Filed under: Humanities
How can the actions of an individual change a system? That was the driving question of this unit. I want that to stay in the back of your mind as you read this. For us to answer this question, we were put into groups of two and as a pairing made a question that rides the same lines as that one, but has our own elements. While in a pairing with my classmate Willa, we decided to make our question and video about Canada. Why is Canada’s racist past not taught as much as the oppression in America? Here is our answer.
This was our final project. Let’s talk about some of the highlights of the unit that lead up to this final project. In the past, when we are starting a unit we will start a unit with a book or two and a lot of text study and analysis. In this unit though it was heavily focused on film as well as text. The first thing we did was read. Dear Martin by Nic Stone. This book did a few very helpful things, and is a good describer about the unit. Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League. Despite leaving his rough neighbourhood behind, he can’t escape the hate from his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. Then, to top it off, a close friend of his loses his life in an unjust police shooting. This books carries all of our main ideas. racial inequality in the USA, young people standing up for civil rights and a better future.
This book was the topic of two of our four Socratic seminars. Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over information and discussion over debate.The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on a text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. In the class though, we all asked questions and gave answers. To read more about my perspective on the Socratic seminars click the dropdown below.
Personally, I really enjoyed the Socratic seminars. I am a very extroverted person, so when put into a setting when I am sitting in a circle with 7-9 people and we are all talking about a text. I really liked analyzing the text, I love looking at a book and trying to find a hidden meaning. The best idea and question I brought up was when I questioned the group about why we learn things like this. This enshrined a fabulous discussion about education and the hope that the former generation has in us for the future. But, however. The last two seminars we did were on films. I found the films much harder to make a deep discussion about because you cannot highlight, go back and read, or understands the writers tone though pictures. Still though, pretty fun.
The final part that I want to talk about is the movement of civil rights, in the late 1950s and 1960s. We looked at everything from the beginning and the emancipation proclamation, all the way to the murder of both Kenedy brothers, and President Nixon being elected in 1968. Here is a slideshow of some of the most gripping stories to me. Click the drop down menus below to read about each story.
1955- The Murder of Emmet Till
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was a young African-American who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 at the age of 14, after being accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store. The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States. Till was born and raised in Chicago. During summer vacation in August 1955, he was visiting relatives near Money, in the Mississippi Delta region. Several nights after the store incident, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J.W. Milam went armed to Till's great-uncle's house and abducted the boy. They took him away and beat and mutilated him before shooting him in the head and sinking his body in the Tallahatchie River. The most disruptive part was that Till’s mother chose an open casket, public funeral. And she was adamant nobody touch up the body.
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, which led to the Woolworth department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. Days before the Woolworth sit-ins, the Greensboro Four (as they would soon be known) were debating on which way would be the best to get the media's attention. They were Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond. All were young black students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. On February 1, 1960, at 4:30 pm, the four sat down at the lunch counter inside the Woolworth store at 132 South Elm Street in Greensboro. On the February 4, more than 300 people took part. February 5th saw a high tension environment at the Woolworth counter, when 50 white men sat at the counter, in opposition to the protesters, which now included white college students.
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the March on Washington, or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin began planning the march in December 1961. They envisioned two days of protest, including sit-ins and lobbying followed by a mass rally at the Lincoln Memorial. On August 28, more than 2,000 buses, 21 chartered trains, 10 chartered airliners, and uncounted cars converged on Washington. All regularly scheduled planes, trains, and buses were also filled to capacity. The UAW provided thousands of signs that, among other things, read: "There Is No Halfway House on the Road to Freedom," "Equal Rights and Jobs NOW," "UAW Supports Freedom March," "in Freedom we are Born, in Freedom we must Live," and "Before we'll be a Slave, we'll be Buried in our Grave."
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabamato the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression, and were part of a broader voting rights movement underway in Selma and throughout the American South. The first march took place on March 7, 1965, organized locally by Bevel, Amelia Boynton, and others. State troopers and county police attacked the unarmed marchers with billy clubs and tear gas after they passed over the county line, and the event became known as Bloody Sunday. The second march took place March 9. Troopers, police, and marchers confronted each other at the county end of the bridge, but when the troopers stepped aside to let them pass, King led the marchers back to the church. The third march started March 21. Protected by 1,900 members of the Alabama National Guard under federal command, and many FBI agents and Federal Marshals, the marchers averaged 10 miles (16 km) a day along U.S. Route 80, known in Alabama as the "Jefferson Davis Highway". The marchers arrived in Montgomery on March 24 and at the Alabama State Capitol on March 25.
So, the project lasted us about 3-5 weeks. I quite enjoyed it for a few reasons. First off, we experienced and learned about material a different way, when watching film we can analyze message better, listen and watch interviews and to me it’s more engaging. I also liked the partner work. In the past we have done solo projects as well as group projects. Partner projects have the singular responsibility of a solo project, but the team aspect of the group projects. Both my favorite parts of the respective disciplines. What did I learn? Everything. I learned about all the events that I have mentioned and so much more. I learned about the history of segregation in the southern US, as well as Canada. I learned about the strong parts of documentaries, and how they’re similar and different to dramatized film, I learned of the politics, uprisings, and society at the time. I knew nothing going in. Going out I know so much, and I couldn’t be happier.
