James P. Brochin
The unit is to be used in a large urban public school with great diversity among ethnic groups and levels of past academic preparation. It would be taught in an honors US History II and/or Civics class. The target audience would be eleventh grade.
Next year, for the first time in many years, I will be teaching honors US History II/Civics. In addition, all classes will be block classes of about 80-90 minutes each, three times a week. This is exciting and should present greater opportunities for a rigorous, rewarding and deep treatment of the subject.
The material for the unit is designed to be covered in nine sessions, divided into roughly three sections: Section One: Reconstructions failures, white resistance and the growth of lawlessnes, early lynching history, attempts to pass federal anti-lynching laws; Section Two: The Bystander's dilemna, and lyching outside the South; and Section Three: The law comes around, Brown v. Mississippi and substantive due process, and how did lynching end beginning around 1935.
The primary teaching method will class discussion, using primary sources such first person accounts. Assessments will be in the form of student led presentations/debates, and discussions, some of which will be recorded and posted on the Internet as Podcasts.
