KNOW YOUR HISTORY: DEVELOPING A CULTURE-CENTERED HISTORY
CURRICULUM
Lisa Marie Daniels
B.A., San Francisco State University, San Francisco, 2004
PROJECT
Submitted in partial satisfaction
of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
EDUCATION
(Multicultural Education)
at
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
FALL
2010
© 2010
Lisa Marie Daniels
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ii
KNOW YOUR HISTORY: DEVELOPING A CULTURE-CENTERED HISTORY
CURRICULUM
A Project
By
Lisa Marie Daniels
Approved by:
__________________________________________, Committee Chair
Forrest Davis, Ph.D.
______________________________________
Date
iii
Student: Lisa Marie Daniels
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University
format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to
be awarded for the Project.
_______________________________, Graduate Coordinator
Maria Mejorado, Ph.D.
Department of Bilingual/Multicultural Education
iv
Date:_______________
Abstract
of
KNOW YOUR HISTORY: DEVELOPING A CULTURE-CENTERED HISTORY
CURRICULUM
by
Lisa Marie Daniels
Statement of Problem - The absence of African-American history from the standard
curriculum has created a disconnection with African-American’s identity, culture and
heritage, and continues to be an important issue in education. The study of African
American history indicates that the American ethnic populations were deliberately
divided for exploitation and specifically for economic gain. Proponents of African
American history believe it will promote cultural identity, develop self-esteem, and
correct many of the myths supported by the Eurocentric curriculum. The teaching
methodologies of African American history in secondary grades (7-12) are inequitable
and need a different strategy to empower students. African American students feel
alienated because their culture is underrepresented in school curriculum. A student
learning about his or her culture not only improves individual self-esteem and provides a
sense of identity, but raises their grades and increases interest in school.
Objective - To identify content from African and African American Studies, which should
be developed into a culture-centered history curriculum for grades 7-12; to acquire,
adapt and/or develop materials appropriate for utilization in the implementation into the
culture-centered history curriculum; to teach students about the African and African
American experience and contributions from both a contemporary and historical
perspective; and to promote both parent and community involvement in school.
Conclusions Reached – The incorporation of multicultural lesson plans and
implementing culturally responsive pedagogical educators in the classroom enhances the
learning experience in the American classroom.
________________________________, Committee Chair
Forrest Davis, Ph.D.
__________________________
Date
v
DEDICATION
I would like to dedicate this work to my great-grandparents, Juan Ramos Hernandez and
Alice Prothroe Hernandez; my grandmother, Margarita Hernandez; my mother, Lorraine
Laura Britton Daniels Jeffries; my brother, Lauren (Nick) Jeffries; my children, Logan
Miles Murdock and Alexandra Elise Alcutt – who all taught me the importance of family,
history, culture and identity, and education; and to my “forever love,” David Charles
Marshall. Thank you for being my muse and inspiring me to always do great things.
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge Dr. Forrest Davis, for all of his support and
encouragement throughout the Project. His tireless commitment to the learning
community speaks volumes; Max Hunter, M.Ed. (University of Washington, Harvard) for
the support and scholarly conversations; Linda Garrett and Yolanda Garland Love for
being my dry shoulders and my cheerleaders, and finally, to all of my friends – you know
who you are.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Dedication……………………………………………………………………………...vi
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………vii
Chapter
1.
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………….. ………..1
2.
LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………………... 15
3.
METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………..44
Appendix Sample Lesson Plans …………………………………………….................48
References……………………………………………………………………………...99
viii
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
“There is very little that is more important for any people to know than their
history, culture, traditions and language; for without such knowledge, one
remains naked and defenseless before the world.” – Marcus Tillus Cicero (106
B.C.E. – 43 B.C.E)
The absence of African-American history from the traditional standard curriculum
has created a disconnection with the African-American identity, culture and heritage; this
continues to be an important issue in education. A minimal amount of scholarship
involving African Americans students emphasizes their strengths, despite
recommendations by professional literature to build on their strengths (Galassos & Akos,
as cited in Day-Vines & Terriquez, 2008, p. 1). The study of African American history
indicates that the American ethnic populations were deliberately divided for exploitation
and specifically for economic gain. Des Dixon (1994, as cited in Henson) argues “today’s
curriculum is largely Victorian, a late 19th-century expression of the industrial revolution
as applied to the education industry” (Henson, 1995, p. 9). History is one of the first
major disciplines in which African American scholars created autonomous intellectual
traditions and institutions that existed side by side.
Gordon (1985) has argued that “mainstream social science has inadequately and
insufficiently addressed the life experiences of African Americans and other groups”
(King, 2004, p. 268). In social studies, there is the traditional path, with history and the
social sciences are taught from a textbook; the “structure of the disciplines” path, which
2
defines the investigated subject matter of the discipline and controls its inquiries
(Schwab, as cited in Stone, 1973, p. 210); the progressive path, through which teachers
and students create an interdisciplinary curriculum focused on issues and decisionmaking; and there is the critical path, in which students and teachers engage in a
problem-posing dialogue aimed at raising questions of social transformation (Evans,
2008, p. 16). Schwab (1973) argues the structure of the disciplines approach “is necessary
to teachers and educators and must be taken into account in planning and developments
of teaching materials as well as the elements of what we teach in the classroom”
(Schwab, as cited in Stone, 1973, p. 210). Proponents of African American history
believe it will promote cultural identity, develop self-esteem, and correct some of the
myths supported by the Eurocentric curriculum (Asante, 1991; Banks, 1993; King, 1992,
Ladson-Billings 1999). Cherry McGee Banks and J.A. Banks (2008) have identified
efforts scholarly work, considered “emancipatory education,” which counteracts
hegemony by positioning all peoples within the human collective to more accurately
represent diverse cultures and groups (Karenga, as cited in Swartz, pp. 1052-1053).
Proponents assert that the “hegemonic forces that emanate from a European-centered or a
Eurocentric paradigm are ill-equipped to understand the African American experience.
They argue that Afrocentricity rejects a Eurocentric worldview and “adopts Africa as a
takeoff point in any discussion of African civilization” (Oyebade, 1990, as cited in
Ginwright, 2004, p. 17). They maintain a curriculum that includes people of African
descent in a true light will serve the best interest of all Americans (Asante, 1991; Harris,
1983; Jeffries, 1991; and Nobles, 1990).
3
This African centered focus should not be based on the need to submerge or dent
the validity or perspectives of others, just because they are not of African descent. Grant
(2008) states “Afrocentric curriculum is written with the understanding that schools are
society's agency of socialization and school curriculum serves not only to teach the
principles of democracy but as a form of social control by influencing students' attitudes
and modifying their behaviors. Afrocentric curriculum has its roots in educational and
philosophical orientations that argue that education is not a neutral process but is used by
government and other institutions for social and political purposes” (p. 892). Ashanti
(2003) defines Afrocentricity as a “critical discourse that is being used to form a critical
pedagogy known as African-centered education” (p. 1). Keto (1994) argues “the Africa
centered perspective will also make a major contribution by advocating for tolerance and
inclusion in a multicultural world. People from different regions of the world have a right
to declare and to affirm their perspective in creating and developing independent
intellectual perspectives from which a global, “pluriversal” and multicentered perspective
will emerge and influence the human sciences of the next century (p. 65). Nobles (1990)
argues that an Afrocentric curriculum should be a tool for affirming African and African
American culture (Giddings, 2001, p. 466). Asante (1992) argues “through observations,
inquiry, and discussion, I’ve found that children who are centered in their own cultural
information are better students, more disciplined and have more motivation for school
work” (pp. 29-30). However, none of the proponents of Afrocentric education has
provided a complete K-12 curriculum that would replace existing Eurocentric curricula
(Giddings, 2001, p. 468). The School District of Philadelphia is the only school district
4
that has developed a culture-centered, single group curriculum, focused on
Afrocentricity. Gillespie (1989) writes:
On November 17, 1967, several hundred black students from Philadelphia's high
schools presented the Board of Education with a list of demands which included
the teaching of Afro-American history. The date will also be remembered as the
first time that the phrase – Negro or Afro-American History – became linked with
student unrest here and in other cities”(Traore, 2008, pp. 663-664).
How one defines “curriculum” depends on who you ask. Taba (1962) argues a
curriculum “usually contains a statement of aims and of specific objectives it indicated
some selection and organization of content; it either implies or manifests certain patterns
of learning and teaching, whether because the objectives demand them or because the
content organization requires them. Finally, it includes a program of evaluation of the
outcomes” (Henson, 1995, p. 4). Webster’s Dictionary defines “curriculum” as “a regular
course of study in a school.” Saylor and Alexander distinguished the difference between a
school’s planned activities and its planned activities, as “curriculum encompasses all
learning opportunities provided by the school” versus “a curriculum plan is the advance
arrangement of learning opportunities for a particular population of learners” (Henson,
1995, p. 5). Richardson (2000) writes “a culture-centered approach starts from the
viewpoint that students are positioned and that they come from somewhere with
something, which is valuable and fundamental to the educational process” (p. 200). King
(2004) adds, “culture-centered knowledge conflicts with or disparages the cultural
5
knowledge and interests of dominated groups, and the ‘sameness’ of individuals serves as
a rationalizing principle for domination that is represented as societal cohesion” (p. 271).
The teaching methodologies of African American history in secondary grades (7-12) are
inequitable and need a different strategy to empower students. African American students
feel alienated because their culture is underrepresented in school curriculum.
Culture refers to the consistent ways in which people experience, interprets, and
responds to the world around them; it represents the “ways of being” of a collective
population. Culture is a feature of all human groups and is shaped by historical, social,
political, economic, and even geographic factors (Marshall, 2002, p. 8). Culture includes
both past and present perceptions; and its perceived reality is reflected in its symbols,
rituals and purpose (Gause, 2003, p. 3). Providing children access to stories that represent
global diversity is one way to foster tolerance within the children, while improving
achievement and self-esteem (Allington & Cunningham, 2002).
Culture, like any other social or biological organism, is multidimensional and
continually changing. It must be so to remain vital and functional for those who create it
and for those it serves. As manifested in expressive behaviors, culture is influenced by a
wide variety of factors, including time, setting, age, economics, and social
circumstances” (Gay, 2000, p. 10). Ladson-Billings (1994) agrees with the need of
culturally relevant instruction, arguing if the children cannot see themselves in the
learning materials, how can they relate to it and be relevant to their lives. A student
learning about his or her culture not only improves individual self-esteem and provides a
6
sense of identity, but raises their grades and increases interest in school. Solorzano and
Yosso (2000) argue that critical race theory in education “begins to create a discourse that
articulates the ways in which teachers of color can initiate the processes of ending racial
subordination” (p. 115). Philadelphia Schools Superintendent, Dr. Mark Shedd, argued,
“identity is the problem of many Negro students....Negro history and culture, they feel
will give them an identity which they claim was taken from them when they arrived in
this country in 1619” (Traore, 2008, p. 666). To achieve a sense of identity, Steele (1995)
argues that “one must perceive good prospects in the domain; that is, one has the
interests, skills, resources, and opportunities to prosper there, as well as one belongs
there, in the sense of being accepted and valued” (p. 613). Without identity, a student is
susceptible to cultural devaluation and deculturalization.
Cultural devaluation involves the act and process of ascribing insignificance
and/or deficiency to the cultures of specific collective populations. For example, through
devaluation the histories, worldviews, and overall ways of being (i.e., languages, value
systems, personal presentation styles, etc.) of particular collective populations are
perceived as insignificant, quaint or even peculiar. When the histories of a people are
written, they are built, in part, upon archival information (Green, 2002, p. 807). One
manner of cultural devaluation is through exclusion or misrepresentation, whereby, in
experiences common to most people in the society, the ways of being associated with low
status cultural groups are distorted or ignored. Among these common experiences are
representations in television programs, movies, and advertising, and elementary and
secondary schooling (Marshall, 2002, pp. 9-10).
7
Deculturalization is one aspect of a strange mixture of democratic thought and
intolerance that permeates American history. The concept of deculturalization
demonstrates how cultural prejudice, racism, and religious bigotry can be intertwined and
democratic beliefs. Deculturalization combines education for democracy and political
equality with cultural genocide (Spring, 2004, p. 3). Williams and Land (2006) argue
“educational reform needs to be initiated to attack the core of the colorblind that
irresponsibility overlooks the history, struggles, and individuality of a person in the name
of being neutral and fair. The primary benefactors of such an education reform are
generations of African Americans” (p. 585).
I was born on the east coast. My grandfather was in the Navy, and transferred to
San Diego’s Miramar Air Station when I was only six months old. My grandmother, who
was first generation American, was a housewife who helped my mother raise me.
Although Gram was not a teacher, she instilled in me a vast knowledgeable of many
subjects. One of the subjects she wanted to make sure I was aware of was African
American history. Being born in the 1960s and attending school in the 1970s, one would
assume that there would be adequate learning materials discussing notable African
American contributions to American history in the public school curriculum.
I attended Riverdale Primary and Elementary School from first to eighth grade.
My mother and grandmother were able to have me skip kindergarten; their reason: that I
already had social skills, knew my alphabet and numbers, could already read, and could
use scissors. The school population consisted of mainly white students, a large population
8
of migrant students (Portuguese and Mexicans who were English learners), and a few
African American students. I got along with all of the students, who treated me with
dignity and respect. Most of the students I still keep in contact with, thanks to social
networking websites, the telephone, and letters. However, the atmosphere was not as
positive when it came to the relationship between the students of color and the teachers. I
remember my mother and grandmother frequently visiting the school, having to ask why
one teacher said to me, a six-year-old first grader, that they would like to “crack my head
open to see what was inside” because I was smarter than the average first grader. One
teacher had a psychologist come in to speak to me, asking me how I knew so much. I still
am amazed how a school administration would allow a first grader to undergo such
treatment. It made me feel like it was wrong for me to love learning, and that I was some
sort of “freak of nature.” I also heard from teachers, that I was “different, not like the
other black people they knew.” Kunjufu (1988) refers to this treatment as the “Jackie
Robinson” approach, when African Americans are selected to participate in certain
activities, because they are deemed “harmless” and non-retaliatory” (p. 78).
When I graduated from eighth grade, I had the grades to be class Salutatorian, but
was told my grade point average was not high enough to be selected. The irony was that a
white student had the same grade point average as me and was selected to be
Salutatorian. Once again, my mother and grandmother had to visit the school. The VicePrincipal said that “the school did not feel compelled to have two Salutatorians this year”
and the voting process was “so close.” It made me wonder why teachers have low
expectations for African American students, why African American students are praised
9
for receiving an average grade, and when an African American student excels in the
classroom, it is treated like a phenomenon. I remember my African American classmates
say that I was trying to “act white” and was “selling out” because I enjoyed learning; my
grades were reflective of that. To me, being smart and African American seemed to
alienate myself from my African American peers. It is a matter of identity. Ginwright
(2004) argues that Afrocentrism proponents agree many African Americans, particularly
children and youth, suffer from an ethnic identity crisis and that rediscovering West
African and Egyptian philosophies holds the promise of cultural transformation for
blacks. Building ethnic pride, strengthening knowledge about African history, and
fostering a worldview that values community, balance, and harmony is one promising
strategy to improve the quality of life for blacks (p. 17).
In 2006, before I decided to pursue an educational career, I visited Rosa Parks
Middle School as a collaborative grant writer. While I was there, I had an opportunity to
visit some of the classrooms and attend a Black History Month assembly. Most of the
African American students were ignored, except when they exhibited detrimental
behavior. I never witnessed any encouragement by the teachers, nor did I see the students
showing any interest in the coursework presented. I thought if there were classes that
showcased their culture, maybe these students would have incentive to come to school
and look forward to learning. The lack of interest and culture-centered curriculum to meet
the African American student’s needs is what I observed at Rosa Parks Middle School.
With no curriculum that addresses their history and their sense of identity, African
American students will lose interest in school, and most likely drop out.
10
I also had an opportunity to be a guest reader at Mark Hopkins Elementary School
in 2006, where I read stories in several classrooms. I noticed that the African American
children paid more attention when I read Anansi the Spider, an African folktale. These
students were eager to learn about a story they could relate to, and was part of their
identity. They also wanted me to return to read more stories about their culture. These
students have no idea that they are descendants of great royalty and a phenomenal
history. Many school textbooks misinform students about the events pertaining to their
culture. Scholarship written by Afrocentric educators not only dispel notions of African
American marginalization in United States history and culture, but gives people of color
an awareness of what needs to be changed in their curriculum. Harris (1983) cites a 1980
textbook as an example:
It is forgotten that the slave trade was begun by Negroes in Africa before Europeans reached the “Dark Continent,” that every black bought by a slave trader was
sold by one of his own race, and that the victims of the system who were shipped
to north America were better off than those who remained in bondage in Africa;
better off, in fact, than many poor workers and peasants in Europe. (cited in Har
ris, 1993, p. 47)
Unfortunately, during my elementary and high school years, I did not see any
offerings of African American history courses or adequate representation of African
Americans in K-12 history books. It did not seem like it mattered, since I was an avid
reader and did not totally rely on the school system for my learning experience. My
11
grandmother (Gram) had an amazing talent for finding out-of-the-ordinary study aids.
She found comic books that featured African Americans, flash cards that highlighted
achievements by African Americans and coloring books that celebrated the African
American experience. The omission of cultural history did not faze me, but my
classmates of color were being cheated out of critical chapter of their education. This not
only occurred in my primary and secondary educational experience, but well-known
writers and educators experienced the same through several generations. Poet Gwendolyn
Brooks (1972), who was the first African American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature,
admits in her biography that she had not heard of W.E.B. DuBois’ Souls of Black Folk
until she was an adult (p. 175). Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates (1990) points out
that “in public schools overall, only Lorraine Hansberry and Richard Wright appear
among the top fifty authors required in English classes between grades 7 and 12” (pg.
13). Poet Sonia Sanchez (1983) recalls “in high school and college, American literature
contained no black writers. As a consequence, the only time I saw ‘me’ was in sociology
courses, and then I was in an aberration . . . That’s really a terrible commentary on
education” (p. 147). On the other hand, many of my classmates had limited information
which was gathered by watching television. My classmates rarely visited the library and
sadly took everything that our instructors taught us as gospel. This disturbed me as I
continued my education. Most of my classmates of color did not have that opportunity
and were cheated out of valuable information. Once again, the oppressive “banking
system” (Friere, 1993, p. 58) of education claimed more victims. The banking approach
often leads to: (1) students being viewed as passive receptacles waiting for knowledge to
12
be deposited from the teacher; (2) mono-directional pedagogical formats whereby
students do not feel their thoughts and ideas are important enough to warrant a two-way
dialogue with teachers; (3) “cradle classrooms,” in which students are dependent on
teachers for the acquisition of knowledge; and (4) students viewing schools as key
mechanisms in the reproduction of inequality rather than places where education is seen
as a practice of freedom, a place to build critical consciousness, and social mobility
(Ginwright and Cammarota, as cited in Akom, 2009, p. 56). Engle (1960) envisioned a
social studies classroom to consist of decision-making bodies in which students and
teachers critically and analytically examined traditional material and current events in
history texts and other media (Massialas, 2009, p. 246). I wanted to provide a learning
system so that future generations would not be left out when it came to learning about
their culture and identity.
One aspect of identity is communication style. I remember when the Oakland
Unified School District recognized African American Vernacular English (or Ebonics) as
a legitimate language in 1996; that was my introduction to Ebonics. My son’s friends
speak African American Vernacular English in school, although not all of them are
African American. A language is developed to the degree that it reaches a certain stability
in a particular area and to the extent that is used in the comprehension and expression of
the world by the groups that speak it (Macedo, 1987, p. 54). AAVE ranks among the
most widely documented varieties in the sociolinguistic literature, yet its structure and
status remain most controversial. Some scholars contend that AAVE bears the vivid
imprint of the African languages spoken slaves who came to this country in waves from
13
the 17th to the 18th centuries. Others maintain that the devastating experience of slavery
wiped out most if not all African linguistic and cultural traditions, and the apparently
distinctive features of Spoken Soul come from English dialects spoken by white (British)
peasants and indentured servants whom Africans encountered in America (Rickford &
Rickford, 2000, p. 129).
Purpose
Gollnick & Chinn (2006) write that some African American communities want an
Afrocentric curriculum in order to learn the truth about black history. Teaching a culturecentered curriculum will provide a positive identity, improve self-esteem and academic
skills (p. 125). Asante (1991) argues “without a multicultural education, students remain
essentially ignorant of the contributions of a major portion of the world’s people” (pg.
172). When curriculum designers ignore important vehicles such as social-class
differences when they ignore the incorporation of the subordinate culture's values in the
curriculum, and when they refuse to accept and legitimize the student's language; their
actions point to the inflexibility, insensitivity, and rigidity of a curriculum that was
designed to benefit those who wrote it (Macedo, 1987, p. 124). Therefore, alignment with
the ideas of multicultural education reform is compatible with a curriculum reform that
has been widely accepted (Giddings, 2001, p. 470).This is my attempt to present various
learning tools that will reinforce the concept of a culture-centered curriculum for all
students, focusing on African Americans in a single-group study. This project is a
contribution to the knowledgebase in Black education by generating a dialogue of
14
possible research of culture-centered approaches by educators, students, and
administrators of all ethnicities.
In Chapter 2, a literature review of relevant texts, articles, and studies is
presented.
In Chapter 3, the methodology used in developing the curriculum is presented.
In Chapter 4, the curriculum is presented.
15
Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
A successful African American History curriculum should incorporate singlegroup studies, culture-centered knowledge, and a service-learning component utilizing
oral history. By incorporating these aspects, students of color will learn about a part of
history that they can relate to, providing them with a sense of identity. Single-group
studies is defined as “an approach to multi-cultural education that is characterized by
attention to a single group,” (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 110) but the main idea of the
Single-Groups Studies approach is to empower oppressed groups. Suzuki (1994)
addresses the benefits of students enrolled in an ethnic studies course:
“Ethnic studies should give students of color a sense of their history and identity
in American society, increase their awareness and self-confidence, and provide a
greater sense of direction and purpose in their lives. Programs should present a
more accurate version of American history by including groups that have been left
out, and they should meet economic, political and cultural demands by people of
color from both within and without local communities” (Suzuki, as cited in
Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 110).
Single-group studies approach originates in educational, philosophical
orientations that argue that education is not a neutral process but is used by government,
labor, and business for social and political purposes (Sleeter & Grant, 2003, 117). This
16
approach attempts to counterbalance the traditional curriculum study of White, middleclass males. Guerra (1973) argues the need for bilingual education:
Monolingual and multicultural education in America has traditionally ignored the
cultural pluralism of American society. We acknowledge ethnic and racial differ
ences, religious variances, and a cultural heterogeneity of our cities, but the crite
ria of our value judgments, our value system, and our social consciousness remain
predominantly White Anglo-Saxon Protestant – that is, representative of the monolingual, monocultural predominant society. The dichotomy between this cultural
pluralism of America on the one hand, and the imposing conformity of this mono
lingual and monocultural predominant society on the other, is something that has
never been reconciled (Sleeter & Grant, 2003, p. 116)
In many history courses, there is a constant battle between teaching the “sacred”
(reproduced through the development of a triumphal history) and the “profane” (failings
that do not reflect the highest ideals of society) (Waters, 2007, p. 246). Students receive
the “sanitized” historical version (sacred), and may not have the opportunity to learn the
“grim reality” (profane) historical version that they would obtain at the university level.
This also includes omission of various cultures in the telling of history. Disregarding a
culture’s story, achievement or accolades in a history curriculum leads to failure, as those
who are ignored lose interest and believe “Why should I care? This does not affect me.
There is no one I can relate to in this book!” Morrell (2002) argues “the failure of urban
students to develop “academic” literacy skills stems not from a lack of intelligence but
17
from the inaccessibility of the school curriculum to students who are not in the
“dominant” or “mainstream” culture” (p. 77). Gramsci (1987) viewed literacy as both “a
concept and social practice that must be linked historically to configurations of
knowledge and power, on the one hand, and the political and cultural struggle over
language and experience on the other” (Friere, 1987, p. 1). King (2008) argues that
education is assumed to be on a meritocracy system, masking personal connection,
inheritance, structural inequalities, institutional racism and stereotyping in our economic
system (p. 231). Kunjufu (2001) writes there is a need for teachers to “be cognizant of the
child’s culture and learning styles before a curriculum is designed” and to “include the
capital of the child in the curriculum design” (pg. 46).
The history of African Americans provides a different and unique perspective on
the American cultural dialogue. Culture-centered knowledge “includes forms of
knowledge, i.e., thought, perception, and belief structures, that (by making ways of
knowing oneself and the world possible) function in behalf of integrating the extent (or
an envisioned) social framework” (King, 2008, p. 357). Kincheloe (1993) argues “when
black history is taught as a series of isolated events, black history ignores the question of
what it means to be African American?” (Castenell & Pinar, 1993, p. 25).
Wynter (1991) describes culture-centered knowledge as “the manner in which
certain ways of knowing and perceiving social reality function within a given social
framework” (p. 252). Widener (2010) writes that culture-centered education “explains
something about the richness of a distinct historical movement and the limitations that
18
adhered to a social movement that was destroyed before it could recognize its ultimate
potential goals” (p. 214). The worldview from an Afrocentric perspective is a culturespecific social thought of peoples of African descent, focusing on social and historical
experience and empirical reality (King, 2008, p. 357). Hine (1990) argues that the
differences between African American studies and African centered thought are difficult
to decipher, and an “ongoing debate over nomenclature” needs to be established to
distinguish those differences (p. 15).
Afrocentricity argues that African peoples unconsciously adopt the Western
worldview, perspective and conceptual frameworks. By accepting the viewpoint of
Eurocentric scholars and writers, people of color have attempted to overcome an
inferiority complex of Europeans. These viewpoints are merely distorted images of
European superiority. It is up to us, as African peoples, to displace the European ways of
thinking and replace that mindset with cultural African experiences. Asante (1991)
argues, “as an intellectual theory, Afrocentricity is the study of the ideas and events from
the standpoint of Africans as the key players rather than the victims” (p. 172). Mazama
(2001) writes, “the Afrocentric idea rests on the assertion of the primacy of the African
experience for African people. Its aim is to give us our African, victorious consciousness
back. In the process, it also means viewing the European voice as just one among many
and not necessarily the wisest one” (p. 388).
The lack of curriculum including African Americans is reminiscent of Freire’s
theories of power, culture and oppression within the education system (Darder,
19
Baltodono, and Torres, 2009, p. 5). Freire also relied on philosophers, such as Michel
Foucault, to reinforce his stance on oppression and power. Foucault argued that power is
in “the context of creative acts of resistance – creative acts that are produced as human
beings interact across the dynamic of relationships, shaped by moments of dominance
and autonomy” (Darder, Baltodono and Torres, 2009, p. 7). One example is in a
classroom where the teacher only selects a certain few to answer the posed questions,
leaving the others feeling upset and left out. The teacher controls the feelings and
attitudes in the classroom. Those who were ignored eventually stopped raising their
hands and lose interest in the subject discussion, challenging the oppressor as a resistant
sub-culture in the classroom that rejects education as a positive experience (Darder,
Baltoldono and Torres, 2009, p.12). Murrell (2002) argues that knowledge in practice
emphasizes community as the framework for an understanding of the foundational
balance of a child’s education. As educators, we need to ensure that our students learn the
“whole truth” and that non-White people are not inferior, as most of written history has
taught us. Schools should ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to learn
and to meet high standards (Banks, et. al, 2001, p. 3).
As Williams and Land (2006) articulate, “Obvious and repetitive acts of racism
are being overlooked as key contributing factors affecting the achievement gap and
pedagogical practices within the classroom. Through a color-blind lens, “race neutral”
laws and policies aid in sustaining White dominance and legitimize Black subordination,
which is argued as an infringement upon African American civil rights (p. 579). Nonrecognition of race reinforces and reproduces the flawed structure of society because it
20
does not allow for compensation from centuries of marginalization, exploitation and
oppression. This form of “color blindness” extends into the educational area from
policymakers to teachers in the classroom. One of my former high school classmates has
been a primary school educator for over a decade. When she and I engaged in a
conversation about race, she said that “children in that age group are too young to know
about race.” Ladson-Billings (1994) writes:
Some teachers make such statements as 'I don't really see color, I just see chil
dren,' or 'I don't care if they are red, green, or polka dot, I just treat them all like
children.' However, these attempts at color blindness mask 'dysconscious racism,'
and uncritical habit of mind that justifies inequity and exploitation by accepting
the existing order of things as given (pp. 31-32).
Critical race theory (CRT) should be addressed when developing a culturecentered curriculum, as race is an integral part of education. It provides a lens through
which to question, critique, and challenge the manner and methods in which race, white
supremacy, supposed meritocracy, and racist ideologies have shaped and undermined
policy efforts for African American student participation in higher education (Harper,
Patton, & Woodson, 2009, p. 389). Critical race theory is an offshoot of critical legal
studies; a tool used by the establishment to maintain its power and domination over an
unequal status quo and utilizes hegemony as a method to legitimize oppressive structures
in America (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 2009, p. 20). Racism and bias play a large part in
determining which students gain entry into the more challenging classrooms. Thus,
21
African American students become victims to this institutionalized form of racism; a
system, as a result that harnesses low expectations and delivers an inferior curriculum
(William & Land, 2006, p. 581). Wynter (1968) describes hegemonic behavior in the
educational profession:
Intellectuals and artists who belong to a subordinated group are necessarily going
to be educated in the scholarly paradigms of the group who dominates you. But
these paradigms, whatever, their other emancipatory attributes must have always
already legitimated the subordination of your group…Most have even induced us
to accept our subordination through the mediation of their imaginary (Scott, 2000,
p. 169).
Critical race theory uses storytelling to demonstrate how the white majority
impedes the cause of racial reform. One example is Arizona’s reasoning not to honor the
King Holiday, then honoring the late civil rights leader simply for monetary reasons
(potential loss of revenue due to lack of tourism and sporting events). This is the case
with the teaching methods of African American history, mainly focusing on a “watereddown version” of slavery; Dr. Martin Luther King fighting for civil rights by himself and
only a handful of African Americans participating in military conflict. The omission of
persons of color in the teachings of American history perpetuates the oppression of
minority students, giving them the impression that they are second-class citizens and their
ancestry is not important in the fabric of this country; distort history and contribute to the
marginalization of non-black peoples of color (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p.19). These
22
omissions perpetuate racism in the classroom, leaving the white children thinking that
white males were the only makers of history. The analytical task remaining for African
American studies and African American education praxis is to undo the forms of
knowledge that sustain unjust and inequitable racialized educational outcomes (King,
2008, p. 50). Pinar (2004) states activists used two basic arguments regarding using
curriculum that provide an accurate history of African Americans and other persons of
color. He argues that portraying an accurate view of persons of color may help persuade
whites to revisit racist views, and misrepresentation of minorities in these textbooks
would give students a false sense of inferiority and insecurity. As King (2008) writes,
“recognizing the common problem of miseducation that African people share includes
the misrepresentation of our cultural heritage and the marginalization of contemporary
African realities – if they are addressed at all – it is important to search for solutions” (p.
159). Dilg (1999) recalled when interviewing several students about subject they wanted
to learn about, the students wanted to learn more about history. “We need curriculum that
exposes us to multicultural issues and how to deal with them.” “It’s important to
remember where we came from, but not segregate ourselves.” “[We need a balance]
between remembering the past and living for the future. [We need to] take lessons, but
not hatred, from the past” (pp. 30-31).
Service learning is a pedagogy for educating students. Critical pedagogy
implemented effectively requires a teacher well-versed in creating meaningful and open
dialogue through which a wide range of alternatives are considered and discussed, in
which the possible consequences of a given choice, interpretation, or decision is weighed,
23
in which decisions are tentative, choices deliberate, and actions carefully warranted
(Evans, 2008, p. 25). All models of service-learning are based on the premise that one
goal of a college education is to cultivate positive ethical habits and behaviors,
particularly toward the less fortunate members of society. Service learning connects
community service with the academic curriculum. Perkins-Gough (2009) argues
“effective service learning programs challenge students to reflect on their service
experiences through such activities as group discussions and journaling (p. 91).Service
learning must involve collective action and should help raise awareness of the need to
work with others. It should also increase students’ skills and confidence, whether it is
collaborating with other students or with members of the larger community (Codispoti, as
cited in Speck & Hoppe, 2004, p. 99). Public service is also a journey of self-discovery.
Students will discover their own opinions and beliefs about various issues. Public service
empowers students by showing them how social science can be applied to the real world
(Kunjufu, 2009, p. 62). Such activities not only promote academic learning but also can
help develop students' leadership skills, teach them how to be involved citizens, and give
them practice in working with others (Perkins-Gough, 2009, p.91). Gay (2000) agrees, as
students “developing socio-civic skills for effective membership in multicultural
communities is as important a goal of culturally responsive pedagogy as improving the
academic achievement and personal development of students of color” (p. 20).
Service learning originated as youth service work performed by high school
students as a part of a 1983 Ernest Boyer community service initiative sponsored by the
Carnegie Foundation (Dixon, Jones & Umoja, 2005, p. 31). Service learning is based on
24
Dewey’s (1997) criticism of traditional education, which he believed lacks holistic
understanding of students and content-focused curricula that emphasizes contributions to
the well-being of individuals and society. His concept of “experiential learning” states
individuals must engage in an experience that produces intellectual and moral growth or
results in conditions leading to further growth (pp. 12-13). Dewey argues “by providing
students with ‘the instruments of effective self-direction’ while saturating them with a
‘spirit of service,’ schools should ‘sustain and extend greater individualization on one
hand, and broader community of interest on the other’ and thus would constitute ‘the
deepest and best quantity of a larger society, which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious”
(Perlstein, 2002, p. 250).
Both educators and students can benefit from service learning. Carter Andrews
(2009) defines service learning as “an approach to teaching and learning in which service
and learning are blended in a way that both are enriched” (p. 274), and is a means to
foster deeper sociocultural awareness, civic participation, and social transformation in
pre-service students. Verducci and Pope (2001) argue service learning can make students
“aware of issues and problems of equity, equality, power, voice, and resources in
education” (p. 7). In the context of K-12 education, the National Youth Leadership
Council in its third annual service-learning research compendium, Growing to Greatness
2006, reports that 28 percent of “public schools engaged in service-learning which is
curriculum-based, has clear learning objectives, and meets community needs” (Scales and
Roehlkepartain, as cited in National Youth Leadership 2006, p. vi). Curriculum-based
service-learning is a "credit-bearing educational experience in which students participate
25
in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs, and reflect on the
service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of curricular content, a
broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic
responsibility" (Bringle & Hatcher, 1995, p. 112). Damon (2009) articulates “not only is
volunteering character-building in this way, it is also a good source of sparks of interest
that may develop into a life purpose, as it can teach children a great deal about the
practicalities they will need to make their way in the world, as well as introducing them
to potential adult mentors ( p.158). Kunjufu (1988) argues that “every effort should be
made to make the learning experience a hands-on experience” (p. 88). This project will
incorporate a service learning component with students participating in an oral history
project that incorporates mentors, youth, and veterans of color.
Oral history provides an avenue of thick description, analysis, and interpretation
of people's lives through probing the past in order to understand the present (Janesick,
2007, p. 111). Thompson (1988) defines oral history as “a technique with its very own
history, regularly defined as some variation of 'the recorded reminisces of a person who
has first-hand knowledge of any number of experiences'” (Janesick, 2007, p. 111). The
first-hand accounts of what the interviewees experienced may be perceived as “a way to
repair the historical record by including the voices of participants outside the mainstream
of society” (Janesick, 2007, p. 112). Bruner (1996) believes that stories are motivated by
certain values, beliefs, desires, and theories; that they seek to reveal intentional states
behind actions, or reasons, not causes; that they are rarely taken as “unsponsored texts”;
and that “those worth telling and worth construing are typically born in trouble” (Gay,
26
2000, p. 42). By utilizing oral history into a social justice, single-group, culture-centered
curriculum, youth learn about those left out of the traditional written record and society
as a whole.
African Americans have experienced hegemonic actions from white supremacists
since slavery, as victims of oppression. This is evident with grandiose omissions and
improper rewritings of African American history. Hilliard (2001) writes “dominating
populations crush or suppress the history of their victims destroy the practice of the
culture of their victims, prevent the victims from coming to understand themselves as a
part of a cultural family, teach systematically the ideology of white supremacy, control
the socialization process, control the accumulation of wealth, and perform segregation
and apartheid” (p. 24). These cases of intentional omissions were devised to utilize
educational structures to destroy “critical consciousness” (Freire, 1993). This strategy
would alienate Africans from tradition and each other, as well as instill African inferiority
and white supremacy (Hilliard, 2001, p. 25). Kunjufu (1988) writes “one of the major
repercussions of slavery was the public characterization of Africans being intellectually
inferior. He calls this type of oppression “mental slavery,” which he argues is “more
sophisticated, because when the chains are removed from the ankles and placed around
the mind, it becomes more difficult for the oppressed to recognize the source of their
plight” (p. 12).
King (2008) argues young people need to be technology literate and possess
networking and problem solving skills in this globalized information economy. These
27
traits may help youth feel a commitment to serving their community at an early age and
provide a motivating factor for academic achievement. Boyle-Baise (1991) incorporates
the usage of oral history in a curriculum. This method provides knowledge of diversity
and a more historical account of information. By using oral history to advance social
justice goals, the oral historian/qualitative researcher maintains an active in the project
and may contribute to social projects in ways which attempt to equalize and balance the
historical record (Janesick, 2007, p. 119). One service learning organization that provides
youth these opportunities is the Unsung Heroes Living History Project (UHLHP), which
was founded in 2000. This oral history project is an inter-generational service learning
opportunity, which collects and preserves the legacy of African Americans in the military
by interviewing veterans and their families. Youth team up with a mentor, who
interviews a veteran or a family member. That interview turns into a five-minute
documentary, produced by the interviewer. This project will teach youth communication
skills, the interview process, storyboarding, editing and video production. The final
product can also be used as a project in a high school World History class.
UHLHP began in 2000, when I was attending Chabot College. One of my
assignments was to write a biography about someone I knew. I knew instantly that my
subject would be my grandmother, Margarita Hernandez. She was a great role model for
me, and served as a “surrogate mother” while my mother made numerous attempts to
“find herself.” In one of our numerous daily conversations, she mentioned that she was a
“Riveter,” who read blueprints and performed tack welding on the USS Franklin
Roosevelt at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. Listening to her story fascinated me, and inspired
28
me to learn more about the African American experience in the military. Unfortunately,
when I attempted to gather information about African Americans in the military, there
was little information that I could obtain. The only information that mainstream America
would learn about African Americans in the military was during Black History Month
and the topics covered were the Tuskegee Airmen and the Red Ball Express. There were
many other stories since the American Revolution where African Americans made
contributions in the military, and I decided to obtain those stories from those who served,
or a family member willing to share the story about a loved one. By doing so, current and
future generations would be able to have relevant information about their culture and
their identity. Ioannou, et. al (2009) argue that “students in middle and high school often
report negative attitudes toward their social studies classes, complaining that these classes
are boring and irrelevant (p. 63). Since most students incorporate a great deal of
technology into their lifestyles, utilizing multimedia would maintain their interest while
they learn. Mayer (2001) defines multimedia as “the presentation of material using both
words (spoken or printed) and pictures (maps, graphics, animation, diagrams, and
videos)” (Ioannou, et. al., p. 64). The project also contains an inter-generational service
learning component, where youth are teamed up with a mentor and veteran (or family
member) and produce a five-minute documentary.
As previously mentioned, knowledge of identity is imperative in order to learn
about culture and ethnicity. Anthropologists George and Louise Spindler (1994)
researched the aspects of self and social identities, which included the “enduring self”
and the “situated self.” Both are interrelated, as the enduring self “provides a personal or
29
psychological cohesiveness in terms of experiences, meaning, and social identity; the
situated self “focuses on capabilities manifested in goal-oriented, context-specific aspects
of the person” (Hallowell, as cited in Schram, 1994. P. 466).
One aspect of identity is communication style. When the Oakland Unified School
District acknowledged Ebonics (or African American Vernacular English-AAVE) as a
language, the decision ignited a media firestorm while African Americans and whites
protested using what was called an “ignorant” form of communication. A deeper look
needs to be taken at what is considered African American Vernacular English; this form
of communication is what today’s youth are speaking in the classroom, and is part of
their identity. Rejecting AAVE as a legitimate form of communication is a detriment to
today’s student’s academic achievement (Hecht, Jackson, & Ribeau, 2003, as cited in
Gollnick & Chinn, 2006, pg. 281). Woodson (1933) wrote regarding the tandem of
language and education:
In the study of language in school pupils were made to scoff at the Negro dialect
as some peculiar possession of the Negro which they should despise rather than directed
to study the background of this language as a broken-down African tongue – in short to
understand their own linguistic history, which is certainly more important for them than
the study of French phonetics or Historical Spanish Grammar. To the African language as
such no attention was given except in the case of the preparation of traders, missionaries
and pubic functionaries to exploit the natives (p. 19)
30
AAVE is a term that covers the whole range of black speech, from the time
African Americas were unwillingly thrust on American soil and began to struggle to
communicate in a foreign tongue to the present, when English is spoken by African
Americans of all social classes (except for those who speak Standard English) (Horton,
1984, p. 17). But many use AAVE, regardless of education level, ethnicity, socioeconomic, or regional background. McWhorter (2004) explains the “bad grammar” we
often use “just alternates that happen not to have been granted social cachet” (p. 17).
Language changes whether we like it or not. Languages have never evolved directly into
their written forms; they begin as speech and very rarely transferred into a written form.
Brown and Yule (1983) categorize written language as primarily transactional, used to
convey information, and spoken language as primarily interactional, or used to establish
and maintain social relations. However, they also state that spoken language can be
transactional in certain situations, and that foreign speakers of English often produce
“more perfect” English “because they produce complete sentences and articulate clearly”
(p. 23). African American students should be taught academic language; the language
used in the classroom and in professional situations, and be able to utilize academic
language and informal language in the proper context. This instruction is crucial for the
professional and academic success of the student as they advance into the capitalistic
world. Valdes (2001) defines the importance of when to use formal and informal
language:
Interpersonal communicative proficiency involves the ability to speak and
understand English to face-to-face interactions, while academic language
31
involves, for example, extended discourse, the ability to read extensively and
intensively and to learn subject matter from such reading, and the ability to
display what is learned in both oral and written modes (p.6).
As previously mentioned, there is a link between language, culture, and identity.
Yamanaka (n.d.) argues “with language rests culture. To sever the language from the
mouth is to sever the ties to homes and relatives, family gatherings, food prepared and
eaten, relationships with friends and neighbors, cultural identity is utterly akin to
language identity” (p. 2). Older generations will recall when family played an integral
part of a student’s educational experience. Community and school worked together with
parents to ensure the student was successful, the “historic Black community” (Irvine and
Irvine, 1983, as cited in King, 2005, p. 51). Billingsley (1968) expands on what the
“historic Black community” consists of:
In every aspect of the child’s life, a trusted elder, neighbor, Sunday school
teacher, school teacher, or other community member might instruct, discipline, assist, or
otherwise guide the young of a given family. Second, as role models, community
members show an example to and interest in the young society (a responsibility assumed
by professional educators) to help young members of a particular families find
opportunities which might otherwise be closed to them. Fourth, as supportive figures,
they simply inquire about the progress of the young, take a special interest in them. Fifth,
in the formal roles of teacher, leader, elder, they serve youth generally as part of the
general role or occupation (Billingsley, 1968, p.99).
32
In order for a student to understand why culture-centered learning is essential, one
needs to understand what it took to get to where we are today. For every individual, his or
her own cultural identity is a function of that of his or her people (Diop, 1990, p. 211).
My grandmother used to remind me that “you won’t know where you’re headed until you
know where you’ve been.” Our ancestors risked their lives either by hiding books under
their cabin’s floor slats, then sitting in a dimly-lit room to in an attempt to educate
themselves or to escape their slave masters in hopes to find a better life. This project also
brings up the importance of organized mass support of parents and the community in the
school and student’s education. The old African proverb, “it takes a village to raise a
child” remains relevant, especially when it comes to a child’s education.
Multicultural education emerged as a response to the Eurocentric bias pervasive
in American’s urban schools. An outgrowth of the Civil Rights movement, multicultural
education was viewed as a social response that could forge greater educational
opportunities and was closely tied to the struggle for jobs, economic power, and
community vitality (Ginwright, 2004, p. 3). In the mid-1960s, “the ideological and
strategic focus of the [civil rights] movement shifted from passivity and perseverance in
the face of adversity to aggression, self-determination, cultural consciousness, and
political power” (Gay, 1983, p. 560). History was one of the first major disciplines in
which African American scholars created autonomous intellectual traditions and
institutions that existed side by side White America's various exclusionary academic
infrastructures during the Jim Crow segregation through the Black Power era (Dagbovie,
2006, p. 635). Students of color across college campuses during the Civil Rights
33
Movement orchestrated riots, sit-ins, and protests demanding justice and
acknowledgement. One protest occurred on November 6, 1968, when San Francisco State
College students and faculty conducted a five-month strike in order to establish Ethnic
Studies and Black Studies Departments at the campus (Rooks, 2006, p. 34). Black
Studies was the term used to describe the new academic endeavor, which primarily
focused on the experiences of African Americans (Reid-Merritt, 2009, p. 77) In his
Introduction to Black Studies, Karenga (1993) defined African American Studies as “the
systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and
practice in their current and historical unfolding” (p. 21), and is “a discipline dedicated to
an inclusive and holistic study of Black life” (p. 22). Mazama (2001) adds African
American studies “covers the social dynamics, the psychological dynamics, the
languages, the literary and oratory expressions, the history, the artistic expressions, and
so forth – the whole cultural and historical experience that defines us as a people.” Asher
(2002) argues “an Afrocentric curriculum is consciousness raising, seeks to improve the
self-esteem and academic achievement of African American students, combats the
“acting White” thesis, aids in the transition to adulthood, and serves as a safe haven for
African American students”(Grant, 2008, p. 886). Murrell (1993) agrees, stating that
Afrocentric pedagogy “provides a warm, safe, and nurturing emotional environment
where students receive expressions of esteem and positive regard from the teacher and
creating opportunities for students to develop a sense of industry and self-efficacy”
(Grant, 2008, p.893). Baker (1993) noted that there were over 200 black studies
34
programs, most with black faculty, as early as 1973 (Baker, as cited in Ginwright, 2004,
p. 13).
Christensen (2008) states “as educators, we have the power to determine whether
students feel included or excluded in our schools. By bringing languages from their
homes into the classroom, we validate their [student’s] culture and their history as topics
worthy of study” (p. 59). As educators, we need to change the way students of color feel
about attending school and educational success. Contrary to what they sometimes read in
their school textbooks, young African Americans learned at home about their past in
ways calculated to instill pride rather than shame (Litwack, 1999, p. 46). Steele (1992)
writes “For too many black students school is simply the place where, more concertedly,
persistently, and authoritatively than anywhere else in society, they learn how little
valued they are” (p. 13).
Dilg (1999) argues students within a cultural group may struggle, as individuals
deal with each other; some may assume a public identity and attitude and behavior
comparable with the identity of the cultural groups. Students may criticize each other for
thinking or behaving in a way that reflects a different relationship to the cultural identity
(p. 22). The concept of center is based on the belief that one’s history, culture, and
biology determine one’s identity. However, dislocation occurs either when one lives on
borrowed cultural terms and/or when one apprehends reality through another group’s
center. So, the concept of center encompasses both our African identity and our
disposition toward that identity (Mazama, 2001, p.397). Maton’s (1996) cultural
35
specificity perspective argues different ethnic groups have different cultural norms,
experiences that differ from other racial groups in society. African Americans in the
educational forum possess a “strong desire to surround oneself with symbols of one’s
racial identity, and actively seek out opportunities to learn about one’s own history and
culture, with the support of same-race peers” (Tatum, 1997, p. 76). Community forces
influence students' adaptation to school, their perceptions and responses to school, and
their beliefs about schooling. They suggest that although an individual's class and race
affect social reproduction, the response of the individuals to their community forces is
shaped moment by moment within their social environments. (Ogbu, as cited in Tatum,
2008, pp. 140-141). Fordham and Ogbu (1986) argue positive family support can help
students of color, as peers may perceive that the desire to learn and high achievement is
“acting white,” or they are “selling out.” Young (2007) argues “acting white” is “an
effect of racialization, where behaviors considered to be white, like academic prose, are
presented as superior by teachers because universities stipulate it” (p. 121). By failing to
succeed in class, the students assume they are being loyal to the peers who do not plan to
further their education. In order to cope with devaluation while attempting to maintain
positive self image, some African American students tend to disengage from school.
Those who disengage may label those students who continue to follow instructions and
complete their work as “acting white” (Denbo & Beaulieu, 2002). Relatively poor
academic performance and anxiety in the classroom may be causes of disidentification
(Steele, as cited in Yeakey & Henderson, p. 349). Datnow and Cooper (1997) argue that
these students initially believe they will not succeed in the mainstream education system.
36
They write, “instead of ‘buying into’ the dominant ideology of a meritocratic system in
which rewards are fairly distributed on the basis of hard work, these students chose to
resist the dominant ideology, believing that no matter how hard they work, they would
not rise up in the social system, or alternately, that success in school was equal to failure
within their peer group” (p. 57).
How does one define “acting white,” or even “acting black?” Kunjufu (1988)
writes about his aunt, who was labeled an “Uncle Tom,” because she had high
expectations for African American students. He continues, “she did not want to be a
crusader, and she was very disappointed that excellence as not respected by many people
in the Black community, and that mediocrity was becoming the norm”( p. 15). In
speaking correctly, Richard Wright, Jr. recalled of the Georgia community in which he
was raised, any black person might be ridiculed as “proper” or “white folksy” (Litwack,
1999, p. 70). Ogbu (1987) calls this behavior “cultural inversion,” where “members of
the population (e.g., black Americans) regard certain forms of behaviors, certain events,
symbols, and meanings as not appropriate for them because these are not characteristic of
the members of the other population.” This results in the “co-existence of two opposing
cultural frames of reference or ideals orienting behavior, one considered appropriate for
the minorities and the other for the dominant group” (pp. 262).
Two factors used to explain school performances differences within the African
American population are an oppositional collective or social identity and an oppositional
cultural frame of reference – otherwise referred to as “fictive kinship” (Sleeter, 1991, p.
37
73). Fordham defines “fictive kinship” as “indicating a kinship-like relationship between
persons not related by blood or marriage, who also have some reciprocal social or
economic relationship” (Sleeter, 1991, p. 74). Children learn fictive kinship from their
parents and peers, associating themselves with peers and community members,
experiencing a multi-layered approach to life (Kunjufu, 1988, p. 19). Fordham (1991)
argues that “Ultimately, they (African Americans) come to the conclusion that in order to
become successful, they must adapt to the existing, organizational context within the
school. That concept may lead to the student’s academic “failure,” as most aspects of
African American culture are stigmatized and assigned a negative valence both in school
context and in the larger American society (Fordham, 1991, p. 473).
From an anthropological point of view, Fordham (1988) argues “the unique nature
of the historical experiences to which a group attaches significant meaning enhances the
possibility of its designation of a people.” Mbiti (1969) describes how all-encompassing
African kinship can be:
The kinship system is like a vast network stretching laterally (horizontally) in eve
ry direction to embrace everybody in any given local group. This means that each
individual is a brother or sister, father or mother, grandmother or grandfather, or
cousin or brother-in-law, uncle or aunt, or something else to everybody else. That
means everybody is related to everybody else (White, as cited in Gay and Baber,
1987, p. 19).
38
Another aspect of identity African Americans must grapple with is the concept of
“double consciousness,” which was penned by W.E.B. Dubois. Double consciousness is
defined as “the linguistic duality of being African American at the forefront of struggle
for democracy, identity, power, and social and cultural reproduction both in education
and in the larger American social structure.” DuBois refers to a cultural double standard
where African Americans juggle their identity with those projected by a more dominant
one (Hopson, as cited in Yeakey & Henderson, 2003, p. 82). This is similar to what
African American students experience in an educational setting, being able to switch
from informal (slang) language to academic language in the classroom. It could be a
challenge, as Hopson (2003) notes: African American students in a hegemonic classroom
who cannot make that switch find their mental and emotional state diffused, and quickly
removing themselves from the learning experience (p. 82). Fordham (1998) further
argues the linguistic and cultural identity African American students face in the
classroom makes them “raceless,” undoing “their own sanctioned interactional and
behavioral styles” in order to “adapt those styles rewarded in the school context if they
wish to achieve academic success.” (p. 55). Hopson (2003) adds that becoming raceless
allows African American students believe they can eliminate stigmas attached to their
race in order to be successful in their professional and academic careers (Hopson, as cited
in Yeakey and Henderson, 2003, p. 91).
African American males are under the most pressure when it comes to identity
and school success. Some of the dilemmas facing African American males include:
bearing the burden of being a person of color and the stigmas of being an adolescent male
39
(Spencer, 2001). McMillan (2004) writes “in order to improvement among African
American male achievement and reframe the academic achievement gap as a treatment
gap. Engagement studies suggest that African American students, and African American
boys in particular, are susceptible to academic disengagement” (p. 25). Kunjufu (2001)
argues that some educators believe African American males are expelled more than other
students is that they commit more infractions; however, it was the way the school
responded produced the demerits. African American males are compelled to base their
self-esteem instead on a kind of behavior that tended to support a stereotyped picture of
the African American male (Clark, 1967). African American males remain
disproportionately employed in the most vulnerable unskilled-labor and operative jobs in
the face of ongoing industrial restructuring. They are more likely than other groups to
experience long-term and sometimes permanent joblessness. Racial isolation within
depressed central cities has resulted in poor educational resources and little access to
available job options (Massey & Denton, 1993). Tatum (2006) adds that “African
American male students often exhibit various cultural-specific coping mechanisms; such
behaviors as acting tough, failing to retreat from violence, avoiding self disclosure, and
dissociating from school. These students are often subject to disproportionate and
sometimes unfounded grade retentions and suspensions because teachers and
administrators misinterpret these behaviors and find them offensive” (p. 44). He
continues:
Educators who are seeking to identify ways to engage African American males in
reading-related tasks have little guidance in doing so. Academic, cultural, emo-
40
tional, and social—and relies on instructional practices that have proven effective
with African American males. Modifying curriculum on the basis of such texts
and creating a responsive environment can foster meaningful discussions among
students against an education backdrop of standards and accountability African
American adolescent males currently have limited exposure to this kind of quality
literacy instruction in school. A meaningful program should include texts that
shape a positive life trajectory and provide a roadmap that can help students resist
nonproductive behaviors. (p. 45).
It is suggested that African American males should play an active role in young
African American male’s life. Kunjufu (2001) suggests that “every African American
male must volunteer in a school at least one day a month” and that “professional African
American males should consider taking a one-year leave of absence from their jobs to
teach in a public school, preferably at the fourth grade level” (p. 33).
During the compulsory years of schooling, the inclusion movement has meant a
paradigm shift in the way schools operate and in the diversity of students that they cater
for (Forlin, 2010, p. 2). Multicultural education is the first step toward all students in a
global society. Effective implementation of school reform will places requirements on
teachers, designated curriculum directors, instructional supervisors, administrators,
parents, and counselors. Moll, et. al. (1992) argue “much of the teaching and learning is
motivated by the children's interests and questions; in contrast to classrooms, knowledge
is obtained by the children, not imposed by the adults. This totality of the experiences, the
41
cultural structuring of the households, whether they take place individually, with peers, or
under the supervision of adults, helps constitute the funds of knowledge children bring to
school (p. 134). These educators and parents must be comfortable with and confident in
their ability to carry out the reforms, and attitude toward the reform movement, teacher
education colleges and departments must provide their students with the opportunities to
develop these necessary understandings, skills, and attitudes (Henson, 1995, p. 16).
Drafur and Edes (1998) argue the concept of the professional learning communities
“promise fundamentally altered teaching, learning, and the bureaucracy and
individualism that pervades so many schools” (Servage, 2008, p. 63) and when “properly
implemented, the professional learning community represents a 'transformation' from
factory model schools to schools that embrace ideas and assumptions that are radically
different than those that have guided in the past” (p. 20). Brookfield (2003) writes “in
order for critical pedagogy to have an impact, transformative learning causes an
individual to 'come with a new understanding of something that causes a fundamental
recording of the paradigmatic assumptions he/she holds and leads them to live in a
fundamentally different way'.” Akon (2009) argues “critical pedagogy is now more
relevant than ever as a method for eradicating racialized opportunity gaps in achievement
and for creating educational spaces that ameliorate the life and death issues that many of
our youth face on a daily basis” (p. 53). Transformative learning and education entail a
fundamental reordering of social studies relations and practices” (p. 142). Frieire (1987)
argues, “a critical pedagogy must not repress student's creativity. Creativity needs to be
stimulated, not only at the level of their individuality in a social context” (p. 57).
42
Administrators, teachers, leaders and professional development specialists can
enhance the sustainability and long-term effectiveness of a professional learning
community by providing opportunities within its infrastructure for teachers to hold openended conversations oriented to communicative hearing (Servage, 2008, p. 74), allowing
them to engage one another in hopeful critical and creative dialogue. Teacher education
institutions can perpetuate a cycle of empowerment which begins with their advocacy of
a model of teaching that presents professional candidates who are competent in
representing the needs and aspirations of an increasingly diverse school population
(Sleeter, 1991, p. 297). Ravitch (2010) argues that a “coherent curriculum” is necessary
to prepare all students who are knowledgeable and are prepared for the responsibilities of
citizenship, no matter where they are (p. A21). African American students who perform
poorly in school do so in part because the curricula they encounter has little relevance to
their lives and culture. Afrocentric scholars argue that cultural omissions in schooling and
curricula consequently erode students’ cultural and self-esteem and contribute to poor
academic performance (Ginwright, 2004, p. 3). Grant (2008) reinforces Ginwright's
argument by writing “an Afrocentric curriculum helps students develop self-esteem,
individual agency, the expectation of high achievement, and future career and social
goals. Afrocentric pedagogy encourages critical inquiry. Students are taught to
understand that to learn how to think for themselves is just as important as what they
learn” (Grant, 2008, p. 893). By finding out where other people and their ancestors came
from, what their respective ethnic backgrounds are, what cultural elements affect their
lives, and what contemporary problems they face because of their ethnicity, people
43
become aware of both unifying commonalities and the enriching diversity in the culture
and experience, past and present, of each group (Cortes, 1976, pp. 6-7).
Curriculum is significant because it is a powerful avenue through which concepts
and ideas about racial equality, cultural diversity, and the history of inequities can be
presented to students. It is where students are taught (or can be taught) the fundamentals
of democracy, how to analyze social inequity, and how to conduct social action (Grant,
2008, pg. 890). Our children are more than capable of learning and excelling; our
teachers need to re-acquaint themselves with the population they serve, and the must be
open to new strategies and techniques that have proven effective with African American
students (Kunjufu, 2009, p. 5).
44
Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY
The curriculum field came into existence when the modern techniques of control,
measurement, and planning were popular in political science, sociology, and natural
sciences (Smith, as cited in Null, 2008, p. 479). Three significant curriculum theory
writings in the 20th century helped define its history: Bobbit’s (1924) How to Make a
Curriculum, which discusses the need for educational institutions to be in tune with the
needs of society; Tyler’s (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction, which
argues curriculum development is about helping schools to achieve whatever ends they
have in mind; Smith, Stanley, and Shore’s (1959) Fundamentals of Curriculum
Development, argues curriculum development means cultural change, where schools and
curriculum workers are supposed to guide the cultural evolution that takes place in
society; and Taba’s (1962) Curriculum Development: Theory and Practice, urges
curriculum development to provide concrete guidance that helped curriculum
development to attack the problems that surrounded them (Null, 2008, pp. 478-482).
Curriculum design is an exercise in designing change and characterized by
expansion. Progressive and social justice education gave way to three dominant learning
perspectives: Traditional, who believed schooling provides awareness and insight into
the paradigmatic structure of the disciplines of knowledge; behaviorists, who believed
schools would mass produce contributors to “successful living;” and experientialists, who
perceive schools allow students to resolve problems that inhibited meaning and direction
in their lives (Schubert, 1982, p. 221). Curriculum theory is nothing new, as the study
45
began in the late 19th century. In 1893, Col. Francis Weyland Parker established the
Committees of Ten and Fifteen, in order to revise high school and elementary school
curriculum, respectively. Parker believed the “ultimate purpose of education was to
develop the character of the individual” (Button, 1965, p. 253). Seven decades later,
Paulo Freire and James Herndon criticized schools for their “lack of focus on personal
and public education” (Schubert, 1982, p. 224). Reconceptualists, such as William Pinar,
saw problems of schooling as a microcosm of educational problems in our society. He
writes, “deciding how to proceed in our everyday engagement with students and ideas is
not a self-evident matter; it cannot be reduced to protocol or social engineering” (Pinar,
1999, p. 365).
The methodology is a sampling of culturally congruent lesson plans, which are
designed to provide teachers with ideas that should be adapted to the unique needs and
objectives an each student; and adapted to the individual teaching styles of each teacher.
The curriculum’s primary goals are twofold: To facilitate a critical reconstruction that
would restore missing and hidden parts of African American people's culture and history
and present the Black experience as a significant paradigm for human liberation and a
higher level of human life (Grant, 2008, p. 892); and to make explicit the impact of
personal perceptions and beliefs within a broader context of political and historicalcultural influences (Broadhead, 2002, p. 47). The challenge was to create curriculum that
provided a sense of identity for the students and encouraged increased classroom
participation. Training and exposure to content should be a prerequisite for revising and
teaching this curriculum (Amuleru-Marshall, 1990, p. 3). The project will consist of the
46
development of instructional strategy and lesson plans to serve the academic needs of the
students.
The project objectives are:
1. To identify content from African and African American Studies, which could
be developed into a culture-centered history curriculum for grades 7-12.
2. To acquire, adapt and/or develop materials appropriate for utilization in the
implementation into the culture-centered history curriculum.
3. To provide a framework so that the purpose and content of multicultural active
ties give meaning to the participants, students, parents, and can be implemented in
an effective, organized matter.
4. To teach students about the African and African American experience and contributions from both a contemporary and historical perspective.
5. To promote both parent and community involvement in school.
Various grade appropriate trade books were examined that included that were
authentically written from those in the field; that exemplified courage and overcoming
obstacles to reach their ultimate goals; and to celebrate African American achievement in
a pluralistic versus ethnic context. Lesson plans were developed using selected trade
books, teacher-prepared materials, periodicals, reference books, and information gleaned
from graduate studies classes, seminars and conferences. This study unit was designed as
47
both an enhancement to an existing multicultural social studies curriculum, or to
implement as an initial multicultural curriculum.
48
APPENDIX
Sample Lesson Plans
49
African American Scientists and Inventors (Source: Kessler, G. and Judson, J. (2007),
African American Scientists and Inventors, Black History Bulletin, 70(1), pp. 7-11.)
Lesson Plan Goals/Objectives:
 To understand the contributions of African American scientists
 Identify one scientist; gather and organize information about the individual using
technology and print resources.
 Use the information you obtain to write a report from the point of view of your
scientist
 Creatively present your findings to the class (speech, picture, etc.)
Activity






Class researchers list of scientists provided by “African American Scientists”
handout
Each student pair identifies one person from the list to learn more about.
Students use various print/online resources to learn more about: that person’s life,
inventions, and accomplishments. Students use “Research Log” handout to
facilitate this process. Students should learn:
o Personal information that would be appropriate to use in the research
paper about this scientist.
o Historical information about the place and time this person lived and
worked. Gather facts about the field of science in which this person
succeeded for a round-table discussion.
Divide the students into groups.
o One group goes to the library; the other group uses a computer lab. Switch
halfway through class.
Students write short paper from the viewpoint of the scientist that they have
chosen, based on their research
Students should:
o Describe how the scientist might have felt and what he/she might have
thought at the time of his/her discovery.
o What did this person contribute to the world of science?
o In what time period in history did this person live? How did the time and
place effect his/her accomplishments?
o Did race or ethnicity play a role in his/her success/failure?

Students should identify how they are going to present and what materials are
needed

Students present the scientists they have chosen to the entire class.
50
Resources: (Note: This is just a sample of African American scientists and
inventors.)
o Benjamin Banneker: invented the first striking clock to be made completely in
the United States. He also studied astronomy ad made the calculations to predict
solar and lunar eclipses, as well as assist in the surveying of what is now
Washington, D.C.
o Guion Bluford: Retired Colonel of the United States Air Force and first African
American astronaut in space. He participated in four flights of Space Shuttle
between 1983 and 1992.
o George Washington Carver: African American botanist who developed 300
uses for the peanut and 118 uses for the sweet potato. He also taught former
slaves about agriculture and how to grow crops in order to be self-sufficient.
o Charles Drew: African American physician and medical researcher. Inventor of
the blood bank (system to produce plasma separate from the blood matter) and
first African American surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of
Surgery.
o Lewis H Latimer: Invented an improved toilet system for railroad cars to prevent
people from using windows. Drafted the drawings required to receive a patent for
Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone. Invented a device to manufacture carbon
filaments for electric lamps and supervised the installation of electric street lights
in New York City, Philadelphia, Montreal, and London. Expert witness in the
court battles over Thomas Edison’s patents.
o Elijah McCoy: Invented an oiling device for industrial machinery and thus
caused the creation of the term the “Real McCoy,” which means the “real thing.”
Also obtained patents for a folding ironing board and a lawn sprinkler.
o Ronald McNair: traveled to a space as a mission specialist in 1984. He was a
member of the Challenger crew whose spacecraft exploded in 1986.
o Garrett Augustus Morgan: invented the gas mask and the electric traffic light.
o Dr. Daniel Hale Williams: surgeon who performed the first successful open
heart surgery.
o Mae C. Jemison: first female African American to become an astronaut and fly
in space.
o Madame C.J. Walker: first African American to become a millionaire from her
invention of hair care products.
o Annie Easley: Developed computer programs that save valuable energy. Worked
for NASA and developed computer codes for determining solar, wind, and
energy.
51
African American Scientists
Choose one of the following names to complete your web search
Questions
Answers
1.
I invented the gas mask and the electric traffic light.
A.
Benjamin Banneker
2.
I invented an oiling device for industrial machinery.
B.
Guion Bluford
3.
I was the first female African American to become an
Astronaut and fly in space.
C.
Geo. Washington Carver
4.
I was a member of the Challenger crew that exploded in
1986.
D.
Charles R. Drew
5.
I invented the first striking clock to be made completely in E.
Lewis H. Latimer
6.
I was a famous surgeon.
F.
Elijah McCoy
7.
I worked for Nasa and developed computer codes
G.
Ronald McNair
8.
I served as an expert witness in the court battles over
Morgan
Thomas Edison’s patents
H.
Garrett Augustus
9.
I was the first African American in space.
I.
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
J.
Mae C. Jemison
10. I learned 300 uses for the peanut.
11. I developed a system to produce plasma separate from the K.
blood matter.
Mme. C.J. Walker
12. I was one of the first African American women to become L.
A millionaire due to my invention.
Annie Easley
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/lessons/africansci/orga.html
52
Research Log
African American Scientists
I.
Use the following Web sites to help answer the questions on the
Worksheet.
 Garrett Morgan: http://www.kytales.com/Nmogn/nmog.htm
 Yahooligans: http://www.yahooligans.com/
 The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences:
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/lib/chem
 Honoring African American Astronauts:
http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/exhibits/afam_astro/afam_astro.html#MPA
II.
Choose one scientist or inventor to focus on.
My scientist:_____________________________________________
Websites that are relevant to my scientist:
http://
http://
http://
http://
III.
Take notes on important facts and information as you do your
research. Things to consider as you for your research:
1. Look for personal information that would be appropriate to use in a
creative journal entry from the point of view of the scientist.
2. Look for historical information about the place and time this person
lived and worked. Gather facts about the field of science this person
succeeded in. Keep in mind that you will be using this information to
present your scientist to the class.
53
Tag-team History
Subject Area: Social Studies
Grade Level
7-12
Time: Ongoing
Objectives
1.
Students will identify names associated with historic events.
2.
Students will recognize that often different sociocultural groups perceive and ex
perience the same historic event or time period differently.
3.
Students will compare and contrast perspectives of dominant and subordinate
groups historically.
4.
Students will collect research information from diverse sources.
5.
Students will represent different perspectives and experiences using new media
(including Adobe Photoshop and Premiere)
Procedure
1.
Select a time period or event in history, such as the Revolutionary War, the Civil
Rights Movement, or the Rodney King Riots. Have students examine and analyze various books, such as The African American Experience (Globe, 1992), Lies
My Teacher Told Me (Loewen, 2007), A People’s History of the United States
(Zinn, 1997), and AfricanAmericans: a Concise History (Hine, 2008).
2.
Have students read the standard textbook account of the event, then allow students to brainstorm who may have viewed or experienced this event or time period differently from, as well as similarly to, the textbook account.
3.
Have students form small groups, and have them find out as much as they can
about the event and/or person(s) involved in the event. Students should also make
note of any significant differences the various authors perceive in their writings.
4.
The class will make a five-minute documentary using PhotoShop and Premiere
Elements. Each group is responsible for a production using text information, and
obtaining pictures, maps, etc.
5.
Have students view the documentary, each noting any significant patterns, then
record their observations in a journal that documents all historical events studied
during the semester.
54
Resources
Harley, S., Middleton, S., & Stokes C. (Eds.)(1992). The African American experience.
Paramus, NJ: Globe Fearon.
Hine, D., Harrold, S., & Hine, W. (2008). African Americans: A Concise History. New
York: Prentice Hall.
Loewen, J.(2007). Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York: Touchstone Books.
Zinn, H.(1997). A People’s History of the United States. New York: The New Press.
55
Oral History Project – (grades 7-12)
Oral history is a technique used by historians to record events witnessed and remembered
by people who experienced them. There are people living in almost every community
who have seen or participated in historical and social action events. After a discussion of
who these people are and how they might be located, the students will decide whom they
wish to interview. Everyone has a story, and preserving that story is important. In Africa,
the storyteller (called a “griot” – pronounced GREE-yo) was revered as the tribal
historian who knew all the information about the families and their generations.
Objectives:
To introduce the art of interviewing
To generate a list of questions to ask during an interview
To learn how to storyboard
To learn Adobe Photoshop basics
To learn to edit using Adobe Premiere
Materials:
Paper, Pencils, Digital Recorder, Storyboard Form, Unsung Heroes Living History
Project manual
56
Oral History Assignment (Grades 4-6)
Objectives:
To introduce the art of interviewing
To get a list of questions to ask during an interview
Materials:
Paper, Pencils, Digital Recorder
Procedure:
1. Discuss with the class the idea of interviewing.
2. Talk about the different types of interviews, such as interviewing for information on a
topic vs. interviewing for information about that person.
3. Talk about possible questions that could be asked during an interview.
4. Have students come up with possible interview questions.
5. Discuss what is appropriate and what is not, as well as what kinds of information they
should be looking for in the interview process.
6. Give class time to come up with questions.
7. Divide class into groups of 2-3.
8. Have each group combine lists of questions and discuss again what is appropriate and
what is not.
9. Discuss with class what order questions should go in order for the interview to flow
from one thing to the next.
10. Each group should list questions in the way that they would like to ask them during
an interview.
11. Have each group share their list of questions and get ideas and suggestions from other
groups.
12. Each student should have a list of questions from their group. Shuffle groups and
have students interview each other using their questions to make sure that they flow.
13. Once students have interviewed one another, have students reorganize questions as
needed and discuss what worked and did not work in their list of questions.
Assessment:
Each child will come up with a list of questions to ask the person to be interviewed.
Each child will have practiced interviewing another person.
(Source: Audrey Pruitt, www.lessonplans.com)
57
Civil Rights Movement – Movie Analysis
(Grades 11-12)
Both the 1994 film and Kirk Mitchell’s book, Mississippi Burning, present several
dominant-group perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that are notable.
African Americans were the primary architects of the Civil Rights Movement and led the
first demonstrations and sit-ins. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a frequent target of FBI
head J. Edgar Hoover (Garrow, 1986). However, Mississippi Burning presents African
Americans as shadowy figures and victims and two FBI agents as the “real heroes” and
defenders of African American rights in the Civil Rights Movement. Your assignment is
to write a movie analysis, following the guidelines below:
GUIDELINES FOR MOVIE ANALYSIS
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
Provide the information and follow the outline provided below in preparing your movie
analysis. Papers should be typed and double-spaced and approximately 10 pages in
length. Your analysis should include references to reviews of the movie. Review the
chapter or chapters in your textbook that deal with the subject of the movie. References
in your analysis based upon movie reviews or your textbook should be footnoted in the
text of your paper. Provide a list of movie reviews read at the end of your paper and
include the title of the review, author, date published, and source.
PART 1
Provide the title of the movie, the Director of the movie, and the year it was produced.
Include any other background material about the movie. For example, was the movie
based upon an actual event, a book, etc.
PART 2
Summarize the story or events presented in the movie.
PART 3
What aspects or features of the Civil Rights Movement are presented in the movie? What
is the thesis or primary argument presented in the movie?
PART 4
Read the textbook chapter or chapters related to the movie. What major points discussed
in the textbook are illustrated in the movie? How does the movie treat the issues
discussed in the textbook? In what ways are the textbook and movie treatments similar
or different?
PART 5
How persuasive is the movie? Is it misleading or does it help viewers better understand
the political topic addressed in the movie? Defend your position with examples from the
movie or class textbook. Consult outside sources such as reviews by movie critics. Be
58
sure to cite the sources in your paper and list them at the end of your paper.
Resources
Mitchell, K. (1989). Mississippi Burning. New York: Signet.
Parker, A. (1988). Mississippi Burning. United States: Orion
59
African American Jockeys
The African American Horsemen...Their physical endurance and riding style became
legendary and helped to launch thoroughbred Horse racing into becoming the most
prestigious sporting event in the history of the United States. As early as 1665, slaves
were usually assigned to be jockeys; some slaves gained fame and freedom by riding.
The Virginia-North Carolina border became known as the “Race Horse Region,” where
most of the black jockeys lived.
In the 1700s, Austin Curtis became so popular that he was considered to be America’s
first professional athlete. He turned his owner’s (Willie Jones) Roanoke, Virginia stable
into the most profitable racing power in the American colonies. Jockeying was an
opportunity for African Americans to seek a paid career; that is, until they grew too big to
ride or were unemployed.
In 1889, 18-year-old George “Spider” Anderson became the jockey of Buddhist at
Pimlico Racetrack in the Preakness. Before he could ride, he appeared in front of a judge
at a makeshift courtroom. Anderson was charged with assaulting a coachman before the
race. He eventually was allowed to ride, and became the first African American to win
the Preakness.
Oliver Lewis was one of thirteen African-American jockeys in the first Kentucky Derby,
which was held in 1875. African-American jockeys won fifteen of the first twenty-eight
Derbys. Lewis and his horse, Aristedes, won the first ever Kentucky Derby. From 18751902, African American jockeys won 15 of 28 Derbys. Isaac Murphy became the first
jockey ever to win back-to-back Derbys (1890-91).
In 1919, Jimmy Winkfield, known as the “Black Maestro,” left Kentucky and headed to
Russia, where he was entrusted with saving more than 250 thoroughbreds that were
victim to gunfire and starvation. It was only 18 years before that Winkfield was the first
jockey to win back-to-back Kentucky Derbies (1901, 1902). He headed to Paris, where he
continued to ride and train, and in 1941, Winkfield returned to America as a “secondclass” citizen.
60
Racing Vocabulary
Colt – Male horse that is no more than four yeas old.
Derby – A stakes race for three-year-old horses.
Foal – Newborn horse not more than one year old.
Filly – Female horse that is no more than four years old.
Jockey – Person who rides the horse during a race.
Mare – A female horse at least five years old.
Oaks – A stakes race for three-year-old fillies.
Paddock – Area where horses are saddled and paraded before a race.
Pace – In horse racing, the word pace can mean either the speed a horse is running (a fast
pace or a slow pace). But when someone says a jockey is a good judge of pace, it means
the jockey is good at making decisions about when the horse should run fast or slow.
Purse – The total amount of prize money distributed to race winners (usually the top four
or five positions).
Silks – The colorful jacket and matching cap worn by jockeys during races. Because each
design is owned by a particular horse farm, you can tell who owns the horse by looking at
the silks.
Stakes race – A race in which owners must pay a fee to enter their horses.
The Birthday of Thoroughbreds – January 1. (Many important horse races are open
only to two-year-old horses or three-year-olds. To make it easy to calculate birth dates,
every Thoroughbred is assigned January 1 as an official birthday. So, all foals born in
March or April of 2007 will share an official birth date of January 1, 2007. All will
officially become three years old on January 1, 2010, and can compete that year in the
Kentucky Derby.)
Trainer – A person who teaches and prepares horses and jockeys for racing.
Triple Crown – An award and cash prize given if a horse can win three major races in
the spring–Kentucky Derby (at Churchill Downs), Preakness (Pimlico track in Baltimore,
Md.), and Belmont (Belmont Park in Long Island, N.Y.).
Yearling – A horse in the second year of its life, beginning January 1 after its birth
61
What does it take to be a Thoroughbred?
To be eligible to race in the Kentucky Derby and other big races such as the Breeders
Cup and the Kentucky Oaks, a horse must be a pure Thoroughbred. All these horses are
registered with an organization known as the Jockey Club. So what does it take to be
registered as a Thoroughbred?
1. Great ancestors
To be a Thoroughbred, a horse must be descended from one of three Arabian stallions
that lived hundreds of years ago. These three horses had tremendous speed and great
beauty, so they became the sires (male ancestors) of the entire Thoroughbred breed. They
were known as the Godolphin Arabian, Byerley’s Turk, and the Darley. Marguerite
Henry’s book, King of the Wind, which won the 1949 Newbery Medal, is compelling
historical fiction based on the GodolphinArabian. For a contemporary, factual
explanation of the three stallions, visit the website of the International Museum of the
Horse (http://www.kyhorsepark.com/imh/bw/tbred.html).
2. Great height
Even when they are standing still, Thoroughbreds look impressive because they are quite
tall. The average height is listed as “sixteen hands.” What does that mean? The unit of
measurement for horses and ponies is known as a “hand,” which is equal to about four
inches (the width of a man’s hand). In contrast to the average Thoroughbred, the average
Shetland pony stands about nine hands.
3. Great speed
Thoroughbred horses are some of the fastest animals on earth. They can run more than a
mile in less than two minutes. The fastest humans take nearly twice as long to run a mile.
Recognizing a Thoroughbred: Not a coat of many colors
Although other breeds of horses come in a wide variety of colors, Thoroughbreds must be
registered in one of six categories of color: bay, chestnut, dark bay/brown, roan/gray,
black, and white. The most common colors are bay, chestnut, and dark bay/brown. The
most rare colors are black and white. To those of us who don’t see the horses up close, it
may be hard to tell the difference between a chestnut and a bay, but here is how experts
define these colors.
Bay: a yellow-tan or bright auburn coat with black mane, tail, and lower legs. One
famous example of a bay: Cigar, the 2005 Horse of the Year.
Chestnut: entire coat is red-yellow or golden-yellow. Most famous chestnut: Secretariat,
nicknamed Big Red, winner of the Triple Crown in 1973 (Kentucky Derby, Preakness,
and Belmont Stakes).
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Dark bay/Brown: Entire coat is brown with possible areas of tan on the shoulders, head,
and flanks; mane, tail, and lower legs are black. A famous dark bay: Bold Ruler, a 1957
Derby contender.
Roan or gray: Up close, the coat may be a mixture of black and white hairs (“gray
horse”) or red and white hairs or brown and white hairs (roan). Example: Winning
Colors, 1988 Kentucky Derby winner.
Black: The entire coat of the horse is black, unless some white markings are present.
Example: Black Gold, 1924 Kentucky Derby winner.
White: The entire coat is made of white hairs. Only fourteen white Thoroughbreds are
registered in the entire United States. The first one was a filly, foaled in 1963 and named
White Beauty.
What’s in a name?
At the time a Thoroughbred is registered with the Jockey Club, the owner also registers
an official name. Owners can be very creative, choosing names that are dramatic, funny,
historic, or personal. However, there are a few rules to follow:
• There can be no more than 18 letters, spaces, or punctuation marks.
• You need special permission to use the name of a famous person.
• You cannot re-use the name of a famous horse.
• You cannot use curse words or words with a bad meaning.
Here are some names of past Derby winners. Man O’ War. Smarty Jones. Spend A Buck.
Sunny’s Halo. Genuine Risk. Tim Tam. Apollo. Azra.
Love those Silks!
On race day, every jockey wears white pants, black boots, and a brightly colored jockey
with a matching cap. The jacket and cap are known as racing silks, and the color and
design tells you who owns the horse. Owners choose and design their silks, then register
them with the JockeyClub. At the time Isaac Murphy was riding, racing silks tended to
have a simple look – solid colors with a few strips or other small decorations. Today,
silks come in every imaginable color and may feature designs inspired by polka dots,
diamonds, zigzags, and other shapes.
Facts about Isaac Murphy
• 1861 - Born near Lexington, Ky., perhaps on Jan. 1, “the birthday of Thoroughbreds.”
Sometime after 1863, his father dies in the Civil War.
• 1873 – While helping his mother with her laundry business, Isaac is noticed by a horse
owner and becomes an apprentice jockey.
• 1874 – Gets first win, on a filly named Glentina.
• 1877 – Beats veteran jockeys at Saratoga and begins to ride for bigger stables.
• 1879 – Finishes in the money at Kentucky Derby (second on Falsetto). In Detroit on the
Fourth of July, wins all four races he enters.
• 1882 – Marries Lucy Osborn of Frankfort.
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• 1884 – Earns first Kentucky Derby victory (on Buchanan). Also wins Kentucky Oaks
and Clark Stakes. (This still stands as a record: Isaac is the only jockey to win three major
stakes races in a single week.) Wins Latonia Derby, Illinois Derby, and American Derby.
• 1889 – Mentioned in Kentucky newspapers for his great wealth and lavish parties.
• 1890 – Wins Kentucky Derby on Riley. Wins the much-publicized Salvator-Tenny
match race at Coney Island before 40,000 fans.
• 1891 – Sets a record by winning a third Kentucky Derby (on Kingman).
• 1892-95 Struggles to maintain low weight required for riding. Rapid weight-loss
methods damage his health. Acquires horses and tries his hand at training.
• 1895 – Wins on a horse named Tupto in the last race of his career. Career winning
percentage is 44 percent, a record never equaled.
• 1896 – Dies in Lexington, Ky., and receives a hero's funeral. Grave later is left
untended and eventually considered “lost.”
• 1961 – Turf writer Frank Borries, Jr., fulfills a mission to locate Isaac Murphy’s grave.
• 1967 – Grave is moved to an honorary location in Kentucky Horse Park.
• 1977 – Arlington Park in Illinois names a race for Isaac Murphy.
• 1995 – Gulfstream Park in Florida names a race for Isaac. Patsi Trollinger sees a news
clipping about this race and begins research for a children’s book about Isaac. The book
is published in 2006.
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Hands-On Activities for Students
Broom Derby
Many primary schools in Kentucky have an annual Broom Derby in the week before the
Kentucky Derby is run each year. Each student takes a broom and converts it into a stick
horse by adding ears and a mane. Groups of students run races with their stick brooms on
the playground.
Design your own silks
Invite students to design and color the racing silks they would use if they owned a horse
farm. You can use a reproducible page from this kit that shows the outline of a jacket and
cap, or allow the students to draw their own outlines.
Name that Thoroughbred
Using the information available in this kit, let students choose their own imaginary
Thoroughbred and name it. They can decide on a color for their racehorse, based on the
six basic colors allowed in the registry. Their name should follow the rules of the Jockey
Club. Allow any interested student to draw and color their horse. (If your students are artchallenged, like me, they may find it very difficult and frustrating to attempt this art
project. Horses are hard to draw, and many crayon sets don’t have the colors needed to
represent the details of a Thoroughbred!)
Writing prompts connected to Perfect Timing
• Write a brief paragraph explaining why you think Isaac agreed to try riding a
Thoroughbred.
• Imagine that you are Isaac in his first race. Write about the race from beginning to end.
Be sure to include details of things that happen.
• Pretend that you are a reporter assigned to write a brief news story about the race
between Salvator and Tenny. Think about what facts you will want to include and how
your story might have a beginning, middle, and ending. Write the story.
• Many of Isaac Murphy’s best friends were other jockeys who raced in places all over
the world. Imagine that you are Isaac and write a letter to a friend in Russia describing
the race on Salvator.
Questions for discussion
These questions may be especially useful after an author’s visit or book talk featuring
Perfect Timing.
What are some of the reasons that the boy named Isaac walked around Lexington
carrying a basket to collect laundry?
• Family circumstances: He and his mother needed to earn money.
• Inventions: At that time, there were no automobiles, no electricity, and no washing
machines.
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Isaac attended jockey school. How was it different from your school?
• The jockey school was inside a barn (different sights, sounds, and smells).
• Everyone in Isaac’s school had to do chores and work hard.
Why was it so hard for Isaac to learn about pace?
• He had to remember lots of information about different horses.
• He had to figure out how to do several things at once: stay in the saddle on a galloping
horse and keep control of the reins, count seconds in his head, and remember when to go
fast or slow.
Isaac didn’t win his first race. What do you think are some of the reasons?
• He was scared or nervous.
• The horse was nervous.
• The noise and excitement made it hard to think.
What are some of the reasons that Isaac thought the little horse named Tenny might be
able to beat the big horse named Salvator?
• Tenny could run very fast.
• The jockey who rode Tenny was very good.
• In a race, you can never be sure which horse will win. Things can happen that are
surprising.
Why did Isaac die as a young man?
• He used crash diets to control his weight, and eventually that made him sick.
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Recommended Reading:
Cocquyt, K. (1995). Little Freddie at the Kentucky Derby. New York: Pelican
Publishing.
Drape, J. (2006). Black Maestro: The Epic Life of an American Legend. New York:
William Morrow.
Hotaling, E. (1999). The Great Black Jockeys: The Lives and Times of the men Who
Dominated America’s First National Sport. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing.
Hubbard, C. (2008). The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby: The Story of Jimmy
Winkfield. New York: Lee & Low Books.
Trollinger, P. (2006). Perfect Timing: How Isaac Murphy became one of the World's
Greatest Jockeys. New York: Viking Press.
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California Firsts: Outstanding African American Achievements
Characters:
This is a presentation of reader’s theater. Reader’s theater is strictly a reading of a
playwright’s script complete with dialogue. Traditional reader’s theater is limited in
props, music, and costumes. There is little or no movement, but just enough to get the
writer’s point across.
Scene:
Ebony and Demetrius reflect on the stories they hear their parents
tell them about their great-aunt Vassie and her lessons about
outstanding African Americans in California history. They decide
to write a play about what they heard for Black History Month.
Demetrius:
Ebony, last night, my mother said Great-aunt Vassie told her all
her kind of stories about Black Californians who lived a long time
ago. She even said the state was named for an African queen.
Ebony:
I remember Grandpa Carter telling me that story, too. We ought to
write a play about that. I’ll be the African queen!
Demetrius:
Wow, that’s a great idea! I wish the queen could help us out with
our project.
Ebony:
Hey, Grandpa Carter told me if you concentrate hard enough and
clear your mind of stuff, you can see and hear things. So why
don’t we just sit still, close your eye, and imagine what the queen
looked like. Maybe, we can even hear her voice, and she can tell
us a story about California.
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Queen Califia appears and begins to tell the story of early California.
Queen Califia: Dear Ones . . .
Ebony:
Did you hear what I heard?
Demetrius:
Yes, and did you see what I saw?
Ebony:
Yes!
Queen Califia: . . .I am so proud of you or wanting to learn about Black
California. You honor the memory of the countless courageous
men and women who helped build the state to its present
greatness. Yes, you are correct when you say that California was
named for an African Queen. I am that queen!! I was known as
Kali, Califa, Calafia, and Califia.
The pobladores enter slowly walking and singing.
Queen Califia: I will tell you a story of California that has been obscured,
suppressed, and hidden. Did you know that the African presence
in the Americas dates back over 30,000 years, and the oldest
human remains found on the islands off the coast of California
have been identified as those of African people? There even is
evidence of a predominantly female African society
on these islands. The Hopi legend of Spider Woman, which tells of
a society ruled by a powerful African queen, is more than 10,000
years old.
Ebony & Demetrius: Wow!!
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Queen Califia: In 1510, the Spanish novelist Garcia Rodriguez Ordonez Montalvo
wrote my story in Las Serges des Esplandian. I was described as a
strikingly gorgeous Black woman who wore garments decorated
with images of the animals that roamed my domain. I ruled an
island nation of strong, Black, seafaring women who lived in caves
of gold and were robust, strong, and passionate in heart. We were
known for our valor and feared no man. Montalvo’s description of
my terrestrial paradise led the Spaniards to believe that indeed they
had found the legendary land of Califia when they arrived off the
Pacific coast.
Africans have played an integral part in every European action in
the Americas, from the exploits of Columbus to the founding of
Los Angeles. In 1769, Vincent Vila, a Black man, was captain of
the ship that brought settlers to the first Spanish mission and
military fort founded at San Diego de Alcala. On September 4,
1781, El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles – The
Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels - - better known as Los
Angeles, was settled by eleven families. The pobladores were
African, Indio, Mestizo, Mulatto, and Espanol, with 26 of the 44
being of African ancestry.
The pobladores plant the Spanish flag and a banner naming the new town.
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Now, the many courageous Africans who settled in this beautiful
land will tell you their story of Califia’s queendom - - California!
Maria Rita Valdez appears and looks at Demetrius and Ebony.
Ebony & Demetrius: Who are you?
Maria Rita Valdez:
I am Maria Rita Valdez. My grandparents settled in El Pueblo de
Los Angeles in 1781. I owned Rancho de Las Aguas, known today
as Beverly Hills. I knew Francisco Reyes, who owned the San
Fernando Valley. He sold it to become the first Black alcalde
(ahl-KAHL-day) or mayor of Los Angeles from 1793 to 1795. In
those days, the color of our skin was not a barrier to our success.
We occupied such positions as military commander, mayor, and
governor. As our prominence and influence grew, we went from
being identified in the official census as Negro to Mulatto to
Espanol. This hid our African heritage and obscured our
contributions to California.
Governor Pio Pico enters.
Governor Pio Pico:
Yes, that is true Senora Valdez. I am Pio Pico. I, too, am a
descendant of the early settlers of Los Angeles. Few people know
that I am African Latino.
Ebony:
I’ve heard of Pico Boulevard. Was that street named after you?
Governor Pio Pico:
Yes, Ebony, it was named for my family which has been a part of
Los Angeles since the 1790’s. My grandparents headed one of the
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most successful and politically active families in early California.
We owned land from Ventura to San Diego.
I am remembered most because I was California’s last governor to
serve under Mejicano (meh-HE-kah-no) rule from 1845 to 1846.
I built the Pico House. It still stands in El Pueblo State Historic
Park next to the old fire station on Olvera Street. It was the first
three-story hotel in Los Angeles and the first with indoor
plumbing.
As I ended my term as governor, I could see that the greed for gold
would change things.
In steps Jim Beckwourth.
Jim Beckwourth:
Yes, Governor Pico, gold brought many changes to California. I
am James Pierson Beckwourth. I was a trapper, Indian Agent,
Crow war chief, a mountain man, a businessman, and I panned for
gold. In 1844, I came to California and began a trading business. I
served as a scout for the U.S. Army, operating between California
and Missouri, and I was a mail carrier servicing the area between
Monterey and Southern California. I also led settlers into
California through a pass I discovered in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, known today as Beckwourth Pass, near Lake Tahoe.
You know, I wasn’t the only Black man to deliver mail. Have you
ever heard of George Monroe? He carried mail for the Pony
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Express, and most everyone knew of him. George was such a
good stagecoach driver that he was chosen over nine white drivers
to transport President Ulysses S. Grant to Yosemite Valley. He
also drove President Rutherford B. Hayes through Yosemite.
I bet you didn’t know I had some education. Why, I could read
and write. I even wrote my autobiography back in 1856.
Hollywood turned into a movie. Did you see it? Well, you can
probably guess that a white actor played my part!
I am remembered for opening Beckwourth Pass and bringing
settlers to California through the mountains, but you should know
not all settlers came by land.
William Alexander Leidesdorff (LEE-des-dorf) enters.
William A.
That is true Jim. I came to California from St. Croix (CROY)
Leidesdorff:
aboard my schooner, the Julia Ann. I am William Alexander
Leidesdorff, one of the most prominent men to settle in Mexican
California.
In 1844, after becoming a Mexican citizen, I was given a 35,000
acre land grant in the Sacramento Valley.
My appointment as Vice Consul to Mexico distinguished me as
one of the first Black diplomats in the United States. I was fluent
in Spanish, French, and German.
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As treasurer for the San Francisco City Council, I helped
establish its first public school in 1848. I built the first hotel in
San Francisco which became the center for social and political
gatherings. At the beginning of the gold rush, I died of typhoid
and was buried at Mission Delores, the oldest landmark in San
Francisco. Today, a short street in downtown San Francisco bears
my name - - Leidesdorff!
Leidesdorff steps back and Mary Ellen Pleasant steps forward.
Demetrius:
Hey, you look something like Rosa Parks. Have you ever heard of
her?
Mary Ellen Pleasant: Yes, I have. She and I are both known for our civil rights activism.
Let me tell you my story.
I am Mary Ellen Pleasant. I was born a free Black who grew up
hating the horrible treatment of Blacks. I attended abolitionist
meetings in Boston where I met my first husband, Alexander
Smith, a wealthy Cuban who held abolitionist meetings in his
home. Alexander died and left me $45,000. He told me to do
everything I could to abolish slavery. I later married John Pleasant.
We moved to San Francisco after gold was discovered.
I helped many runaways to Canada because the Fugitive Slave Act
made it unsafe anywhere in the United States.
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John and I moved to Canada for a short while where I met John
Brown. After learning about his plans to raid the Harper’s Ferry
arsenal, I secretly sent him $30,000 and decided to join him. I
disguised himself as a jockey and headed south. On my way, I
heard that he carried out the raid and had been captured with some
of his men. I knew I was in danger, so I secretly fled to New York
and then back to San Francisco.
I became a leader in the Black community and was responsible for
securing more jobs for former slaves in San Francisco than anyone
prior to 1900. My motto was: It’s time to take a stance!
In 1863, the law that prevented coloreds from testifying in court
was repealed. A few years later, I sued the North Beach Railroad
Company twice for rude treatment and refusing to allow me to ride
on public transportation. I was awarded $500, but I never did
collect it.
Sometimes, I was referred to as the Mother of Civil Rights. Isn’t
that what you called Rosa Parks? Down there in Alabama in 1955,
she did the same thing I did.
First AME Church of Los Angeles was founded right in my living
room.
I am proud to have dedicated my life to the service of others. You
see, many knew and few forgot my generosity.
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Demetrius:
Miss Biddy, did you ever know Colonel Allen Allensworth?
Biddy:
No dear, I’ve never met him, but my daughters came to know him.
Biddy steps back and Colonel Allen Allensworth steps forward.
Col. Allensworth:
So nice to meet you, Mrs. Mason. I. too, am proud to be here
among these great Californians. I started school at age 25, and
within four years, I was ordained minister of the gospel. I served
in the all-colored 24th Army Infantry as chaplain and retired with
the rank of Lieutenant Colonel - - the highest rank of a colored
person or any chaplain.
After leaving the Army, I moved my family to Los Angeles. I
thought things would be better for colored folks here, but I found
the same Jim Crow attitudes that existed in the South. So, in 1908,
we moved to Tulare County near Bakersfield, where we founded
Allensworth.
I couldn’t have done this without the help of my partner, Professor
William Payne, and other members of the California Colony and
Home Protection Association. We started out with just 20 acres,
and it grew to 800. Farmers, craftsmen and businessmen were
welcomed in Allensworth.
Our town was the transfer point for the Santa Fe Railroad
connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco. We had most
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everything you’d want and need: plenty of jobs, land, a library,
and a school for colored and Mexican children. We had a drug
store, a livery stable, a bakery, a post office, a barber shop, a brass
band, and even an orchestra. We had a traveling choir, a women’s
club, a debate club, and a children’s glee club modeled after the
Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Allensworth was a strong, thriving community. But you know, not
everyone was happy to see a strong, Black community taking care
of itself. Three things caused the downfall of Allensworth: arsenic
was found in the water, water was diverted from our town, and the
railroad no longer stopped there. This killed our successful
agriculture business. Likewise, my untimely death in 1914 raised
the question whether it was accidental or not. But, I am proud to
say that in its day, Allensworth, a town in California founded by
colored folks, was the most prosperous and fastest growing town in
Tulare County!
Demetrius:
Col. Allensworth, does the town still exist today?
Col. Allensworth:
Oh yes, it is a state historic park, and Juneteenth is one of several
African American celebrations held there annually.
Queen Califia steps forward.
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Queen Califia:
During this century, African Americans have made great strides in
Los Angeles. Charlotta Spears Bass, a pioneer in the Black press,
will continue our story.
Charlotta Bass:
Thank you, Queen Califia. I came to Los Angeles in 1910 and
soon met John Neimore (KNEE-more), founder and editor of the
California Eagle.
I married Joseph Bass of Kansas, one of the founders of the
Topeka Plain Dealer newspaper. We became a great team- - he as
editor and I as managing editor.
While traveling to Northern California, I was horrified by the
slave-like conditions of Black folks in the town of Wasco, where
Blacks were specifically brought from the South to work in cotton
fields owned by none other than Herbert Hoover, who later became
President. I used my paper as a forum to speak out against and
expose these deplorable conditions and to do the same for
lynchings and other injustices.
I was politically active. In 1952, I became the first woman ever to
be nominated as Vice-President of the United States. I ran the
Independent Progressive Party ticket.
Now, I want all of you to join me in sharing some of the headlines
and articles from the pages of my paper and some of the major
events in our community that occurred after my death.
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Cast members step forward and share reading the headlines.
Source: Humber, T., Carter, R., and Nelson, C.B. (n.d). California Firsts: Outstanding
African American Achievements.
79
Feelings, Attitudes, and Values
Activities:

View DVDs “Unchained Memories: Slave Narratives” and “Slavery in the Young
Republic.” Discuss the concepts of slavery as they pertained to: 1) the colonist;
2) African slaves. Make a chart of the responses.

Read page 31 in From Slavery to Freedom. Discuss the concept of African-owned
slaves: 1) their treatment; 2) how they were acquired; 3) their duties

View DVD Africans in America: America’s Journey through Slavery. Discuss
conditions that prevailed aboard the ship. Make a model or diagram of a slave
ship. Have a panel discussion comparing the lives of northern and southern
slaves.

Design and paint a mural or diagram depicting life on a southern plantation.

View DVD Harriet Tubman – Underground Railroad. Make a movie about the
lives of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth using paper scroll and large cartoon
with an accompanying script and story board.
Resources
Films/DVD
Slavery in the Young Republic
Unchained Memories: Slave Narratives
Africans in America
Harriet Tubman: Underground Railroad
Books
From Slavery to Freedom
Before the Mayflower
In Their Own Words
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Our National Anthem
Subject Area: Music
Grade Level: 4-12
Time Level: Two Class Periods
Objectives
1.
Students will analyze national anthems written by two United States groups.
2.
Students will describe the purpose of a national anthem tudents will sing “The
Star Spangled Banner,” then sing “Lift Evry Voice and Sing.”
3.
Arrange students into small groups and assign them an anthem to each group.
Have students write down their thoughts regarding each anthem and the
reason they wrote it.
4.
Play both anthems, and have students sing along.
Evaluation
1.
Class dialogue regarding students’ understanding of the purpose of a national
anthem
2.
Assess students’ ability to sing the anthem.
Source: Grant, C., and Sleeter, C. (1998). Turning on Learning: Five Approaches for
Multicultural Teaching Plans for Race, Class, Gender, and Disability.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
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THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER
by
Francis Scott Key
First Verse
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Second Verse
On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines in the stream;
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Third Verse
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Fourth Verse
Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust"
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And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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LIFT EV’RY VOICE AND SING (The Negro National Anthem)
by
James Weldon Johnson
Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
'Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on 'til victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
'Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
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The Universal Language: African American Contributions in Music
Connections to K-12 grades
Students of color may have difficulty making connections between historical experiences
and their own lives. These students may not identify with individuals or historical
periods, as lessons taught may not include persons of color. The National Council for
Social Studies Standards (NCSS) and the National Council of Teachers of English
(NCTE) emphasize the importance of the connection between the curriculum and the
students. This lesson will allow students to identify with the composers and performers,
as well as learn about significant contributions by African Americans in the music genre.
Goals
Students will gain knowledge of significant contributions of African American
composers and performers within the historical, social, and cultural contexts of
National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) Standards
Objectives
Students will listen and analyze music by various composers and musicians of 19th, 20th,
and 21st century. Students will examine the cultural significance of the music in
historical context and discuss the significance of the music to personal experience.
National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) Standards
Culture and Cultural Diversity

Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of
culture and cultural diversity.

Enable learners to analyze and explain the ways groups, societies, and cultures
address human needs and concerns.

Assist learners to apply understanding of culture as an integrated whole that
explains the functions and interactions of language, literature, the arts, traditions,
beliefs and values, and behavior patterns.
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National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Standards

Students adjust their use of spoken, written and visual language (e.g.,
conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of
audiences for different purposes. (Standard 4)

Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing
process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a
variety of purposes. (Standard 5)

Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g.,
spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to
create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts. (Standard 6)

Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g., libraries,
databases, computer networks, video, audio) to gather and synthesize information
and to create and communicate knowledge. (Standard 8)
Activity
1.
Begin by activating students’ prior knowledge of the history of African American
music. Discuss the significance of songs sung during slavery by slaves, the jazz
and blues eras, the Motown Sound, and the origins of hip-hop. Discuss significant
African American composers (James Johnson, Scott Joplin, Robert Johnson, Duke
Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Quincy Jones, Mary Watkins) and the pride of Af
rican American culture that fostered these musicians into the mainstream.
2.
Listen to audio of songs of the respective eras. Discuss student’s initial reactions
to the music.
3.
Provide background information and historical context for the various music gen
res, including listing information on the board and handouts.
Suggested Reading List:
George, N. (2005). Hip-Hop America. New York: Penguin Books.
Giovanni, N. (2007). On My Journey Now: Looking at African American History
through the Spirituals. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
Montgomery, E.R. William C. Handy: Father of the Blues. Portland, OR: Exodus Books.
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Porter, E. (2002). What is this thing called jazz? : African American musicians as artists,
critics, and activists. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Ramsey, G. (2003). Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press.
87
Learning through Song
(Source: Sanders, N. (2007). A Kid’s Guide to African American History. Chicago,
IL:
Chicago Review Press.)
Music was an important part of life for children of enslaved African Americans. As with
all children, games were made more fun by adding songs. Often, children living in
slavery saw and heard their master’s children singing songs and playing games. They
would sing these songs and play these games, adding verses and rhythms that drew from
their daily experiences living on a plantation.
Hambone
This is a lively song. There are many verses that can be added to the description of the
wedding feast. The persons chanting or singing the song can alternately pat their thighs
and their chests, back and forth, in a quick rhythm that accents the words. In a quieter
version, this song was sung as a lullaby to put babies or young children to sleep.
Hambone, Hambone, what did you do?
I got a train and I fairly flew.
Hambone, Hambone, where did you go?
I hopped up to Miss Lucy’s door.
I asked Miss Lucy would she marry me.
(in falsetto) “Well, I don’t care if Papa don’t care!”
First come in was Mister Snake,
He crawled all over that wedding cake.
Next walked in was Mister Tick,
He ate so much that it made him sivk.
Next walked in was Mr. Raccoon,
We asked him to sing us a wedding tune.
(repeat entire lyrics)
William, William, Trembletoe
This was a popular game to play. The children all sat in a circle and each held one hand
toward the center of the circle. If there were a small number of children in the circle, all
the fingers of each child’s hand were counted. If there were a large number of children in
the circle, they just counted the pointer finger on one hand of each child. You can play
this game, too!
Choose a leader to stand in the center of your circle of players. All the players stick their
hands out toward the center of the circle. The leader counts the number of fingers.
Everyone can recite the rhyme in unison until the last person is chosen to go out at the
end of the rhyme. This chosen person hides in the corner or around the side of a building.
88
The rest of the players in the circle would then pick the name of an object to name
themselves such as a house, cow, elephant, or spoon. Whisper the names to the leader.
Choose one extra name for the person hiding in the corner.
The leader then calls to the person hiding in the corner, “What do you want to come
home one?” The leader lists all the names the players chose for themselves, plus the
extra name. If the person guesses the extra name, she has to return to the circle on tiptoe.
If the person guesses one of the other player’s names, that player gets up and brings her
back to the circle.
After the player has returned to the circle, you can choose a new leader and start the game
all over again. Notice that there really isn’t a “winner” to this game.
William, William, Trembletoe
He’s a good fisherman to catch them hens,
Put ‘em in the pens.
Some lays eggs, some don’t
Wire, briar, limberlock
Set and sing till twelve o’clock.
The clock fell down,
The mouse ran around
Y-O-U-T spells OUT
O Freedom
Often called “sorrow songs” or “slave songs,” spirituals were first heard on the
plantations. African Americans sang hymns introduced by Protestant missionaries or
plantation owners, but they changed these hymns by adding African rhythms, choruses,
and melodies. Hand-clapping and foot-stomping patterns became a part of the songs, too.
The music African Americans developed became known as spirituals, a distinct
contribution to the musical world. Many spirituals sung as a longing for freedom, such as
“O Freedom!,” a spiritual often sang during secret church meetings.
O freedom, O freedom,
O freedom after a while,
And before I’d be a slave, I’d be buried in my grave,
And go home to my Lord and be free.
There’ll be no more moaning, no more moaning,
No more moaning after a while,
And before I’d be a slave,
I’d be buried in my grave,
And go home to my Lord and be free.
89
Uncode a Spiritual
Other spirituals contained hidden meanings or secret messages. They were used to tell
the time and place of secret church meetings or directions for escape from the plantation.
Slaves would make up coded verses for spirituals and songs that explained which paths to
follow to escape to freedom in the North. One song that was often used was “Follow the
Drinking Gourd.” To the owners of the plantation, it was another song. But to the
African Americans living in slavery, “Follow the Drinking Gourd” mapped out the road
to freedom.
As you read through the song, try to understand what the different coded verses
mean. (An explanation of the codes follows.)
Chorus
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd.
When the sun comes back, and the first quail calls,
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting for you to carry you to freedom
If you follow the drinking gourd.
(Chorus)
The riverbank makes a very good road,
The dead trees will show you the way.
Left foot, peg foot, traveling on,
Follow the drinking gourd.
(Chorus)
The river ends between two hills,
Follow the drinking gourd.
There’s another river on the other side,
Follow the drinking gourd.
(Chorus)
When the great big river meets the little river,
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the man is a-waiting for you to carry you to freedom
If you follow the drinking gourd.
(Chorus)
90
Now try to guess the meaning of these lines:
Question:
What does the line “Follow the drinking gourd” mean?
Answer:
The Big Dipper was the constellation of stars known as the drinking
gourd. This line in the song meant to follow the North Star, one of the
stars in the Big Dipper, and travel North to the free states or Canada.
Question:
What does the line “For the old man is a-waiting for you to carry you to
freedom” mean?
Answer:
This line means that the runaway slaves would eventually meet someone
who was a member of the Underground Railroad, a secret society that
helped African Americans find their way North to freedom.
Question:
What does the line “When the sun comes back, and the first quail calls”
mean?
Answer:
This line means that people should plan their escape from the plantation
by starting to travel during the late winter or the early spring when the sun
shone more and the migrating bird had blown back to the South.
Question:
What do the lines “The riverbank makes a very good road” and “The dead
trees will show you the way. Left foot, peg foot, traveling on” mean?
Answer:
These lines mean that there were dead trees along a riverbank on the way
North that were marked with pictures of a left foot and a peg foot. These
marks could be followed North to freedom.
Question:
What do the lines “The river end between two hills” and “There’s another
river on the other side” mean?
Answer:
These lines mean that when a certain river ended, people were supposed to
keep walking over the hills and then travel north along the next river they
found, which was the Tennessee River.
Question:
What do the lines “When the great big river meets the little river” and “For
the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom” mean?
Answer:
These lines mean that people would come to the big, wide Ohio River af
ter they followed the Tennessee River. By now, they would have been
walking for almost a year, and it would be winter again. The Ohio River
would be frozen and easy to walk across. A guide from the Underground
91
Railroad would be waiting for them on the other side to help them finish
their trip to freedom.
Escaping from slavery to head north was always an extremely dangerous
thing to do. But, enslaved African Americans often risked everything to
try to escape. They were driven by the desire to reunite with family members who were sold to other plantation owners, by a longing to get away
from slavery’s hardships, and by a yearning to be free.
92
Write an Almanac
(Source: Sanders, N. (2007). A Kid’s Guide to African American History. Chicago, IL:
Chicago Review Press.)
Even though they did not have the same rights as others, free African Americans
such as Benjamin Banneker used their limited freedom to become educated and
influential during America’s growth.
Banneker lived on his family’s tobacco farm near Baltimore, Maryland. He took
a pocket watch apart and used it to make the first wooden clock ever built in the United
States. This clock kept perfect time for more than 40 years. People came from miles
away to see this wonder and the man who built it.
Banneker loved to study. He studied the stars and stayed awake through the night
to observe their movements. He slept during the early part of the day, while conducting
his work in the afternoon.
President George Washington appointed Banneker to help a group of men map
and measure the land that would become Washington, D.C. When the chief engineer
suddenly left the project, taking his maps with him, Banneker remembered every detail
and drew the map from memory. Banneker used math along with astronomy (the study
of planets and stars) to predict important events in the future such as the sun’s eclipse.
An eclipse occurs when the moon moves in front of the sun and totally blacks out the
sun’s light. It looks dark for a few hours even if it’s the middle of the day.
For several years, Banneker used his astronomy and math skills to write almanacs,
books used for weather reports. His almanacs also included recipes, poems, medical
advice, information about festivals and holidays, and articles against slavery.
Materials:
Paper
Pen/pencil
Markers
Hole punch
Report folder
In the paper, keep an account of the weather in your area by checking the
temperature, measuring the amount of rain or snow, and recording whether each day is
sunny, windy, or stormy. Write down some of your favorite recipe. Draw pictures of
holidays and festivals that take place in your town. Write poems or article about things
that are important to you. Collect all of these and put them in a report folder to make
your almanac. If you want to share your almanac with others, photocopy the pages and
make several folders to give to the people you know. Benjamin Banneker sent a copy of
93
his almanac to President Thomas Jefferson. His almanacs sold throughout the 16 states
in the Union and even in England.
94
Make a Star-Watching Chart
Benjamin Banneker loved Astronomy. Many nights he headed out to a field on his farm,
wrapped up in a blanket, and laid on the ground to study the night sky.
Materials:
Tracing Paper
Pen
Scissors
Paper plate, dessert-size
Glue
Blanket
Flashlight
Red cellophane, 4 inches square
Rubber band
Trace the small chart of stars onto a piece of paper. Cut out the chart and glue it to the
paper plate to it is easy to hold. On the next clear night, grab a warm blanket. Take a
flashlight and over the lens with the piece of red cellophane held in place with a rubber
band. This red light makes it easier for your eyes to see the stars and your chart at the
same time.
Go outside to your backyard with a friend after the sky is dark enough to see the stars.
Lie flat on your back, wrapped up in the blanket, and look at the stars. Try to find some
of the constellations (groups of stars), that Benjamin Banneker saw where he studied the
night sky. Use your special flashlight to peek at your chart for the names of some of the
brighter constellations. During different seasons of the year you will be able to see
different groups of stars.
95
Follow the North Star
Many times the North Star was the only help that escaping African Americans
had. Poor and hungry, not quite sure where they were going but longing for the freedom
they’d heard about, they escaped from the terrible hardships of slavery and followed the
North Star. They knew it led north to Canada, the Promised Land, and to the free states
in the North.
On a clear, starry night, take a night hike in a safe place with a grown-up and
several of your friends. Carry an extra sweater and snacks all wrapped up in fabric that’s
tied on your stick. Take along your teacup candle. You can try to find the North Star and
follow it on your hike to experience what is was like to travel along the Underground
Railroad.
Once you’re outside and ready for your hike, you can start looking for the North
Star. The North Star is very special star because it doesn’t change places during the night
or during different seasons of the year as the others do. When you’re looking at the
North Star, you’re always facing north. When you start walking while you’re looking at
the North Star, you’re always walking north.
To find the North Star, first look for the drinking gourd, or Big Dipper. Draw an
imaginary line from the bowl of the drinking gourd across the sky until you see a bright
star, which is the North Star. Once you see the North Star, begin your night hike. Use the
candle to help light your path if the moon gets covered with clouds. Pretend you’re
walking along the Underground Railroad. If you’re not sure exactly where you’re going,
96
you can be certain of one thing: you’re going north and freedom is there! Now, draw the
Little Dipper and the North Star.
97
Great Women of Color
Sojourner Truth
Objectives:
Students will:
Relate their own emotional reactions to conditions described in the story.
Hear and respond to literature
Skill:
Evaluating
Materials:
Paperbacks.
McKissick, P. (1994). Ain’t I A Woman? New York: Scholastic
Truth, S. & Painter, N. (1997). Narrative of Sojourner Truth. New York:
Penguin Classics.
Procedure:
1.
Read the one of the selected Sojourner Truth biographies. Stop at designnated points of the story to allow for discussion. The story is presented in
small segments to facilitate discussion.
This story is about a woman who was a slave. People were often very men to her.
Because she was a slave, no one could help her. She could be bought and sold without
any say from her family. This story is about how she became a free person, and most
importantly, is it about what she did as a free person. How would you feel if you could
be bought and sold with no say about the matter? Discuss your emotions.
When she was born, she was named Isabella Baumfree. Everyone called her “Belle.”
When she was a young girl, she had to work taking care of the livestock and carry the
heavy firewood. Winters were cold, and she had nothing to wear but thin clothes and old
shoes. If she didn’t work hard enough, according to her master, she would be severely
beaten. How would you feel if you were beaten and whipped for not working “hard
enough?” Discuss your emotions.
To make her feel better, her mother sang African songs to her. The songs were about the
place they had come from, and a time when her family had not been slaves. When Belle
was sad or lonely, she sang these to herself. These songs made her feel stronger. They
made her feel almost her mother was there to help her. When you feel sad, what makes
you feel better?
One day, the slave owner died. Belle’s family had no rights. They could all be sold to
different people. Everyone was afraid because they did not know what might happen to
98
them. Nine-year-old Belle found out that her parents were granted freedom, but she was
to be sold. How do you feel when you do not know what is going to happen to you?
Belle was so afraid that she would never get to see her parents again. She was sold for
$100 and a flock of sheep. Her parents were unable to help her. They were powerless
and upset. What do you think is powerlessness?
When Belle grew up, she married a slave and had children. Two of her children were
sold as slaves. She was able to keep her other daughters with help from white friends.
How did she feel toward the people who helped her keep her other daughters?
When Belle was 30 years old, a new state law passed. The law stated that no one who
lived in the state could own slaves. Belle was finally free, and was able to make a living.
She knew that being free was not enough. She decided to help free slaves, to take action,
and to be fearless when speaking for equal treatment for blacks. What do you think
Belle tried to instill in slaves?
Belle chose a new name: Sojourner Truth. The new name meant “traveler,” and she
always wanted to tell the truth. It was her mission to travel and tell the truth about
slavery and unfair laws. She was an excellent speaker and wrote a book about being a
slave. Sojourner believed that once white people would change the laws after they
discovered the horrors of being a slave. Was it good for Sojourner to share her story?
Why or why not?
Things did start to change, but some still wanted to own slaves. Those in the South
wanted to keep slaves instead of changing the laws. After the Civil War, new laws were
passed that said nobody in the United States could own slaves. Freedom was important,
but blacks were treated unfairly. Jobs were hard to get, and were not paid fair wages for
their work. How did Sojourner and black people feel when things began to change?
Sojourner Truth spent her life working to make the United States a fair place for all
people to live. Many people today are still working for fairness too. Can you name
others who have fought for equality for everyone in the United States?
Suggested Reading:
McKissick, P. (1994). Ain’t I A Woman? New York: Scholastic Paperbacks.
Ortiz, V. (1974). Sojourner Truth. New York: J.B. Lippincott.
Peterson, H.S. (1972). Sojourner Truth: Fearless Crusader. New Canaan, CT: Garrard.
Truth, S. & Painter, N. (1997). Narrative of Sojourner Truth. New York: Penguin
Classics.
Adapted from: Naulty, J, (1988). Social Studies, Grade One. Philadelphia, PA: The
School District of Philadelphia Office of Curriculum.
99
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