Throughout American history dedicated individuals have affected sea changes in standards of living across race, gender, ethnicity, social class and sexual orientation. Some of these individuals have gone so far as to become martyrs to their causes. All of these individuals have employed the written or spoken word, in tandem with the spirit of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to prove their cases for justice. The purpose of this unit is to examine the Founding Fathers’ vision of America, and allow students to develop not only a nuanced appreciation of democracy in contrast to other political systems, but to ask them whether our not our government has lived up to the promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to the people it represents. It is my hope that by introducing students to representations of democracy in literature, oratory, and film spanning the spectrum of United States’ history, students will develop an interest in the democratic process and a desire to participate in it. After all, a democracy works best when all of its citizens are invested in its progress. Through this unit, students will learn that, historically, social change has been affected by defiant and outspoken individuals unsatisfied with the status quo who became conduits for the hopes and aspirations of the downtrodden and overlooked. There will always be one who stands up and speaks, eloquently and succinctly, to express what the many suffer and endure but feel they are forbidden to express. The individuals whose work is featured in this unit took risks, made sacrifices, and, in some cases, paid the ultimate price, so the United States government could become “a more perfect union.” For most of this country’s history, voting was not a birthright for women or people of color, but a hard-fought struggle for autonomy and self-realization. This unit hopes to rediscover those voices of dissent in both literature and popular culture, from the public and private sectors, who have taken on the mantle of the spokesperson, and examine their words through the lens of democracy, literally the wisdom of the people.
This unit will include selections from, and in some cases the entirety, of the following works of literature and oratory:
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· Selections from
Politics
by Aristotle
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·
The Constitution of the United States
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·
Common Sense
by Thomas Paine
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·
Civil Disobedience
by Henry David Thoreau
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· “The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln
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· Selected poems by Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg, and, perhaps, transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau
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· “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” (drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony) from the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and “On Women’s Rights” by E.C. Stanton
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· Selected poems by Langston Hughes
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· Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech
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· Barack Obama’s address on racism, “A More Perfect Union”
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·
Sicko
by Michael Moore (film)
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· Selections from
A
Man Without a Country
by Kurt Vonnegut
All of these individuals share a common gift for oratory and the written word. By exposing students to these influential individuals, not only will they achieve an appreciation of the dynamic nature of America’s democracy, they will also come to realize the power of words and how, historically, they have operated on the collective imagination of “the people.” Though the day-jobs of these individuals are varied-there are poets, politicians, preachers, philosophers, and film directors among them-every single one can be called, more appropriately, an activist, even a radical. All of these individuals have been catalysts in galvanizing the population and fomenting upheavals in popular opinion by bringing their causes to the fore of the collective American conscience. All have relied on the words of their forebears (as evidenced by Aristotle’s
Politics
and the United States Constitution) and the uncanny power of persuasion to change minds. Even when political figures have assumed the leaderships of these movements, change was affected, not top-down but bottom-up, from iron-willed grassroots movements.
Another common trait among these agents of change is their reliance on the natural-born rights of the groups of people they have represented. Whether it was an appeal to fellow colonists to realize the virtues of independence and representational government, or the assertion for women’s rights, or the struggle to overcome bondage and achieve civil rights for African Americans, one of the most invaluable rhetorical tools of these individuals has been referencing a sentiment that has been echoed through the ages: the inviolable natural right to liberty. By framing an appeal for change in a context that is mythological, perhaps even theological, the orator is afforded greater leverage by assuming moral authority over his or her opponents.
In addition to the aforementioned readings, students will engage in a variety of activities that will stimulate their interest in, and enhance their appreciation for, democracy. Some of the activities will include:
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· writing the biography / autobiography / journal of an individual who has affected significant societal change
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· polling fellow students for their opinions on hot-button issues
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· drafting a school constitution
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· debating the major issues of the day
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· a letter writing campaign to local politicians
Since I will be debuting this unit of study during the pivotal 2008 election cycle, I intend to make it fully interactive by breaking the unit into two subsections: “The Origins and Application of Democracy in the United States” and “The Democratic Process.” The first part will focus primarily upon those figures who have helped inform the concept of democracy in the United States up to the present day. The emphasis of this part will be on critical thinking and persuasive writing skills, allowing students to employ higher order skills such as analysis and evaluation in their compositions. During the latter part of the unit, “The Democratic Process,” students will synthesize and apply their knowledge of democracy with a series of skills-based activities that will employ cross discipline knowledge of American history, civics, and mathematics.
Because students will be partaking in hands-on, research-based data analysis, some fluency in math is a must. Students will be analyzing such disparate data as the U.S. Electoral College and poll results that they will generate on their own.
What this unit hopes to accomplish is to make young people, who may be at risk of becoming disenfranchised, to, instead, feel invested in the democratic process and more aware of their right to voice a dissenting opinion that does not accord to the status quo.
