as they shape, and in many instances, determine the opportunities available to them. At the same time, I want to raise consciousness about the harmful ways of how they see and interact with the world (culture) and how the interplay between social structures and culture poses a tremendous challenge to their uplift.

Within education, the social structure is facially non-discriminatory. In other words, on the surface level it treats our children equally and without malice. However, there are negative outcomes that arise from design. Though on an individual level, a teacher or a test may not be biased, the impact is. Educational researcher, Howard Berlak states, "the bias is systemic and structural that is, built into in the basic assumptions and technology of standardized testing in the way the tests are constructed and administered, the way results are reported, and in the organizational structure and administrative rules of the accountability system itself.""⁴

Currently, the institutional standard of progress is represented by student performance on the California State Standardized Testing And Reporting (STAR) tests. On these standardized exams, my black and brown students score well below their white and middle class peers. They comprise a main part of what has come to be known as our "gap" students. According to the Education Research Project (ERP),

"The 'achievement gap' in education refers to the disparity in academic performance between groups of students. It is most often used to describe the troubling performance gaps between many African-American and Hispanic students, at the lower end of the performance scale, and their non-Hispanic white peers, and the similar academic disparity between students from low-income and well-off families."⁵

Our "gap" students come from a location in society that is a product of the historically unjust systems that are rooted in the institutional practice of white supremacy.⁶

This backward world-view has historically shaped the rules of our society and is responsible for giving whites a head start, masking their progress as innate to their "superior" being. While one group is seen as "naturally" gifted, those who are unsuccessful are personally seen as responsible for their own lack of progress. All the while, the systemic nature of this lack of success is hidden.⁷ The reality that historical, structural and cultural reasons underlie in this achievement gap provides on the one hand, a key to exposing the real roots of the problem and on the other, the opportunity of freeing our students from the burden of the narrative that their lack of performance is somehow intrinsic to their race.⁸

Through the use of equitable and student-centered teaching, I will deepen my students' understanding of the role the fight for civil rights has had in the opportunities they now have. I want to connect this with their understanding of their role to fight for the civil and human rights we have yet to achieve. I want my unit plan to inspire them to action and help begin the "connect-the-dots" process of understanding how structural processes (racist legislation, economic trends, institutionalized discrimination, etc) that caused and causes inequality in our society is behind much of the inequity in our society. Furthermore, I would like, in concert with the students, to identify concrete steps that can be taken to reverse such injustice.

This unit will be implemented in my 11th grade, US History Class, at Balboa High School. Couched in the Southeast section of San Francisco - an historically working-class and immigrant community of the city - my students will have a broad range of issues and problems from which to apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills. I will have this emerging group of intellectuals for the next two years, both as their US History teacher this year, and as their Civics and Economics teacher come senior year.

This class will emphasize uncovering and critically contrasting multiple and varying narratives to the official telling by the institution - the so-called "master narrative." If in fact this narrative is to be challenged and overturned, my students need to see examples of courage, intellectual brilliance and creativity in the history of the most oppressed. And indeed they will, through the likes of escaped slaves turned civil rights champions, David Walker and Frederick Douglass to modern examples of leaders extolling the virtues of this struggle, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X.

They will explore history from various vantage points and cull out the conflicting interests that led to the numerous conflicts that resulted in the dramatic change that has occurred since this nation's inception, and its impact upon their reality. My students will explore the powerful words of resistance that represent a collective spirit organized against injustice and slavery. Escaped slave turned abolitionist David Walker reflects,

"...[they] beat us inhumanely, sometimes almost to death, for attempting to inform ourselves, by reading the Word of our Maker, and at the same time tell us, that we are beings void of intellect!!!!

...Let me cry shame upon you Americans, for such outrages upon human nature!!! ...But glory, honour and praise to Heaven's King, that the sons and daughters of Africa, will, in spite of all the opposition of their enemies, stand forth in all the dignity and glory that is granted by the Lord to his creature man and make the best of their time while it lasts.⁹

As my students enter broader society, I wish for this lesson to provide concrete, relevant and convincing arguments to move them to reverse the tragic irony of self-destructive behavior and motivate them to excel academically. Using this as my framework throughout my teaching, I believe that once inspired and tooled with useful skills, my students will rise to the occasion. With equitable pedagogy, community support, individual discipline, commitment and hard work, my students will close this gap "and make the best of their time while it lasts."

Objectives

1. Explore various responses African/African-Americans had to white supremacy - particularly: Colonization of blacks to another country, Separation of blacks from whites within America, Separation toward gradual acceptance, Integration and Assimilation.

Colonization

Since the founding of the Nation, the idea held by whites that black people could not coexist and should be removed from coexistence with Whites was considered. From President Jefferson to Lincoln, a number of initiatives were devised. Later, and more significantly, however, a significant voice from the black perspective emerged that supported this position

By the early 19^th century, plans supported by proponents of "colonization", with the backing of the Federal government were set into motion.

The American Colonization Society (ACS) was formed in 1817 to send free African-Americans to Africa as an alternative to emancipation in the United States. In 1822, the society established on the west coast of Africa a colony that in 1847 became the independent nation of Liberia. By 1867, the society had sent more than 13,000 emigrants.¹⁰

Abraham Lincoln's position on colonization will be studied and juxtaposed with a number of voices opposed to it, particularly that of David Walker.

From this reading, students will explore the following essential question(s):

• Why does President Lincoln believe that colonization of black people is the best course of action?
• What were the African American responses to this call?
• What examples of successful black colonization existed? Is this a just action for African slavery in America?
• What are the implications for us today, ie. continued racial tension, as well as hopes for the future?

Separation and Segregation

Following emancipation, two approaches taken by the black community to achieve full equality and respect were taken. Booker T. Washington became a voice recognized by White America as representing black people.

Washington's "Atlanta Compromise Speech" will be used to illustrate the approach of gradual acceptance into America through an emphasis on developing black labor while not emphasizing integration into white society.

Contrasting this position is Marcus Garvey's organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). In his speech "If You Believe the Negro Has a Soul," he posits as a solution to racism, a return to Africa. This position will be analyzed to explore the idea of black colonization, 50 years after Lincoln's proposal. Garvey states,

"We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are raising the cry of "Africa for the Africans," those at home and those abroad. There are 400 million Africans in the world who have Negro blood coursing through their veins, and we believe that the time has come to unite these 400 million people toward the one common purpose of bettering their condition.¹¹

The demands of Garvey's organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) will be used to highlight a key aspect in the evolution of the movement for African/African-American Civil and Human Rights.

From this reading, students will explore the following essential question(s):

• Why does Booker T. Washington believe that emphasizing the development of Black labor is the best course of action?
• What did he propose as the solution to the plight of Blacks in America?
• What are his arguments for? What are arguments against his position?
• What are the implications for us today, ie. continued racial tension, as well as hopes for the future?

After World War II, the Civil Rights Movement for Black people made a significant advance both in the legal battlefield as well as on the ground. With the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education overturning the doctrine of "separate but equal" and the growing success of the organizing efforts of the SCLC, SNCC and CORE to integrate all public spaces, significant progress was made to shake the permanence of decades of Jim Crow rule.

We will highlight Dr. King's framework of Non-Violent Resistance and his vision of an integrated America. Dr King's speeches, "Non-violence: The Only Road to Freedom" and "I have a Dream", will provide a framework of non-violence and envisioning of what an integrated America could and should be. Dr King powerfully states,

"... it must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent. This is why Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight ... while the nonviolent resister is passive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade his opponent that he is wrong. The method is passive physically, but strongly active spiritually. It is not passive nonresistance to evil, it is active nonviolent resistance to evil.¹²

In contradistinction, Malcolm X will be used to highlight the evolution of Marcus Garvey's "Back to Africa" position. Malcolm X's "Complete and full Separation" speech will be used to highlight a more refined separatist position within the United States. His "Ballot or the Bullet" speech will be analyzed as a refutation of Dr. King's Dream Speech.

"I'm not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself diner. Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate. Being here in America doesn't make you an American. Being born here in America doesn't make you an American. Why, if birth made you American, you wouldn't need any legislation; you wouldn't need any amendments to the Constitution; you wouldn't be faced with civil-rights filibustering in Washington, D.C., right now...I'm not an American. I'm one of the 22 million Black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million Black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.¹³

From these readings, students will explore the following essential question(s):

• Why does Martin Luther King Jr. believe Non-Violence as the best course of action for Blacks?
• What is Malcolm X's rationale for complete separation?
• What do you believe to be the most just action for Black America?
• What are the implications for us today, ie. continued racial tension, as well as hopes for the future?

2. Identify and highlight the underlying values of this Civil/Human Rights Movement, its participants and leaders - self-determination, sacrifice, responsibility to self and community, intellectual discipline, creativity, faith in humanity, resistance to oppression, love of life and commitment to justice.

Using the above-mentioned texts as well as others, this unit will identify the material basis for the African/Black/African-American value system as it was shaped by the fight for Civil and Human Rights.

From this section, students will explore the following essential question(s):

• What are the core values you have observed from the study of these readings?
• How can they be applied to your context and help improve your life and the lives of others?

3. Make concrete connections between their lives and this important part of history.

To bring the discussion to the present, the Unit will engage students with current statistics on the multiple disparities between Blacks and Whites - with the education gap being one - and engage them in a problem-posing exercise, with the goal of identifying suggestions for addressing the issue through action.

Frederick Douglass' Rochester speech about the 4th of July, will be compared with Thurgood Marshall's Bicentennial Speech as a way to measure the progress we as a country have made in the over 200 past years.

Barack Obama's Speech will be critically discussed within the context of the Black/White gap, to bring us to the present.

Lastly, students will be pushed to come up with a possible course of action to help contribute to the dialogue on how we might help alleviate the legacy of the history of slavery and injustice.

From this section, students will explore the following essential question(s):

• How have things changed?
• How have things remained the same?
• What must be done to continue to address discrimination, inequality and inequity?

Strategies

Equitable Instruction Rooted in a Vision of a Just Society.

Lessons will start with where the students are, in order to build their particular skill sets to where they need to be. The following will be essential parts of the overall strategy to build student knowledge, develop positive attitudes about the content and highlight its utility and strengthen their critical reading and writing as well as their social interaction.

Student/Teacher/Student

This is the process of 1. beginning with where the students are by surveying their existing knowledge, experience and skills about the topic, 2. teacher incorporating this prior knowledge in the actual delivery of the lesson by adjusting/tailoring the lesson to build bridges to student understanding (ie. finding useful metaphors and analogies as schema for the students from which to build understanding), 3. deliver an effective lesson (based on the interaction between student and teacher and anchored to the lesson objectives) with the student. In Paolo Freire's seminal work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire asserts that,

"Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers. The teacher is no longer merely the-one- who-teaches, but one who is him[her]self taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow."¹⁴

The teacher must recognize his/her power in the classroom. S/he must see the classroom's potential as either a destructive place where student morale, self-image, confidence, etc. can be suppressed or as a creative space where knowledge can be created, skills and positive behavior can be fostered. By recognizing the power relations and mitigating the powerlessness many of our students feel, the space can be maximized for learning for liberation (from student to teacher and from teacher back to student).

Multiple Intelligences¹⁵

Using Howard Gardner's theory on Multiple Intelligences, this unit will be composed of lessons that incorporate and target a number of intelligences to facilitate student learning and success. I will use engaging lectures (verbal/linguistic) that will allow students to practice active listening and note taking (bodily-kinesthetic). Teaching students to use the tool of "metacognition" by guiding them in how to take note of their own thinking process will allow them to more effectively internalize the content; critical reading of primary source documents and "talking to the text" (visual/kinesthetic); Socratic seminar (interpersonal/verbal-linguistic); debate (interpersonal/verbal-linguistic); and performance pedagogy (interpersonal/verbal-linguistic/visual-spatial/musical).

Addressing teaching by recognizing that multiple intelligences exist, identifying our students strengths and building upon those strengths to develop as a well rounded student is a key to equitable and effective lessons.

Transformative Resistance¹⁶

This unit will continue to build student knowledge about the fight for civil rights as a way to move them to apply the values of the Civil Rights Movement (self-determination, sacrifice, responsibility to self and community, intellectual discipline, creativity, faith in humanity, resistance to oppression, love of life and commitment to justice) to the service of their own lives. Through these values, students will have developed a positive sense of the past, hope for the future, as well as a useful framework for affecting change in their lives. Most importantly, students can redirect their energy to excel as students and as servants and stakeholders in their community.

Rigorous/Relevant Coursework

Students will be challenged with "higher-order" questions through the study of sophisticated material. Through differentiating the instruction and assessment of the content, the high expectations of student performance will be met with equitable instruction of the material. In relation to the content, students will study primary source documents, complete various writing, engage in vigorous debate and discussions and develop creative interpretations/applications of the content through performance of a civil rights play.

We will compare and contrast the rich intellectual tradition of African Americans and their fight for civil and human rights. Students will be exposed to the writings of Phillis Wheatley, David Walker, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Booker T Washington, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., June Jordan, among others.

In relation to the instruction, I will draw upon my experience with making sure that all text is organized to allow readers of different reading levels to access the material. I will support student reading with both strategies and graphic organizers to guide them.

Students will also be allowed and encouraged to complete their assignments within mixed- ability groups. The assignments themselves will incorporate the examination of the topic through a variety of perspectives.

The end result of their work will be measurable development based on established and clear criteria. Students will be taught to use presentation software in a creative and effective manner.

Educational Principles

"Take the best and leave the rest"

This is the principle of finding something valuable in any and all experiences.¹⁷ Given the conditions that many of my students survive on a daily basis, it often shapes their outlook, thus inhibiting them from seeing anything positive - whether in school, in interactions with adults or exposure to new ideas. I always tell my students that very few things, if any, are 100% good, or bad - that they must be able to find a positive lesson in any interaction, lesson, experience, etc.

"Honor the histories of our ancestors,"

This roots our study beyond the present. It holds us accountable to furthering our journey for progress. It gives us the long view to the immediacy of our struggles - individual as well as collective¹⁸

Education for Liberation

This emphasizes the task of using education to serve our respective communities by facilitating their evolution. To engage in pedagogy that is "problem posing", Paolo Freire believes, is to engage them in their completion, their fulfillment of their potential. Ultimately, this principle encourages our students to see progress as measurable not merely by the advancement of the individual, but by the progress and well-being of the whole community - Less incarceration, more education; less violence and more peace; less exploitation and more justice. Freire states that "problem-posing education" is

...prophetic (and as such, hopeful). Hence, it corresponds to the historical nature of humankind. Hence, it affirms women and men as who transcend themselves, who move forward and look ahead, for whom immobility represents a fatal threat for whom looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they can more wisely build the future. Hence, it identifies with the movement which engages people as beings aware of their incompletion an historical movement which has its point of departure, its Subjects and its objective..¹⁹

Teachers Toolbox

"Critical Summa-flection" - is a tool for active note-taking. Similar to the process of meta-cognition, it encourages the reader to "think about her/his thinking". Students take an aggressive approach (as opposed to a passive) to reading by 1. reading as if their lives depended upon it, 2. being okay with not knowing all the words, 3. concisely taking notes and 4. actively reflecting, questioning, connecting, opining/postulating alternatives.

"Socratic Seminar" - "The Socratic method of teaching is based on Socrates' theory that it is more important to enable students to think for themselves than to merely fill their heads with "right" answers. Therefore, he regularly engaged his pupils in dialogues by responding to their questions with questions, instead of answers. This process encourages divergent thinking rather than convergent thinking.²⁰

"Team-up/Break-it-down" - combines students into groups of 3-5 (sometimes self-selecting/sometimes identified mixed-ability groups). Students collectively critically summa-flect upon the text and share questions, connections, insights with each other. Teams then share an insight with the class until all information is exhausted.

"Talking To The Text (T4)" - Thinking is the process by which you and I come to know what we know. In short, we know what we know because we think about it! When we are introduced to a new concept, we might get overwhelmed or confused, and we sometimes are unable to "get it". So, the way I want you to improve your thinking and learning, is by trying this strategy of "getting it", called metacognition.

Metacognition is "talking to the text". To talk to the text is to do your thinking about the reading, on the reading itself. It makes you take what's going on in your head and put it on paper so you can look at it, think about it. By doing this, you can see how, what and maybe why you are thinking what you are thinking.

In this class, I want you to constantly reflect on your thinking. In other words, I want you to think about what is going on in your head, and then write it down on the paper. For example:

1. If you have a question about what you are reading, you should write it down.
2. If you can think about a personal connection to the reading, you should write it next to the part to which you are "connecting".
3. If there is a word that makes you think, "huh, what the hell does that mean?" circle it, get a dictionary and then write the most appropriate definition in the column.
4. If there is something that you think is important, highlight/underline it. Then, try to summarize that point in one sentence (incomplete sentences are fine in this case) in the margin.

Classroom Activities

Lesson 1

Title - "History In/Justice: A Multi-linear Civil Rights Timeline"

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to: 1. Identify 20 key dates in each of the last 3 centuries, in relation to the struggle for Civil Rights 2. Make connections between the events in relation to civil rights, the economy and socially, to uncover the relationships each have to each other 3. Place themselves in the history of the larger movement for Civil Rights by identifying their family's point of entry into this country.

Materials Used

American Vision, History textbooks

Computer, LCD projector

Post-its, butcher paper, construction paper, (7) class-sets of markers, (7) glue-sticks, (7) scissors, (7) yard-sticks/long straightedges

Lesson #1 Outline

Opening - Welcome students. Direct them to copy their homework, read the Aim (objective) for the day, copy their homework and begin and complete their Do Now.

Do Now - Identify what you believe to be the (3) most important events/dates/people in the struggle for Civil Rights. Explain.

Have (3) students share their responses.

Activity #1 - Where I'm From!

Read and critically discuss Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America".

On a post-it note, answer the following questions:

To the best of your ability, identify your family's point of entry into the country. Where did they come from? Why did they leave? Why did they come to the United States?

Note: This series of questions lend themselves to viewing civil rights and the struggle for them in a way that helps students reflect upon their and their families interests and how they benefit from the change brought about by the Civil Rights Movement.

Students will hold onto the post-it until their timeline's (activity #3) are completed. Upon completion of the Civil Rights Timeline, students will place their post-its onto the timeline and identify what was happening during their respective family's point of entry.

If students cannot answer the questions on their own, then have them do some research through their family members as homework.

Activity #2 - Teacher lecture on key events and figures of the Civil Rights Movement.

Activity #3 - Multi-linear Civil Rights Timeline. Using class presentation/lecture notes and American Vision textbook chapters: 1. Define 10 key terms and names from each of the (3) categories: civil rights, the economy, social/cultural (see handout) 2. Connect (5) key terms and/or names from each of the categories to (5) other key terms and/or names 3. For homework, draw or print out five pictures for each category 4. Organize information on butcher paper, including all key terms, connections, three categories and images.

Activity #4 - Locating "you" in history. Direct students to place their post-it on the timeline. Have them identify what is happening at the time in relation to civil rights. Answer the following questions: 1. According to the timeline were your family members allowed/recognized as having: Citizenship, Voting rights, Social mobility, Other 2. Make sure to distinguish members of their families that would/would not have according to her/his race, class, gender, nationality, etc.

Review - Highlight key Dates/Events/People through teacher-led class discussion.

Closure - Close with student reflection on timeline followed by guided discussion. Q/A.

Monitoring and Assessment

Student learning will be monitored by regularly "checking for understanding" during class activities and discussion. I will both answer questions from students as well as randomly select students to gauge their level of comprehension of their tasks as well as content. Students will be assessed using their completed timeline and student reflection.

Modifications to Address Individual Student Learning Needs

I will use both written and verbal instruction. The lesson is designed to have students work both individually and collaboratively, with a portion of the assessment based on successful group work.

Follow-up activities/Homework

The completed student reflection will provide the necessary schema to approach the upcoming lesson. Students will engage in the critical reading of primary sources and/or teacher summaries of primary sources.

Lesson 2

Title - "The Living Words of the Civil Rights Movement - David Walker's Appeal and President Lincoln on Colonization"

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to: 1. Explore David Walker's "Appeal" and his demands for African/African-Americans in relation to white supremacy 2. Compare President Lincoln's colonization framework in relation to African's in America 3. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to Black empowerment.

Materials Used

-Film clip: http://fora.tv/2009/02/10/Henry_Louis_Gates_on_Lincoln_and_Race

-Primary sources: Excerpts of David Walker's Appeal, President Lincoln on Colonization

-History textbooks, American Vision

-Computer and LCD projector

-Post-its, butcher paper, construction paper, (7) class-sets of markers, (7) glue-sticks, (7) scissors, (7) yard-sticks/long straightedges

Lesson #2 Outline

Opening - Welcome students. Direct them to copy their homework, read the Aim (objective) for the day, copy their homework and begin and complete their Do Now.

Do Now - How did African Americans get their rights? Explain the process briefly using examples.

Activity #1 - Class reading of excerpts of David Walker's "Appeal". Students will use the tool of metacognition and Talk To The Text (T4) to identify key points, connectionsl questions and reflection.

Activity #2 - Watch an excerpt of Henry Louis Gate's Interview with the Aspen Institute speaking about his documentary film, Looking for Lincoln. Students will follow up with a reading of Lincoln's position on Blacks in America. Collectively, they will "Team up and Break-Down" Abraham Lincoln's and David Walker's position on colonization highlighting key arguments in favor and against.

Closure - Close with student presentation of debrief on strengths and areas of concern in relation to David Walker's and President Lincoln's views on colonization and the potential for black and white relations.

Monitoring and Assessment

Student learning will be monitored by regularly "checking for understanding" during class activities and discussion. I will both answer questions from students as well as randomly select students to gauge their level of comprehension of their tasks as well as content. Students will also submit for credit: T4 of reading and film, notes from "Team-up and Break-Down".

Modifications to Address Individual Student Learning Needs

I will use both written and verbal instruction. The lesson is designed to have students work both individually and collaboratively, with a portion of the assessment based on successful group work. Film, lecture guided reading of primary sources, individual and group work and student presentation will provide an opportunity for different types of learners.

Lesson 3

Title - "The Living Words of the Civil Rights Movement - Marcus Garvey and Booker T. Washington"

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to: Explore the responses of Marcus Garvey and Booker T. Washington to white supremacy 2. Compare and Contrast Marcus Garvey's Back to Africa Movement and Booker T. Washington's "gradual" approach to black empowerment 3. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to black empowerment.

Materials

American Vision, History textbook

-Primary source documents

Lesson #3 Outline

Opening - Welcome students. Direct them to copy their homework, read the Aim (objective) for the day, copy their homework and begin and complete their Do Now.

DN - If you were being bullied by someone bigger and stronger than you, what would you do: a) fight back, b) run away c) try to negotiate d) other.

Activity #1 - Students will critically read and summa-flect on excerpts of two speeches by Marcus Garvey and Booker T. Washington in relation to their perspectives on securing safety and freedom for black people in the United States.

Using the method of meta-cognition called Talking To The Text (T4), students will make critical notes, connections, questions and reflection on the two documents.

Activity #2 - Socratic Seminar Students will engage reading within a guided dialogue.

Using a fishbowl set up (inner circle/outer circle) the inner circle will answer the following questions: 1. What are the strengths of Booker T. Washington's position? 2.What are the strengths of Marcus Garvey's position? 3.Whose position is correct? Do you agree with? The outer circle will observe the dialogue, take notes, develop questions, and make connections and reflections.

After 20 minutes, the circles will exchange positions and the next set of questions will be answered by the inner circle: 1. What are the similarities with other civil rights leaders studied? 2. What is the same? Different? 3. How has this shaped or influenced our society currently?

The outer circle will observe the dialogue, take notes, develop questions, make connections and reflections.

Closure

Monitoring and Assessment

I will regularly check for student understanding. In addition, I will sum up the key points for each of the readings. Translation of material will be provided as needed.

Student's critical reading notes and reflection as well as Socratic seminar notes will be used to assess student progress.

Modifications to Address Individual Student Learning Needs

Teacher summaries and translation of readings will be used to ensure student understanding of material.

Follow-up activities/Homework

Students will read and memorize an excerpt of Dr. King's "I have a Dream," Speech.

Lesson 4

Title - "The Living Words of the Civil Rights Movement - Malcolm X and Dr. King"

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to: 1. Compare and contrast Malcolm X's concept of Black Nationalism to Dr. King's integrationist vision of America 2. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to Black empowerment.

Materials Used

American Vision, History textbooks

Primary source documents: Malcolm X, "Ballot or the Bullet", Dr. King, "I Have A Dream" and "Non-Violence: The Only Road to Freedom."

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

http://www.democracynow.org/2003/5/19/the_ballot_or_the_bullet_its

Lesson #4 Outline

Opening - Welcome students. Direct them to copy their homework, read the Aim (objective) for the day, copy their homework and begin and complete their Do Now.

DN - Is there such a thing as "good" violence? Is there any reason to ever use violence? Explain.

Activity #1 - Students will study the oratory of Dr. King and Malcolm X. We will listen to and analyze clips of the two speeches from Dr. King and Malcolm X

Activity #2 - After careful study of the spirit and meaning of the words, students will memorize and prepare for their own delivery of each of the speeches: 1. Excerpts from Dr. Kings "I have a Dream" and Malcolm X's "The Ballot or the Bullet".

Activity #3 - Debate - Students will prepare for and conduct a debate between the two schools of thought represented by Dr. King and Malcolm X. Summoning prior knowledge of other Civil Rights leaders, students will prepare for a structured exchange of strengths and areas of concern in relation to the two leaders.

Closure

Monitoring and Assessment

Students will be work in large classroom settings, group work and individually to prepare for their speeches and debate. Regular "checking for understanding" through Q & A. I will also move through the class providing direction and guidance.

Modifications to Address Individual Student Learning Needs

This lesson provides several access points for students to engage in the material. Students will work with several areas of intelligence. They will have the opportunity to work individually and in groups and they will recite significant speeches by Dr. King and Malcolm X.

Lesson 5

Title - "Civil Rights Come Alive: A Performance"

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to: 1. Write a short dialogue that incorporates the history of the Civil Rights Movement into a current situation 2. Represent (3) core values of the Civil Rights movement by performing a 5-minute dramatization 3. Critically analyze the various approaches the African American community and other communities, took to achieve civil rights.

Materials Used

Past readings and notes.

Lesson #5 Outline

Opening - Welcome students. Direct them to copy their homework, read the Aim (objective) for the day, copy their homework and begin and complete their Do Now.

DN - Identify a time when you feel you were discriminated or saw someone discriminated against.

Activity #1 - Class reading and analysis of June Jordan's "The Difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in America or Something Like a Sonnet for Phillis Wheatley".

Activity #2 -Performance Dialogue: Looking at ourselves, looking at the world

Students will be assigned to pairs to recreate/reenact/reinterpret a theme in history through their own experience as who they are today ie. black, female, immigrant, white, Chinese, lgbtq etc.

Using the following themes, students will create a dialogue with his/her partner that incorporates the key aspects of one of the themes identified below:

1. Black nationalism: self-reliance; resistance to oppression; self-love; self-defense; recognition and promotion of Black beauty, intelligence and positive contributions to society.
2. Integration/Assimilation: acceptance by white society; loyalty to America; proving worthiness through hard work and perseverance.
3. Back to Africa or colonization: response to white supremacy; self-reliance and independence.
4. Solidarity: multi-racial unity; sacrifice; recognition of value of all people; struggle for human rights

Students will create a 5-minute dialogue incorporating the key aspects of their theme. The dialogue must be created within the context of the students' identity in the present. In other words, students will be drawing from their own experiences to create a dialogue between actors that ultimately reflect what they have learned.

Step 1 - Assign pairs and theme. Brainstorm lived experiences to draw from to highlight the required themes.

Step 2 - Write your play and prepare for your performance

Step 3 - Practice and Perform

Monitoring and Assessment:

Students will work in large classroom settings, groups and individually to prepare for the performance of their scripted dialogues. Regular "checking for understanding" through both voluntary and random selection of students. I will also move through the class providing direction and guidance.

The following will be used to assess student knowledge: Written dialogue, Performance

Modifications to Address Individual Student Learning Needs

This lesson provides several access points for students to engage in the material. Students will work collaboratively with a partner to identify their own lived experiences that relate to key Civil Rights Movement themes, thus making it relevant. Furthermore, students will have the opportunity to express themselves creatively through performance. The activities will also allow students to explore various ways of reflecting what they know, ie. acting, reading, music, etc.

Follow-up activities/Homework

Student reflection of his/her own Performance as well as others.

Lesson 6

Title "Race and Civil Rights Today"

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to: 1. Identify 5 areas the Civil Rights Movement has affected their lives 2. Examine the current social, political and economic landscape and identify current civil rights issues 3. Assess the overall Civil Rights Movement identifying (3) strengths and (3) weaknesses.

Materials Used

Freedom Songs: Music from the Civil Rights Movement

Obama Race Speech

Lesson 6 Outline

Opening - Welcome students. Direct them to copy their homework, read the Aim (objective) for the day, copy their homework and begin and complete their Do Now.

DN - On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the success of the Civil Rights Movement? Explain

Activity #1 - Music, Culture and Civil Rights. Students will identify from a list of songs from the Civil Rights Movement, to study. They will then identify a contemporary song they believe to be influenced by the themes of the Civil Rights Movement.

Students will explore past and current music of the Civil Rights Movement. Through lyrics analysis, music study and performance, this activity will allow students to explore the integral aspect of culture to this struggle for justice.

Activity #2 - Critically read Frederick Douglas' "What to the slave is the 4^th of July" and Thurgood Marshall's address on the Bicentennial of the United States. Students will compare and contrast the statements to identify what has changed and what has not.

Activity #3 - President Obama's speech on Race. Students will read and watch this speech. Through T4, students will create a list of historical references and examples the President uses and connect each to the current state of race today.

Activity #4 - "Lighting a Candle and Making Connections." Students will be introduced to other aspects of change that followed if not were a direct result of the fight for African-American civil and human rights. Immigration Reform Act of 1968, United Farm Workers, Equal Rights Amendment.

Students will make a collage on a mason jar that incorporates images of the Civil Rights Movement from the past, its concrete affect on the present and their own aspirations for the future.

Monitoring and Assessment

Regular "checking for understanding" through both voluntary and random selection of students. I will also move through the class providing direction and guidance.

Modifications to Address Individual Student Learning Needs

This lesson provides several access points for students to engage in the material. Students will work with several areas of intelligence.

Resources

Bibliography

Berlak, Herald. Rethinking Schools. Volume 15, No. 4 - Summer 2001 http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/15_04/Race154.shtml (accessed July 10, 2006). This article addresses how racism causes the achievement gap.

Duncan-Andrade, Jeffrey. 2005. An Examination of the Sociopolitical History of Chicanos and its Relationship to School Performance. Sage Publications, http://uex.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/40/6/576 (accessed July 13, 2009). The portrayal, explicitly and implicitly of Chicana/o people, in the institutional narrative, has a destructive effect upon the self-image of Chicana/o students. This negative self-image results in the divestment of Chicana/o students from the mainstream educational system.

Freire, Paolo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 1970. The most significant work providing a framework to exposing the oppressive "banking" method of teaching.

Gardner, Howard. The Disciplined Mind. New York: Penguin Books, 2000. Provides a framework for and examples of how student learning can be maximized by tapping into their respective intelligence(s).

Garvey, Marcus. "If you Believe the Negro has a Soul". History Matters http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5124/ (accessed July 14, 2009). This speech lays out the problem facing black people in the United States and lays out as the solution, the return of the "Negro" in America to Africa.

King, Jr., Martin Luther. I have a Dream: Writings and Speeches that Changed the World. Ed. James m. Washington. San Francisco: Harpers, 1992. This is a collection of Dr. King's speeches that reflect his development over time from a civil rights leader to a champion of human rights.

Research Center, Editorial Projects in Education. "Achievement Gap" Edweek.org, 2004. http://www.edweek.org/rc/issues/achievement-gap (accessed July 10, 2009). This article succinctly defines the education gap.

Solorzano, D., & Delgado-Bernal, D. Urban Educating, "Examining Transformational Resistance Through a Critical Race and LatCrit Theory Framework: Chicana and Chicano Students in an Urban Context." 2001. This essay provides a framework for moving students from self-destructive behavior to transformative resistance.

Walker, David. Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829 David Walker. Documenting the American South, http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/walker/walker.html (accessed July 14, 2009). Is one of the earliest and most militant publications by an African-American boldly denouncing the brutal treatment of African people in America.

Wilson, William Julius. More Than Just Race. New York: Norton & Company, 2009. This is a structural and cultural framework for looking at the social and economic gap that persists between Black and White Americans.

X, Malcolm, Malcolm X Speaks. Ed. George Brietman. New York: Grove Press, 1965. This is a collection of Malcolm X's later speeches as he separates himself from the Nation of Islam.

Student Reading List

"If you Believe the Negro has a Soul", by Marcus Garvey. This speech lays out the problem facing black people in the United States and lays out as the solution, the return of the "Negro" in America to Africa.

"The difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in America or Something Like a Sonnet for Phillis Wheatley", by June Jordan. This essay puts into context the complex existence of pioneer black poet, Phillis Wheatley.

"Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Colored Men", by Abraham Lincoln. Highlights the initial position President Lincoln took in relation to the coexistence of black and white in America.

"I have a Dream", by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Vision for an integrated society based on justice and love.

"A more perfect Union", by Barack Obama. Highlights the struggles of blacks in America against racism and the ongoing challenges or race relations today.

"Aint I a Woman", by Sojourner Truth. Examines the layers of race and gender in the fight against slavery and the struggle for women's rights.

Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles, by David Walker. Is a militant denunciation of the brutality faced by black people in America.

"On being brought from Africa", Phillis Wheatley. One among many poems written by the pioneer of African-American poetry that provides insight into an ex-slave turned published author in the context of an extremely white supremacist colonial society.

"Atlanta Compromise Speech", by Booker T. Washington. Highlights the gradual approach to attaining black empowerment in the United States shortly after reconstruction.

"The Ballot or the Bullet", by Malcolm X. Poses to white America the alternatives of peaceful change or violent uprising in relation to civil rights for black people in the United States.

Implementing District Standards

The Great African/African-American Intellectual Tradition For Liberation:

Resistance Past, Present and Beyond unit addresses core values, key figures and events of the Civil Rights Movement. The standards addressed in this unit revolve around the areas of critical examination of US History as it pertains to the fight for Black civil rights. The following are standards I feel this unit addresses.

Standard 11.1.3 reads, "Examine the effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction and of the industrial revolution, including demographic shifts and the emergence in the late nineteenth century of the United States as a world power." We will be studying the impact of Reconstruction on the lives of America's newly free slaves of African descent. This is the starting point for understanding the Modern Civil Rights Movement.

11.5.2 reads, " Analyze the international and domestic events, interests, and philosophies that prompted attacks on civil liberties, including the Palmer Raids, Marcus Garvey's ‘back-to-Africa' movement, the Ku Klux Klan, and immigration quotas and the responses of organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Anti-Defamation League to those attacks." We will explore Marcus Garvey's UNIA and the NAACP as an important organizational response to white supremacy.

11.5.6 reads, "Describe the Harlem Renaissance and new trends in literature, music, and art, with special attention to the work of writers (e.g., Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes). The central role of African-American culture to the civil rights movement will be explored.

11.10.1 reads, "Examine and analyze the key events, policies, and court cases in the evolution of civil rights, including Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, and California Proposition 209." These key court decisions will be examined as a critical aspect of the legal struggle for civil rights.

11.10.2 reads, "Describe the collaboration on legal strategy between African American and white civil rights lawyers to end racial segregation in higher education." We will highlight the significance of solidarity across race as key to the advancement of civil rights for African-Americans.

11.10.3 reads, "Examine the roles of civil rights advocates (e.g., A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, James Farmer, Rosa Parks), including the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail' and ‘I Have a Dream' speech." Two distinct views of attaining civil and human rights for African Americans will be highlighted through comparing and contrasting Malcolm X's and Dr. King's approach to fighting for these rights.

11.10.4 reads, "Discuss the diffusion of the civil rights movement of African Americans from the churches of the rural South and the urban North, including the resistance to racial desegregation in Little Rock and Birmingham, and how the advances influenced the agendas, strategies, and effectiveness of the quests of American Indians, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans for civil rights and equal opportunities." The successes of the Black struggle for civil rights will be examined and related to the lives of my diverse students.

11.10.5 reads, "Analyze the passage and effects of civil rights and voting rights legislation (e.g., 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act of 1965) and the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, with an emphasis on equality of access to education and to the political process." Lastly, we will explore the lasting effects of civil rights to today and the identify where the fight for these rights continues.

Notes

1. Daniel Solorzano and Dolores Delgado-Bernal, "Examining Transformational Resistance Through a Critical Race and LatCrit Theory Framework: Chicana and Chicano Students in an Urban Context", 320.

2. William Julius Wilson, More Than Just Race, 2.

3. Wilson, ibid, 3.

4. Herald Berlak, "Race and the Achievement Gap."

5. Research Center, Editorial Projects in Education. "Achievement Gap."

6. Wilson, ibid, 60

7. Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade, "An Examination of the Sociopolitical History of Chicanos and its Relationship to school Performance."

8. Herald Berlak, ibid.

9. David Walker, "Appeal", 70.

10. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam002.html, A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture.

11. Marcus Garvey, "If you believe the Negro has a Soul."

12. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Nobel Prize Acceptance Address."

13. Malcolm X, "Ballot or the Bullet."

14. Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 67.

15. Howard Gardner, The Disciplined Mind, 72.

16. Daniel Solorzano & Dolores Delgado-Bernal, "

17. School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL), Political Education Workshop Manual, 9.

18. SOUL, ibid, 10.

19. Paolo Freire, ibid, 69.

20. Greece Central School District 2008