Welcome to a new unit! This is the sign at New Orleans International Airport, in Louisiana. Today, students took a literacy test, used in Louisiana to stop people of color from voting. Photo taken in 2009.
Dear class,
It's always nice to start a new unit with you all, as there is so much to think about and do together! Here's what we did today in class:
Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 2: I can manage my responsibilities as a student.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.
Soundtrack: "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke. Selected for today because of the change to a new unit and because the song is related to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Lyrics here.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.
AGENDA 11/4/19:
News Brief - Ashling
DBQ Debrief
Literacy Test
Plessy v. Ferguson
We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the weekend. It was nice to hear about this, after so many classes just focused on the DBQ!
Joseph was selected to do the next news brief.
As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):
DBQ Debrief: Since we took most of the last week in both Americans Studies and Lit and Comp 10, I wanted to be sure to ask students about what their thoughts were on the assignment and the process leading up to it. This is the first time we have had an assignment that will be scored for both classes, so it was an adventure for us, as well. We had grades back to you to count towards progress reports! It was definitely easier when the amount we have to grade is split in half. Thanks for your input on how this went!
Literacy Test: After this, 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:
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:
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.
Here is the BuzzFeed video that we watched in class (warning: some strong language, but in context):
Here is the BuzzFeed video that we watched in class (warning: some strong language, but in context):
Plessy v. Ferguson: To start this section of class, I had students brainstorm what "civil rights" are and how to define the term. After this, I asked students to write down the LegalDictionary definition: The term civil rights refers to the basic rights afforded, by laws of the government, to every person, regardless of race, nationality, color, gender, age, religion, or disability.
To begin looking at how the United States has denied basic rights to people of color, we looked at the famous Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson. I passed out this handout in class (as a class set):
To help understand this case, I showed this video as an overview:
The second page has questions for students to answer about the case. We finished class by looking through the answers together. I hope you found the class interesting today! See you next class!
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