Lesson 3

Submitted by galactikcat on Thu, 2005-10-27 02:55.U.S. History

Fighting for Democracy, Fighting for Me

This unit weaves together the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy’s Curricular Understandings with state and national learning standards and current events to help students gain a better understanding of how their lives are connected to those who have struggled in the past for the power, privilege, and equal standing promised to them by the U.S. Constitution.

Students begin by investigating specific individuals involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom and working backward to stories from World War II. Students will review documents such as the Four Freedoms speech, as well as less prominent documents that depict the conflicts faced by individuals during World War II. Evidence gathered will help students respond to the essential question, “If somebody is denied power, privilege, and equal standing with other Americans, how should he or she respond?”

Grade Level: 9-12

Subjects: U.S. History

Unit Duration: Projected length of time is 2 class periods

Lessons can be modified and extension activities can be easily added.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
If somebody is denied power, privilege, and equal standing with other Americans, how should he or she respond?

GUIDING QUESTION FOR LESSON THREE:
How did W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington respond to being African American in the United States in the late 1800s?

OBJECTIVES:

Students will compare and contrast the differing positions of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois regarding full citizenship for African Americans.
Students will interpret the positions of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois within the context of the late Nineteenth Century.

Activities

1. Pose a version of the following dilemma to the class:

You are an African American born into slavery in 1845. When you are in your twenties, the U.S. Congress ratifies the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. Still, you know that even though the laws have changed, the hearts and minds of certain European Americans in your community have not changed.

2. Introduce the activity by telling students that they will now explore some of the options to how they might continue living their lives in the United States, through the perspectives of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. Present this scenario:

During your monthly visit to the nearest town, you pick up two pamphlets. You have difficulty reading them because you were not allowed to learn to read before the Thirteenth Amendment.

So, you visit the minister of your community’s church and he reads the pamphlets to you. The minister asks for your views on the information in the pamphlets. What do you tell him?

3. Students work in pairs to read the following pamphlets about W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington’s differing positions regarding African American life during the late 1800s. (Pamphlet 3-1 and Pamphlet 3-2)

Pamphlets Handout

4. In pairs, have one student adopt the persona of Booker T. Washington and the other student adopt the persona of W.E.B DuBois, both responding to the phrase, “We, the people”. Guide students through the Talking Heads Activity Sheet. (Student Activity Sheets 3-3 and 3-4)

Talking Heads Handout

5. Based on their completed Talking Heads Activity Sheet, have students role-play Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois and interview each other.

6. Discuss pro and con views of each man’s position as a class.

7. Students then re-think the dilemma posed earlier and write their response to the “minister.” The response must: