For this particular unit the student will use two books which will become the primary texts for the course. These books will be supplemented periodically with other materials.
The text to be used is the
Afro-American in United States History,
by Benjamin DaSilva, Milton Finkelstein, and Arlene Loshin. This is a fairly comprehensive study of the United States and of the Black American. The text deals with slavery, black contributions in the various wars that the United States has been involved in, the contributions of Black Americans in science, culture, politics and economics. This book is purposely designed for a student with basic skills needs and has short chapters that are easily read and understood.
Along with the text the class will use an anthology of autobiographies by Black Americans. This anthology,
Growing Up Black in America,
by Jay David, relates the childhood experiences of nineteen Black Americans from the story of Issac Jefferson, one of the slaves of Thomas Jefferson, to the autobiographies of Dick Gregory and Malcolm X.
By using such an anthology the students will hopefully be able to make varied entries in their own journals. Again the autobiographies are short enough so that the whole class can read all of them, it will also allow the students to choose one of the nineteen autobiographies to read in depth. If funds permit most of the nineteen autobiographies will be available for classroom use.
A few selections from
Growing Up Black
have been coupled with chapters from the history text to explain in more detail how the autobiographies and the history can be coordinated together. The selections are:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
,
Up From Slavery
, the
Autobiography of Malcolm
X,
His Eye is on the Sparrow
, and
The Long Shadow Little Rock
.
The black history and United States history issues these selections span are the 19th century slavery, emancipation, and reconstruction, and the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. For the 20th century the issues are: black migration, race riots, the depression, the civil rights movement, and school desegregation.
In the basic text,
Growing Up Black
, chapter two, “ The Nineteenth Century,” is the story of children who lived through slavery, emancipation, and reconstruction.
The
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
gives a vivid account of the cruelties of the ‘peculiar institution’ from the viewpoint of Douglass as a young boy on a Maryland plantation and a city slave.
This autobiography will be read with the text unit entitled the “Evils of Bondage”, and the chapters “ Plantation Life for the Slave”. These chapters explain the social, economic, and political functions of slavery. Douglass’ account gives a personal view of the evils of slavery.
There are additional chapters in the history text which coincide with the autobiography of Frederick Douglass. For example, the chapters on the slave revolts and the runaway slaves parallel Douglass’ escape to freedom, and his reasons for running away were very well explained.
Many students are perplexed as to how slaves could endure the kind punishment they did, and why they didn’t run away or revolt. Douglass’ account gives them some of the answers about how slaves coped within the institution of slavery.
Student reactions to the evils of slavery are an excellent means to coordinate the information from the text, the autobiographies, and the journal. Their reactions to slavery are an excellent motivational tool to get them to write about information they have covered. A way to do this would be to have them make a journal entry which would begin: You are a slave and have just seen someone you care for beaten unmercifully . . . write about what you saw and how you feel, and how you can help the other person and yourself . . .
Up From Slavery
is the account of Booker T. Washington’s life. Washington recounts his youth as a slave and his life during the reconstruction of the south, and gives a good description of what the fears and aspirations of the newly freed slave was. He describes his school life, and the experience of his first days in school. This autobiography would be read with the chapters in the text on emancipation and the reconstruction.
Even though students would be reading excerpts from the book
Up From Slavery
, they could read even more of the book and tie this in with the other chapters of the history text, specifically the chapters on “Jim Crow”, and “Separate But Equal”. In the chapter “Separate But Equal” there is a specific reference to Booker T. Washington and his autobiography would be an excellent addition at this point.
Up From Slavery
leads to the possibility of many journal entries. Students can be asked to write about their first day in school, or to reflect on what it means to be separate and equal at the same time and is that possible.
His Eye is on The Sparrow
is the autobiography of Ethel Waters’ childhood in a Philadelphia slum. This autobiography has a correlation to the black migration and urbanization of blacks in the beginning of the twentieth century.
This excerpt would be read while studying the chapters on urban life, the early 1900’s and the 1920’s, and what black life was like during that period.
For journal entries from
His Eye is on the Sparrow
the student can be write how environment can serve as influence on people’s lives.
The early childhood of Malcolm X from the
Autobiography of Malcolm X
tells the hardships of growing black during the depression of the 1930’s. The shame and embarrassment of being on ‘ relief’ is dealt with. This has a direct relationship to the chapters on the depression and the hardships that engulfed the nation during the depression.
The memory of being on relief and the destruction of his family was one of the reasons why Malcolm X was so angry as an adult. Students can make journal entries on shameful or embarrassing moments they might have had as children, that they learned to deal with.
Daisy Bates’s
Long Shadow of Little Rock
, which handles school desegregation, is a shocking account of being the first person to desegregate a school. This chapter ties in directly with the text chapters on the civil rights movement. Many students are not able understand how the civil rights movement worked as a non-violent action. Reading this excerpt with the history text helps them understand the personal sacrifice for the betterment of the group. There are several possibilities for journal entries from the excerpts of the
Long Shadow of Little Rock.
The student might assume the position of being the first person to do something historic for example, desegregate a school or a lunch counter, or a bus.
Since the book and the anthology can be coordinated chronologically by placing autobiographies with particular time periods in history, the organization of the unit becomes relatively simple; however, some of the chapters will require other outside readings. For example, the text book has a unit in which the topics of life in colonial America and the westward expansion are mentioned. In
Growing Up Black
there is no mention of the westward movement; however, this can be remedied by using other supplemental autobiographies: in this particular case the biography of Jim Beckwourth, a mountain man and trapper in the early northwest can be used. This biography is
Mountain Man, Indian Chief: the Life and Adventures of Jim Beckwourth
. Another biography would be
Edward Rose, Negro Trail Blazer
by Harold W. Felton.
This same procedure of using supplemental biographies and autobiographies can be done throughout the course. The use of the supplemental items also allows the students to be exposed to a variety of black people and events in history.
The journal entries mentioned previously are an important part of the course. These entries will allow the student to relate their daily experiences much the same way the daily experiences of the autobiographies are related.
Some students have problems with thinking about what they could begin writing in their journals, and for that reason they can be encouraged to make entries by completing values statements and then rewriting the passage. These values statements would begin with: I was surprised that . . . , I’ m glad that . . . . I decided that . . . , I discovered that . . . ., I reflected that . . . . etc.
A list of the values statements may be used daily or just one statement may be chosen per day.
After students have become accustomed to making daily entries they would then be ready to look at the styles of some of the autobiographies they have read and try to use a voice similar to the author.
Another method of encouraging students to write about themselves and incorporate the information they are getting in history is to have them write a family history. A family history could help students who are reluctant to write about themselves, write about themselves indirectly.
There are many ways to begin writing a family history. One is to make a family tree and from the information on the tree build around it. Another would be to do several family interviews to find out what information can be found. Once the information is collected it can be complied and written. A family history would also make an interesting entry in their journals.
Students can be encouraged to use various audio-visual aids to do writing. When they do a family history and do interviews they should be encouraged to use a tape recorder if it is available. In this way they would not miss any information and get some practice in transcribing the interviews, and doing rewriting so that they have not missed any important information.
After the family histories students might use a historical event and write a script about how the event in history might have happened, or what might have happened to a person in their family who might have been involved in a similar incident. Students could script out the event, dramatize it, and use the video tape recorder to film the skit.
Knowing that their skit would be on film would be an incentive to get students to write a script with the intention of their skit being filmed.
Many of the narratives on Black Americans were told to someone. During slavery this was because slaves for the most part did not read or write, and later because people felt unable to write for themselves. In following this kind of oral tradition students would tell each other their stories and they could write not their own, but another person’s story.