Using Children's Literature and Art to Examine the African-American Resistance to Injustice
Jean Sutherland
Your feedback is important to us!
After viewing our curriculum units, please take a few minutes to help us understand how the units, which were created by public school teachers, may be useful to others.
Getting Started
On a regular basis, I will read to students and students will read to me, to each other, to students in other classrooms, and to their parents, guardians, and other family members. Initially, I will read stories to the class during our daily oral reading time. As material with historical connection appears, appropriate factual material will be presented. In order to widen my students' knowledge of African history, I will call upon elements of previous units I have written. These include: "Poetry: A Mirror in Which to See Myself" (1989), "The Family That Endured" (1990), "Building Dreams-Who is There to Help You?" (1991), and "Poetry: A View of African American Life" (1994). These, together with material which arises from stories being read or from current events with relevant references, will be used to make the setting and plot of various stories more meaningful to the students. The manner in which such historical information is integrated by the individual teacher should vary to suit the circumstances, but it should not be omitted. Art work will be shown and discussed as it fits in chronologically. The works of Jacob Lawrence will be seen in a number of places, particularly as we learn about the movement of African Americans from the South during the period known as The Migration.
