Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell

1

Red, White, and Blues:

Is America the “Dream the Dreamers Dreamed”?

I. Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks Standards:

The lesson plan uses a thematic approach to span 1926-2009, encompassing the following standards:

The Age of Reform: Progressivism and the New Deal, 1900-1940

USII.10 Describe how the battle between traditionalism and modernity manifested itself in the major historical trends and events after World War I and throughout the 1920s. (H)

  1. the Boston police strike in 1919
  2. the Red Scare and Sacco and Vanzetti
  3. racial and ethnic tensions
  4. the Scopes Trial and the debate over Darwin’s On the Origins of Species
  5. Prohibition

Cold War America at Home: Economic Growth and Optimism, Anticommunism, and Reform, 1945-1980

USII.25 Analyze the origins, goals, and key events of the Civil Rights movement. (H)

People

  1. Robert Kennedy
  2. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  3. Thurgood Marshall
  4. Rosa Parks
  5. Malcolm X

Institution

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Events

  1. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
  2. the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott
  3. the 1957-1958 Little Rock School Crisis
  4. the sit-ins and freedom rides of the early 1960s
  5. the 1963 civil rights protest in Birmingham
  6. the 1963 March on Washington
  7. the 1965 civil rights protest in Selma
  8. the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
  9. the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Seminal Primary Documents to Read: Reverend Martin Luther King’s, “I Have A Dream”speech and his Letter from Birmingham City Jail (1963), President Lyndon Johnson, speech to Congress on voting rights (March 15, 1965)

USII.26 Describe the accomplishments of the civil rights movement. (H, E)

  1. the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act
  2. the growth of the African American middle class, increased political power, and declining rates of African American poverty

II.Historical Thinking Benchmarks Addressed:

Analysis of primary and secondary sources. For example, using primary and secondary sources on the experience of 19th-century immigrants, teachers can look for different points of view or bias (for instance, in comments by immigrants themselves compared to comments about immigrants by the press or politicians). Weighing the representativeness of certain kinds of sources such as diaries and considering a mixture of quantitative and qualitative (visual as well as textual) sources would be another important exercise on this kind of topic. Discussing how to rate different levels of reliability in sources on the immigrant experience might round off an exercise on this skill.

An understanding of bias and points of view. This skill applies most obviously in assessing primary sources, but it is vital also in dealing with secondary accounts. Teachers can compare textbook treatments of controversial topics, such as slavery, and how they have changed over time, as a means of testing for bias or point of view.

Understanding that although the past tends to be viewed in terms of present values, a proper perception of the past requires a serious examination of values of that time. For example, what aspects of the Federalist Papers seem particularly hard to understand in terms of current political issues and values, and how can we appreciate why they were important at the time? How can we appreciate why many parents tried to "break the will" of disobedient children, by isolating them in their rooms often for days, in the early 19th century—and how can we try to understand the impact of this experience on children themselves?

III. Essential Questions:

  • How has the position of African Americans in society changed from 1926 to the present?
  • How has African-American experience changed from 1926 to the present?
  • Is post-racist America still a dream?

IV. Learning Objectives:

  • Students will analyze speeches, poems, music, and photographs, from distinct periods in U.S. African-American history, such as Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America Be America Again” and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”.
  • Students will evaluate an historical document in order to make a judgment about the author’s bias and view towards the position of African Americans in society.
  • Students will understand the events leading up to and during the Ossian Sweet case.
  • Students will evaluate Clarence Darrow’s closing arguments of May 1926.
  • Students will create an anachronistic documentary to support Clarence Darrow’s closing arguments of 1926.

V. Learning Activities:

Throughout this unit, students read a series of documents/texts about race, analyzing each document using a document analysis worksheet, and answering the same key questions about the documents. Students also analyze one blues song, answering key questions about the song. During the assessment, students analyze a photograph. In addition, students analyze the rhetorical devices used in the document in order to evaluate how the use of these devices enhances the author’s message.

1. Set the stage for the learning activities in this unit by activating background knowledge about the history of the African American experience in the United States. Once background knowledge is elicited, use the Library of Congress African American Odyssey website to establish an overview of African American history in the U.S.:

This website:

explores black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. The Library's materials, gathered over the two hundred years of its existence, tell the story of the African American experience through nine chronological periods that document the courage and determination of blacks, faced with adverse circumstances, who overcame immense odds to fully participate in all aspects of American society.

The overviews of the exhibits described on this site provide a short, succinct overview of important periods in African-American history. If desired, this activity could be extended, for example, by having students using the exhibits that are posted and presenting a brief overview of each period with an a brief analysis of one artifact. Students should also make a timeline of periods and events using the periods described on this site:

  1. Slavery--The Peculiar Institution
  2. Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period
  3. Abolition
  4. The Civil War
  5. Reconstruction
  6. Booker T. Washington Era
  7. World War I and Postwar Society
  8. Depression, New Deal, and World War II
  9. Civil Rights

2. Explain to students that this unit will give them a `backwards' view of race relations, beginning in the present. [Note, this unit could be taught in strict chronological order if desired. The rationale for teaching `backwards’ is to enable students to first connect the lessons to their everyday life, as they experience the struggle leading up to the present. This is key `literacy’ strategy for engaging and motivating adolescent learners (Guthrie, 2008).

3. Students read the article “Talk About Race? Relax, It’s O.K.”, a New York Times article about the effect of the Obama presidency on the perception of race in 2009” found at They place the article on their timeline and analyze and discuss the document using the Written Document Analysis Worksheet, found at: .

Students also answer the following key questions about the article:

  • What position in society of African Americans does this document/text depict?
  • What position in society of African Americans does this document/text depict?
  • Is a post-racist America still a dream according to this document/text?
  • What does the writer/speaker hope for/dream of?
  • What course of action does s/he recommend?

4. Students read “News at Five”, a rap in Nikki Grimes’ Bronx Masquerade, and perform the rap. This piece, published in 2006, deals with racial stereotyping of African-American teenagers. Students place this piece on their timeline, noting that it was published three years previous to the Times article and after the peak of the Civil Rights era. Once again, students use the document analysis worksheet to analyze and discuss the text, and answer the key questions given above and discuss.

Literacy connection: in addition, students discuss rhetorical devices used in the rap to support the points of view expressed in the rap, for example Black is capitalized and white is not, Personification of “those gray heads”, etc. A glossary of rhetorical terms with examples can be found at:

5. Introduce Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech (1963), Place on timeline. Video footage can be used to establish a context and background for the speech (such as excerpts from Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985; information about this video can be found at:

If possible, show a video of the speech, which can be found on several sites, such as:

Students analyze the speech using the document analysis worksheet and key questions, as well as an analysis of rhetorical devices. (Resources as above). Note that students should review the written text of the speech available on

6. Students read the poem “Long Live Langston”, in Nikki Grimes’ book Bronx Masquerade. This poem celebrates the writing of Langston Hughes. Links to background information about the author can be found at:

Follow up with reading a short biography of Hughes, for example:

Students read his poem: “Let America Be America Again”, which can be found at

Students analyze the poem using the document analysis worksheet, key questions as well as an analysis of rhetorical techniques.

ASSESSMENT IDEA: Students compare/contrast King’s speech to Langston Hughes’ poem, and then write a persuasive essay answering the question:

Do you think Martin Luther King used Hughes’ poem to write his speech?

7. Students read background knowledge about the blues, for example, What is the Blues? -- found at:

.

Students analyze one of the following songs, using the following key questions:

  • Who wrote this song?
  • Who performed this song?
  • When was this song written?
  • What does this song suggest about the condition of the people who sang them and listened to them? Are they happy, sad, frustrated, tired, etc.?
  • What are the performers' attitudes toward the experiences they sing about? Are they resigned, angry, skeptical, etc.?
  • What do you think the singers and listeners of these songs value?
  • Why do you think this singer chose this subject?
  • What does this song tell you about the singer’s/lyricist’s outlook or perspective?
  • What can you infer from this song about:

The position in society of African Americans in the United States – what was life like?

Does this singer/lyricist think post-racist America is still a dream?

What does this singer/lyricist hope for?

The two examples of songs students could choose from are:

Big Bill Broonzy’s I Wonder When Ill Get To Be Called A Man; lyrics can be found at:

and Lost Your Head Blues, by Bessie Smith; lyrics can be found at:

8. Introduce the chronicle events of the Ossian Sweet case, using web site materials found at: especially “The Sweet Trials: An Account”. In addition, use Chapter Five, “White Houses” from Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle. This chapter depicts the event on Garland Avenue when the Sweets move into their new home. This chapter could be excerpted. Students discuss the events of the case, creating a clear timeline of the sequence of events.

Students then read and analyze Darrow’s closing arguments in the case, in particular: Conclusion in his Closing Arguemnt of May 11, 1926. This document can befound at:

Using the document analysis worksheet and key questions, together with an analysis of rhetorical devices, students analyze and discuss Darrow’s closing arguments.

VI. A ‘performance’ or ‘authentic’ assessmenttied to learning objectives.

Students write and create a short, anachronistic documentary to insert into Clarence Darrow’s speech, after the following paragraph:

I know the Negro race has a long road to go. I believe the life of the Negro race has been a life of tragedy, of injustice, of oppression. The law has made him equal, but man has not. And, after all, the last analysis is, what has man done?--and not what has the law done? I know there is a long road ahead of him, before he can take the place which I believe he should take. I know that before him there is suffering, sorrow, tribulation and death among the blacks, and perhaps the whites. I am sorry. I would do what I could to avert it. I would advise patience; I would advise toleration; I would advise understanding; I would advise all of those things which are necessary for men who live together.

The students role is documentary film maker, their audience the jury. The theme of the documentary is that at the end of the trial, a non-racist America is still a dream, in Darrow’s words: a “long road ahead’. Just as Darrow predicted, African-Americans face “suffering, sorrow, and tribulation” before they achieve the dream.

This assessment, therefore, focuses on the historical thinking benchmark, Understanding that although the past tends to be viewed in terms of present values, a proper perception of the past requires a serious examination of values of that time. Given the values of the time, elicited by Kevin Boyle and Clarence Darrow, the student needs to convince the jury through his/her documentary that an acquittal is a personal, historical contribution toward freeing the `Negro race’ from racism by using anachronistic historical documents and artifacts.

Students will need background information about what a documentary is, for example, the definition of a documentary which can be found at: Students could also be shown clips from documentary videos, such as those detailed on the American Experience website

It is also important to introduce the term anachronism, explaining that producing this documentary would be an anachronism because of the technology used as well as because they will use documents, music, and photographs from the `future’. One definition of anachronism can be found at:

In their documentary, students should include:

  • one document or text from the future which is about the African American struggle for equality (from the ones they analyzed previously in the unit, or one chosen by the student);
  • one African-American blues track dated after 1926, selected from this unit or chosen by the student, for example from:

one photograph depicting an aspect of the African American struggle for equality, for example from:

As background research students should include:

  • Document analysis and answers to key questions (as above)
  • Analysis of the blues track (as above)
  • An analysis of the photograph they are using, for example using the worksheet found at:

Students can use the storyboard template from

to plan their documentary. After planning, they can produce a podcast or vodcast, o of their documentary and present.

VII. Annotated Bibliography

Type of entry / Bibliography Form
Electronic document (glossary), Internet
Website
Electronic document (definition), Internet
Electronic document (biography), Internet
Electronic document (lyrics), Internet
Book, single author
Electronic document (closing arguments), Internet
Electronic article, Internet
Website
Book, single author
Book, single author
Electronic document (poem), Internet
Electronic video, Internet
Electronic images (photographs), Internet
Electronic article, Internet
Electronic document (speech), Internet
Electronic document (biography), Internet
Internet
Electronic article, Internet
Internet links
Electronic document (worksheet, Internet
Electronic document (lyrics), Internet.
Electronic article, Internet.
Electronic document (worksheet), Internet
Electronic article, Internet.
Electronic document (worksheet), Internet. / “A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from University of Kentucky Department of Modern & Classical Languages.
African American Odyssey. Library of Congress. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from

“Anachronism”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
“Biography of LangstonHughes.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
“Big Bill Broonzy - I Wonder When Ill Get To Be Called A Man lyrics”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from

Boyle, Kevin. Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age New York Henry Holt 2004.
Darrow, Clarence. “Closing Argument of Clarence Darrow in the case of People v. Henry Sweet.” 1926. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Famous American Trials: the Sweet Trials 1925 & 1926.
“Definition of Documentary”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985. Accessed June 12, 2009.
Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. New York: Penguin Group(USA), 2002.
Guthrie, John T. Engaging Adolescents in Reading. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 2008.
Hughes, Langston: Let America Be America Again”. 1934. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
“I Have a Dream”. Google Videos. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from .
“Images of the Struggle.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Civil Rights Research Consortium
Kershaw, Sarah: “Talk About Race? Relax, It’s O.K.” January 14, 2009. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from

King, Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream - Address at March on Washington”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from MLK Online.

“Langston Hughes.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
Linder, Douglas O. “The Sweet Trials: An Account”. 2000.Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from

Nikki Grimes. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Ashland University Library

“Photograph Analysis Worksheet”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from The National Archives Educators and Students
Smith, Bessie. Lot Your Head Blues. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from

“Teacher’s Guide CD”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Scorcese Presents the Blues.

“Video Storyboard.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from National History Day.

“What is the Blues?”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Scorcese Presents the Blues.
“Written Document Analysis Worksheet”. Accessed June 12, 2009.Available from The National Archives Educators and Students.