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Black Leaders of the 1920s and 30s

Lesson Author
Course(s)
Required Time Frame
1 week
Lesson Abstract
Students will study and write about famous black Americans in the 1920s and 1930s.
Description
  • Cooperative learning assignment. I'm doing this in hopes of the kids can learn things from each other in their research.
  • Using primary and secondary resources they will put together a 2 pg. paper, with each of them being responsible for research on an individual, and their accomplishments
Rationale (why are you doing this?)

My school is changing demographically, and the study of famous black Americans has been lacking, especially in the 1920s. I believe this is golden opportunity to increase student knowledge in this area.

Lesson Objectives - the student will
  • Improve knowledge of accomplishments of famous black Americans of the Twenties
  • See differences in how white filmmakers of the time viewed blacks, and vice versa.
  • Movements within the Black community in the Twenties.
District, state, or national performance and knowledge standards/goals/skills met
  • District goal: #7. The district will work to make the students more inclusive, and to promote multiculturalism in the classroom

Missouri Standards

2. Continuity and change in the history of Missouri, the United States and the world

6. Relationships of the individual and groups to institutions and cultural traditions

7. The use of tools of social science inquiry (such as surveys, statistics, maps, documents)

Kansas Standards

Benchmark 1: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, groups, ideas, developments, and turning points in the era of the emergence of the modern United States (1890-1930).

10. (A) evaluates various social conflicts in the early 1920’s (e.g., rural vs. urban, fundamentalism vs. modernism, prohibition, nativism, flapper vs. traditional woman’s role).

11. (A) analyzes significant developments in race relations (e.g., rise of Ku Klux Klan, the Great Migration, race riots, NAACP, Tuskegee).

12. (A) interprets how the arts, music, and literature reflected social change during the Jazz Age (e.g., Harlem Renaissance, F. Scott Fitzgerald, development of blues and jazz culture).

Benchmark 5: The student engages in historical thinking skills.

1. (A) analyzes a theme in United States history to explain patterns of continuity and change over time.

2. (A) develops historical questions on a specific topic in United States history and analyzes the evidence in primary source documents to speculate on the answers.

3. (A) uses primary and secondary sources about an event in U.S. history to develop a credible interpretation of the event, evaluating on its meaning (e.g., uses provided primary and secondary sources to interpret a historical-based conclusion).

Secondary materials (book, article, video documentary, etc.) needed
  • Visual recording The Birth of a Nation; DW Griffith 1915
  • Article from Jim Crow and the African American Experience by Dr. Minkah Makalani
  • Handout on Chicago race riot 1919, and visual recording of Oscar Micheaux Within Our Gates
Primary sources needed (document, photograph, artifact, diary or letter, audio or visual recording, etc.) needed
  • Article from book Life In the Roaring Twenties by Diane Yancey
  • Articles from A Dream Deferred; The Jim Crow Era by Ann Wallace Sharp
Fully describe the activity or assignment in detail. What will both the teacher and the students do?

In a week, I will assign readings, lecture, give handouts, over the Black leaders of the period.

Also I will show 2 different tapes. Birth of a Nation and then show Within Our Gates. This is a great chance for students to see how differently blacks were viewed from white films, versus black filmmaker.

Plus I would like to introduce many people such as W.E. B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, A. Philip Randolph, and Hubert Harrison "Black Socrates". Movements like UNIA and Niagara Movement, and the NAACP will also be discussed.

Assessment: fully explain the assessment method in detail or create and attach a scoring guide

Each cooperative group of no more than 4 students will be required to turn in their paper ( 1 paper per group) for 100pts at end of the week. Additionally, each student will individually hand in a sheet telling me what figures they studied and contributed to the paper.