Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
1
Red, White, and Blues:
Is America the “Dream the Dreamers Dreamed”?
I. Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks
Standards:
The lesson plan uses a thematic approach to span 1926-2009, encompassing the
following standards:
The Age of Reform: Progressivism and the New Deal, 1900-1940
USII.10 Describe how the battle between traditionalism and modernity manifested itself
in the major historical trends and events after World War I and throughout the 1920s. (H)
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
the Boston police strike in 1919
the Red Scare and Sacco and Vanzetti
racial and ethnic tensions
the Scopes Trial and the debate over Darwin’s On the Origins of Species
Prohibition
Cold War America at Home: Economic Growth and Optimism, Anticommunism,
and Reform, 1945-1980
USII.25 Analyze the origins, goals, and key events of the Civil Rights movement. (H)
People
A. Robert Kennedy
B. Martin Luther King, Jr.
C. Thurgood Marshall
D. Rosa Parks
E. Malcolm X
Institution
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Events
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott
the 1957-1958 Little Rock School Crisis
the sit-ins and freedom rides of the early 1960s
the 1963 civil rights protest in Birmingham
the 1963 March on Washington
the 1965 civil rights protest in Selma
the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
2
Seminal Primary Documents to Read: Reverend Martin Luther King’s, “I Have A
Dream” speech and his Letter from Birmingham City Jail (1963), President Lyndon
Johnson, speech to Congress on voting rights (March 15, 1965)
USII.26 Describe the accomplishments of the civil rights movement. (H, E)
A. the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act
B. the growth of the African American middle class, increased political power, and
declining rates of African American poverty
II. Historical Thinking Benchmarks Addressed:
Analysis of primary and secondary sources. For example, using primary and secondary
sources on the experience of 19th-century immigrants, teachers can look for different
points of view or bias (for instance, in comments by immigrants themselves compared to
comments about immigrants by the press or politicians). Weighing the representativeness
of certain kinds of sources such as diaries and considering a mixture of quantitative and
qualitative (visual as well as textual) sources would be another important exercise on this
kind of topic. Discussing how to rate different levels of reliability in sources on the
immigrant experience might round off an exercise on this skill.
An understanding of bias and points of view. This skill applies most obviously in
assessing primary sources, but it is vital also in dealing with secondary accounts.
Teachers can compare textbook treatments of controversial topics, such as slavery, and
how they have changed over time, as a means of testing for bias or point of view.
Understanding that although the past tends to be viewed in terms of present values,
a proper perception of the past requires a serious examination of values of that time.
For example, what aspects of the Federalist Papers seem particularly hard to understand
in terms of current political issues and values, and how can we appreciate why they were
important at the time? How can we appreciate why many parents tried to "break the will"
of disobedient children, by isolating them in their rooms often for days, in the early 19th
century—and how can we try to understand the impact of this experience on children
themselves?
III. Essential Questions:



How has the position of African Americans in society changed from 1926 to the
present?
How has African-American experience changed from 1926 to the present?
Is post-racist America still a dream?
IV. Learning Objectives:
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
3





Students will analyze speeches, poems, music, and photographs, from distinct
periods in U.S. African-American history, such as Langston Hughes’ poem “Let
America Be America Again” and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream
Speech”.
Students will evaluate an historical document in order to make a judgment about
the author’s bias and view towards the position of African Americans in society.
Students will understand the events leading up to and during the Ossian Sweet
case.
Students will evaluate Clarence Darrow’s closing arguments of May 1926.
Students will create an anachronistic documentary to support Clarence Darrow’s
closing arguments of 1926.
V. Learning Activities:
Throughout this unit, students read a series of documents/texts about race, analyzing
each document using a document analysis worksheet, and answering the same key
questions about the documents. Students also analyze one blues song, answering key
questions about the song. During the assessment, students analyze a photograph. In
addition, students analyze the rhetorical devices used in the document in order to
evaluate how the use of these devices enhances the author’s message.
1. Set the stage for the learning activities in this unit by activating background knowledge
about the history of the African American experience in the United States. Once
background knowledge is elicited, use the Library of Congress African American
Odyssey website to establish an overview of African American history in the U.S.:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aointro.html.
This website:
explores black America's quest for equality from the early national period through
the twentieth century. The Library's materials, gathered over the two hundred
years of its existence, tell the story of the African American experience through
nine chronological periods that document the courage and determination of
blacks, faced with adverse circumstances, who overcame immense odds to fully
participate in all aspects of American society.
The overviews of the exhibits described on this site provide a short, succinct overview of
important periods in African-American history. If desired, this activity could be extended,
for example, by having students using the exhibits that are posted and presenting a brief
overview of each period with an a brief analysis of one artifact. Students should also
make a timeline of periods and events using the periods described on this site:
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
4
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
Slavery--The Peculiar Institution
Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period
Abolition
The Civil War
Reconstruction
Booker T. Washington Era
World War I and Postwar Society
Depression, New Deal, and World War II
Civil Rights
2. Explain to students that this unit will give them a `backwards' view of race relations,
beginning in the present. [Note, this unit could be taught in strict chronological order if
desired. The rationale for teaching `backwards’ is to enable students to first connect the
lessons to their everyday life, as they experience the struggle leading up to the present.
This is key `literacy’ strategy for engaging and motivating adolescent learners (Guthrie,
2008).
3. Students read the article “Talk About Race? Relax, It’s O.K.”, a New York Times
article about the effect of the Obama presidency on the perception of race in 2009” found
at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/fashion/15race.html. They place the article on
their timeline and analyze and discuss the document using the Written Document
Analysis Worksheet, found at:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/written_document_analysis_work
sheet.pdf .
Students also answer the following key questions about the article:





What position in society of African Americans does this document/text depict?
What position in society of African Americans does this document/text depict?
Is a post-racist America still a dream according to this document/text?
What does the writer/speaker hope for/dream of?
What course of action does s/he recommend?
4. Students read “News at Five”, a rap in Nikki Grimes’ Bronx Masquerade, and perform
the rap. This piece, published in 2006, deals with racial stereotyping of AfricanAmerican teenagers. Students place this piece on their timeline, noting that it was
published three years previous to the Times article and after the peak of the Civil Rights
era. Once again, students use the document analysis worksheet to analyze and discuss the
text, and answer the key questions given above and discuss.
Literacy connection: in addition, students discuss rhetorical devices used in the rap to
support the points of view expressed in the rap, for example Black is capitalized and
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
5
white is not, Personification of “those gray heads”, etc. A glossary of rhetorical terms
with examples can be found at: http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html
5. Introduce Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech (1963), Place on timeline.
Video footage can be used to establish a context and background for the speech (such as
excerpts from Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985;
information about this video can be found at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/.
If possible, show a video of the speech, which can be found on several sites, such as:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1732754907698549493
Students analyze the speech using the document analysis worksheet and key questions, as
well as an analysis of rhetorical devices. (Resources as above). Note that students should
review the written text of the speech available on http://www.mlkonline.net/dream.html.
6. Students read the poem “Long Live Langston”, in Nikki Grimes’ book Bronx
Masquerade. This poem celebrates the writing of Langston Hughes. Links to background
information about the author can be found
at:http://www.ashland.edu/library/irc/grimes.html
Follow up with reading a short biography of Hughes, for example:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83; http://www.poemhunter.com/langstonhughes/biography/.
Students read his poem: “Let America Be America Again”, which can be found at
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15609
Students analyze the poem using the document analysis worksheet, key questions as well
as an analysis of rhetorical techniques.
ASSESSMENT IDEA: Students compare/contrast King’s speech to Langston Hughes’
poem, and then write a persuasive essay answering the question:
Do you think Martin Luther King used Hughes’ poem to write his speech?
7. Students read background knowledge about the blues, for example, What is the Blues?
-- found at:
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.html
.
Students analyze one of the following songs, using the following key questions:
 Who wrote this song?
 Who performed this song?
 When was this song written?
 What does this song suggest about the condition of the people who sang them and
listened to them? Are they happy, sad, frustrated, tired, etc.?
 What are the performers' attitudes toward the experiences they sing about? Are
they resigned, angry, skeptical, etc.?
 What do you think the singers and listeners of these songs value?
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
6



Why do you think this singer chose this subject?
What does this song tell you about the singer’s/lyricist’s outlook or perspective?
What can you infer from this song about:
 The position in society of African Americans in the United States – what was
life like?
 Does this singer/lyricist think post-racist America is still a dream?
 What does this singer/lyricist hope for?
The two examples of songs students could choose from are:
Big Bill Broonzy’s I Wonder When Ill Get To Be Called A Man; lyrics can be found at:
http://www.lyrics007.com/Big%20Bill%20Broonzy%20Lyrics/I%20Wonder%20When%
20Ill%20Get%20To%20Be%20Called%20A%20Man%20Lyrics.html
and Lost Your Head Blues, by Bessie Smith; lyrics can be found at:
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/l/lostyourheadblues.shtml
8. Introduce the chronicle events of the Ossian Sweet case, using web site materials found
at: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/sweet/sweet.html, especially “The
Sweet Trials: An Account”. In addition, use Chapter Five, “White Houses” from Arc of
Justice by Kevin Boyle. This chapter depicts the event on Garland Avenue when the
Sweets move into their new home. This chapter could be excerpted. Students discuss the
events of the case, creating a clear timeline of the sequence of events.
Students then read and analyze Darrow’s closing arguments in the case, in particular:
Conclusion in his Closing Arguemnt of May 11, 1926. This document can be found at:
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/sweet/darrowsummation.html
Using the document analysis worksheet and key questions, together with an analysis of
rhetorical devices, students analyze and discuss Darrow’s closing arguments.
VI. A ‘performance’ or ‘authentic’ assessment tied to learning objectives.
Students write and create a short, anachronistic documentary to insert into Clarence
Darrow’s speech, after the following paragraph:
I know the Negro race has a long road to go. I believe the life of the Negro race
has been a life of tragedy, of injustice, of oppression. The law has made him
equal, but man has not. And, after all, the last analysis is, what has man done?-and not what has the law done? I know there is a long road ahead of him, before
he can take the place which I believe he should take. I know that before him there
is suffering, sorrow, tribulation and death among the blacks, and perhaps the
whites. I am sorry. I would do what I could to avert it. I would advise patience; I
would advise toleration; I would advise understanding; I would advise all of those
things which are necessary for men who live together.
The students role is documentary film maker, their audience the jury. The theme of the
documentary is that at the end of the trial, a non-racist America is still a dream, in
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
7
Darrow’s words: a “long road ahead’. Just as Darrow predicted, African-Americans face
“suffering, sorrow, and tribulation” before they achieve the dream.
This assessment, therefore, focuses on the historical thinking benchmark, Understanding
that although the past tends to be viewed in terms of present values, a proper perception
of the past requires a serious examination of values of that time. Given the values of the
time, elicited by Kevin Boyle and Clarence Darrow, the student needs to convince the
jury through his/her documentary that an acquittal is a personal, historical contribution
toward freeing the `Negro race’ from racism by using anachronistic historical documents
and artifacts.
Students will need background information about what a documentary is, for example,
the definition of a documentary which can be found at:
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/Huffman/Frontier/define.html. Students could also be
shown clips from documentary videos, such as those detailed on the American
Experience website http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/).
It is also important to introduce the term anachronism, explaining that producing this
documentary would be an anachronism because of the technology used as well as
because they will use documents, music, and photographs from the `future’. One
definition of anachronism can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anachronism
In their documentary, students should include:
 one document or text from the future which is about the African American
struggle for equality (from the ones they analyzed previously in the unit, or one
chosen by the student);
 one African-American blues track dated after 1926, selected from this unit or
chosen by the student, for example from:
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/cd.html#hard
one photograph depicting an aspect of the African American struggle for equality, for
example from: http://www.lib.memphis.edu/mcrrc/photofil.html.
As background research students should include:
 Document analysis and answers to key questions (as above)
 Analysis of the blues track (as above)
 An analysis of the photograph they are using, for example using the worksheet
found at:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo_analysis_worksheet
.pdf
Students can use the storyboard template from
http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/images/uploads/StoryBoardSheet.pdf
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
8
to plan their documentary. After planning, they can produce a podcast or vodcast, o of
their documentary and present.
VII. Annotated Bibliography
Type of entry
Electronic
document
(glossary),
Internet
Bibliography Form
“A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples.” Accessed June 12, 2009.
Available from University of Kentucky Department of Modern & Classical
Languages. http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html.
Website
African American Odyssey. Library of Congress. Accessed June 12, 2009.
Available from
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aointro.html.
Electronic
document
(definition),
Internet
“Anachronism”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anachronism.
Electronic
document
(biography),
Internet
“Biography of Langston Hughes.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/biography/.
Electronic
“Big Bill Broonzy - I Wonder When Ill Get To Be Called A Man lyrics”.
document
Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
(lyrics), Internet http://www.lyrics007.com/Big%20Bill%20Broonzy%20Lyrics/I%20Wonder%20
When%20Ill%20Get%20To%20Be%20Called%20A%20Man%20Lyrics.html
Book, single
author
Boyle, Kevin. Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the
Jazz Age New York Henry Holt 2004.
Electronic
document
(closing
arguments),
Internet
Darrow, Clarence. “Closing Argument of Clarence Darrow in the case of People v.
Henry Sweet.” 1926. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Famous American
Trials: the Sweet Trials 1925 & 1926.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/sweet/darrowsummation.html
Electronic
article, Internet
“Definition of Documentary”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/Huffman/Frontier/define.html
Website
Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985. Accessed June
12, 2009. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/.
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
9
Book, single
author
Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. New York: Penguin Group (USA), 2002.
Book, single
author
Guthrie, John T. Engaging Adolescents in Reading. Thousand Oaks, California:
Corwin Press, 2008.
Electronic
document
(poem), Internet
Hughes, Langston: Let America Be America Again”. 1934. Accessed June 12,
2009. Available from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15609.
Electronic video, “I Have a Dream”. Google Videos. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
Internet
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1732754907698549493 .
Electronic
images
(photographs),
Internet
“Images of the Struggle.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Civil Rights
Research Consortium http://www.lib.memphis.edu/mcrrc/photofil.html.
Electronic
article, Internet
Kershaw, Sarah: “Talk About Race? Relax, It’s O.K.” January 14, 2009. Accessed
June 12, 2009. Available from
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/fashion/15race.html.
Electronic
King, Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream - Address at March on Washington”.
document
Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from MLK Online.
(speech), Internet http://www.mlkonline.net/dream.html.
Electronic
document
(biography),
Internet
“Langston Hughes.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83.
Internet
Electronic
article, Internet
Linder, Douglas O. “The Sweet Trials: An Account”. 2000.Accessed June 12,
2009. Available from
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/sweet/sweet.html.
Internet links
Nikki Grimes. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Ashland University
Library http://www.ashland.edu/library/irc/grimes.html.
Electronic
document
(worksheet,
Internet
“Photograph Analysis Worksheet”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from The
National Archives Educators and Students
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo_analysis_worksheet.
pdf.
Electronic
Smith, Bessie. Lot Your Head Blues. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from
document
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/l/lostyourheadblues.shtml
(lyrics), Internet.
Stefanie Lowe, Sullivan Middle School, Lowell
10
Electronic
article, Internet.
“Teacher’s Guide CD”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Scorcese
Presents the Blues. http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/cd.html#hard.
Electronic
document
(worksheet),
Internet
“Video Storyboard.” Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from National History
Day.
http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/images/uploads/StoryBoardSheet.pdf.
Electronic
article, Internet.
“What is the Blues?”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available from Scorcese Presents
the Blues. http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.htmlMartin.
Electronic
document
(worksheet),
Internet.
“Written Document Analysis Worksheet”. Accessed June 12, 2009. Available
from The National Archives Educators and Students.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/written_document_analysi
s_worksheet.pdf.