This curriculum unit will analyze the history of educational discrimination in the United States toward major ethnic and racial groups, with particular focus paid to African American and Latino American and Asian American history. Students will analyze primary source documents, media coverage, and poetry in order to develop an understanding of the injustices faced by various minority groups during the early 20th century. The struggle for human rights and equal protection under the law will be researched through a variety of class activities and readings, drawing from primary sources, Supreme Court opinion excerpts, and other collections of race-related legal analysis and documents. Particular attention will be paid to several historical incidents and court cases, including
Plessy v. Ferguson, Lum v. Rice,
and
Mendez v. Westminster
. The unit culminates with students completing a series of journal entries in the voice of a minority student struggling with the realities of educational segregation.
(Developed for English-Language Arts, grade 6; recommended for English-Language Arts and Social Studies, grades 5-8)
