Barbara W. Coles Trader
The City of New Haven is celebrating its 350th Anniversary during the year of 1988. There is a need to highlight the involvement of American blacks in New Haven, Connecticut. The curriculum unit will address mainly two AfroAmerican organizations and churches, plus several individuals who did so much to improve the New Haven community. These organizations and individuals built a higher horizon for the AfroAmericans during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, I will briefly emphasize that there were blacks living in New Haven prior to the centuries which I just mentioned.
The intended audience will be
Chapter I—Reading
students basically in the seventh and eighth grades. There will be 1215 students within subgroups/classes. Thus, the unit can be extended to average ability/adjusted students in grades 58. “We, the People Can Do and I Can Do”: “Can Do” are important words to people from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, it is very important to continually acknowledge outstanding contributions that American blacks have made in their country/community, to reinforce positive rolemodels and selfesteem for our youngsters.
The activities/strategies in the unit will encourage the youngsters to use various skills and abilities for learning. The students will have the opportunities to read, think critically, identify biographical sketches, and do firstperson accounts. The youngsters will read, write, identify autobiographies, letters, speeches, diaries and other materials of persons’ life histories.
The minitext will be composed by the author of the unit; the topics will be as follows: The Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church—1820; St. Luke’s Episcopal Church—1844; Prince Hall Masonic Temple—1870 (It also housed the first school for blacks). The historic Prince Hall Temple still stands at the corners of Goffe and Sperry Streets). East Rock Lodge, the Elks Order of the World—1906 will be highlighted. Some outstanding American black women and men in New Haven will be included in the unit. “Black America: Striving for Full Equality in the Twentieth Century.”
