Civil Rights, Day 2 - Class Recap

Kanye West (left) and Jay Z (right) at the Watch The Throne tour stop in Boston, 2011.

Hi everyone,

Welcome back from your long weekend! A short three day week is now a third of the way done. Read on to see what we did today in class.

Learning Targets Addressed:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.17: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: “Through the Wire” by Kanye West. Selected for today because of the lyrics - a verse reads:

How do you console my mom or give her light support?Telling her your son's on life supportAnd just imagine how my girl feelOn the plane scared as hell that her guy look like Emmett Till

AGENDA 3/11/14:
News Brief
Emmett Till
Plessy v. Ferguson
Early Struggles

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Prathyoosha

News Brief: Maddie selected this article to bring in today: KGW.com - Portland named 'Fittest City in America' - Hooray! All of our clean air and bike lanes, apparently. Thanks, Maddie!

Emmett Till: We finished watching a documentary called The Murder of Emmett Till, which we started last class. There were about 30 minutes left. If you missed one or both days, here's the video again:

After the film, we went over the documentary questions that I passed out last class. My main point in showing this was to drive home the point how brutal and unjust life was in the era we are talking about. I wanted to drive home the point that civil rights are not just about speeches in black and white - this happened less than 60 years ago, and to this day, we still have hate crimes happen all the time. This case of a 14 year old boy being murdered and mutilated for whistling at a white woman, and his killers being totally freed of all responsibility inflamed the passions of so many people. How could this happen? These are the same sorts of questions we ask today.

Plessy v. Ferguson: The rest of class focused on going over the U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Here is a recap of the case, which said that segregation of races was legal, because it was not discrimination - specifically, segregation of different railroad cars in Louisiana. I passed out a worksheet that looked at the case and had the class answer five questions related to it. Next class, we will move on to looking at some of the early struggles of the civil rights movement and how they were overcome.

Civil Rights, Day 1 - Class Recap

Emmett Till was raised in Chicago, Illinois, before taking a fateful trip to Mississippi one summer. This is the famous Chicago Theatre sign, in 2011. 

Hi everyone,

Thanks for checking in on the blog during your long weekend! We are finally getting into some new content in learning about Civil Rights in America. Read on to check out what we did today!

Learning Targets Addressed:

SS.HS.KN.ALT.17: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: “Cry Me A River” by Justin Timberlake. Selected because of the ongoing crisis in Crimea, Ukraine, and because it was raining out today. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/6/14:
News Brief
Literacy Test
Lynchings (Cornell Notes)
Emmett Till


Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Maddie

News Brief: Jessica had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: CNN.com - Major changes coming to 2016 SAT test: Here's what, how and why. Sad news for your graduating class, as it appears the newer (and apparently easier) test does not go into effect until after you graduate. Still, very interesting news! Thanks, Jessica!

Literacy Test: After the news brief, I passed out a test and said there were only ten minutes to complete it, with every answer being correct in order to pass it. This was supposed to be impossible, by design! Here's a link to a page with the blank test on it:

Slate.com - Take the Impossible “Literacy” Test Louisiana Gave Black Voters in the 1960s

It is somewhat difficult to ascertain with certainty if this actual test was used, but it does appear to be one from the State of Louisiana, used to deny people of color the right to vote. These tests were given to anyone that election officials wanted - which was typically only people of color, not whites. If you are interested in seeing the "answers" (many of which were pretty subjective) again, here they are:

Google Drive: "Answers" to the Louisiana Literacy Test for Voting

I hope this was an interesting activity to start out with! I also hope the point was driven home that having some sort of standard or qualification for voting rights aside from age is discriminatory.

Lynchings: For this section, I talked about the importance of not ignoring, or sweeping under the rug, the horrific and brutal history in the United States when it comes to lynchings. The article I read aloud to the class, as everyone was taking Cornell Notes, was from this website:

CrimeLibrary.com - Carnival of Death: Lynching in America (Page 2)

I also showed some statistics compiled about people lynched in the United States from 1889-1918, which can be found here:

Google Drive: Lynching Data Set, 1889-1918

At the end of reading the article, I gave the class a bit of time to try and wrap up taking notes using the Cornell format, then we moved on to:

Emmett Till: This is one of the more famous lynchings in United States history. The documentary we started watching in class is called The Murder of Emmett Till. If you missed class and wanted to catch up (we will watch the rest next class), it is here:

We made it about 25 minutes in today.

Thank you for your focus and hard work! Enjoy your long weekend!

Forced Choice, Day 2 - Class Recap

This is the room inside Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the Constitution of the United States was debated and signed. Picture taken in 2008.

Dear class,

Thank you so much for another great day of talking, listening, and debating! I hope that you found it as interesting and enlightening as I did. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets Addressed:

SS.HS.KN.ALT.17: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: “Get Up, Stand Up” by Bob Marley. Selected for today because you were standing up for what you believe in, and it relates to civil rights! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/4/14:
News Brief
Finish Forced Choice
Reflection
Lynchings

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Jessica.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Stacey. She chose this article to talk about: CNN.com - New York Times corrects article about '12 Years a Slave' -- 161 years later. This is especially topical because 12 Years a Slave just won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and because we are learning about Civil Rights in the upcoming unit. Thanks, Stacey!

I also talked for a while about the ongoing situation in Ukraine, where the U.S. government is trying to help ensure that Russia does not take over. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on what is happening, since it has dominated world news the last few days.

Finish Forced Choice: I was actually thinking we would be able to wrap this up in plenty of time to start the next bit, but the opinions and discussions were just so good that I decided to hold off until next class. The three questions we talked about today were:

5. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
7. The government of a country should have the power to make decisions that the majority of the people in it do not support.
8. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?

Reflection: At the end of class, I had everyone write a reflection based on the following prompt:

Write a one page reflection on the activity. What was the most difficult or controversial question for you? Why? How do these sorts of questions relate to the study of civil rights?

This was due in class, and will help me determine how much you took away from this two day long activity. Let me know in the comments if you have any further questions or, ahem, comments!