Knowledge Stream Lesson Title: the Past, Present and Future of the United States

Knowledge Stream Lesson Title: The Past, Present and Future of the United States

Grade Level(s): 12th Grade

Author and School: Ms. Phyllis Peterson, Bowsher High School

Date: June 5, 2009

Lesson Summary:

Students will study the aspects of the history of the United States to understand the past, present and future of the United States in relation to African Americans and the World.

Language Arts Content Areas – Writing Processes, Communications: Oral and Visual, and Research Standard.

Materials Needed:

A.  Video Clip: “Black Power to Black Studies,” by Dr. James Garrett, February 24, 2009

B.  Sentence Strips, or construction paper, or legal size paper.

C.  Publications on the History of the United States, the black Power Movement, and Black Studies.

D.  The List of References.

E.  Paper and Pencil.

Lesson Implementation

Engage :

Students should watch the video clip first and take notes while watching the video.

The teacher can lead a discussion in regards to “What was the Black Power Movement and when did it occur in the United States?” “Who were some of the leaders?”

The Black Power movement occurred in 1960’s - it was a movement to change the lives of Black People (African Americans).

Some of the leaders were Stokely Carmichael, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marian Wright Edelman, and Malcolm X.

Explore:

First, the students will read information to obtain knowledge about the Black Power Movement in the United States and take notes of the events according to the year. Next, the students will be paired with a partner to answer the following question: 1) How did the Black Power Movement change the United States – state the laws and programs that changed? ( See Reference List for Books written by Branch, Kly, and Joseph)

Explain:

In order to understand why there was need for a Black Power Movement in the 1960”s, they need to research the state of Black people before the Black Power (Civil Rights) Movement. The students can select a partner before going to the library. Students should read information about the history of the United States and African Americans from 1860 to 1960. Each partner could focus on a fifty-year period. (See Reference List for Books written by Dubois, Gates, and Carson). Students should obtain at least five references.

Students should write a summary of the readings according to the time period (for example, the students will focus the fifty year period that he/she selected) they should include the events during the time period which, changed African American lives the most.

Evaluate:

Students will use the information obtained to make a Timeline of the History of African Americans in the United States. They should make annotations for each significant event.

Students do a fifteen-minute presentation of their Timelines and give a description of the most important events.

Extend:

The title of the video is Black Power to Black Studies. Look at the Black Studies curriculum of Harvard, Yale, an university in California, The Ohio State University, Kent State University and a couple of smaller colleges and universities in Ohio. Students can be broken into small groups to complete this activity.

Students should answer the following question: Would these Higher Education Institutions have developed, planned and implemented a Black Studies Program with out the Black Power Movement? Please include in significant events that occurred on the campuses, for example, student sit-ins.

References

Branch, T. (1988). Parting the waters: American in the King Years 1954-1965. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Carson, C., Garrow, D. J., Gill, G., Harding, V., & Hine, D. C. (1954-1990). The eyes on the prize: Civil Rights reader: documents, speeches, and firsthand accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle. Boston: Black Side, Inc.

Curry, G. (Ed.) (1996). The Affirmative action debate. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Dubois, W.E.B. (1975). Black reconstruction in America: 1860-1880. New York: Atheneum Publishers.

Dubois, W. E. B. (1989). The souls of black folks. New York: Penguin Books.

Gates, H. L. (2009). In search of our roots. New York: Crown Publishers.

Hilliard III, A. G. (1997). SBA: The reawakening of African mind. Gainesville, FL: Makare.

Hilliard III, A. G. , Stewart, L. P., & Williams, L. O. (Eds.). (1990). Infusion of African and African American content in the school curriculum: Proceedings of the 1st National Conference. Chicago: Third World Press.

Hooks, b. (2003). The teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Kly, Y. N. (Ed.). (1986). The Black book: The true political philosophy of Malcolm X. Windsor, ONT: Clarity Press.

Kunjufu, J. (2006). An African centered response to Ruby Payne’s poverty theory. Chicago: African American Images.

Joseph, P. E. (2006). The black power movement: rethinking the civil rights-black power era. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Payne, R. (1996). A framework for understanding poverty. Highland, TX: Aha! Process, Inc.

Perry, T., Steele, C., Hilliard III, A. G. (2003). Promoting high achievement among african american students. Boston: Beacon Press.

Souza, P. (2008). The rise of Barak Obama. Chicago: Triumph Books.