Robert M. Schwartz
American studies is a pervading theme chosen for high school upperclassmen. Many students study the American dream and the many aspects of those which have been fulfilled, corrupted or otherwise by the course of actual American history. This latter concept, the corruption or depravation of the American dream, is a favorite of contemporary American writers, as is the battle to right said corruption. In her classic American play
A Raisin in the Sun
, Lorraine Hansberry illustrates this attempt to correct this corruption. To enhance the study of this play, students will take a foundational look at the original American citizens who struggle to do the same, American Indians, through both the historical context and comparative analysis of the play
Sliver of a Full Moon
.
Students will explore where things went wrong with American Indian policy -
why
the government historically has felt as if it has the right to displace them from their homeland, again and again, and still to this day not treat them with the respect to which sovereign nations have the right.
Why
do people think it is okay to class a certain type of people and cast them into dispersion?
Therefore, for this particular group of students, four aspects will be utilized: the anchor/core text, the American Indian comparative text, the historical overview and, where applicable, personal, relatable experience.
Activities
This aspect of the unit can be started similarly to the freshmen – by prompting students with thought provoking questions about what they know of Native America, what they’ve been taught in school, what they know from movies, what they believe to be the current state of the American Indian experience. High school juniors are often at a point in their lives when they are asking the “big” questions – most specifically, what is my role as a person? Citizen? American? Member of this world? To that end, the American Dream is spotlighted, the foundation for which has classically been gleaned in previous literature courses where students study social justice and human struggle; as well as in history and social studies classes. However, to my knowledge, the study of American Indian struggle and survival is not a foundational subject for further American study, at least not in a significant enough way. The juniors will begin, then, with a specific foundational study of such. This particular aspect of the unit focuses on the American Dream, and therefore students will be challenged to face that concept as it relates to
every
American – particularly the indigenous people which they don’t frequently contemplate. Therefore students will, after journal entry and class discussion surrounding the aforementioned prompts activating any background knowledge, dig deeper into analysis of the historical overview. Students should think about the difference between surviving and thriving, and analyze that with regard to what American Indians have been through – both atrocities and resiliency – in order to fully develop an understanding of the constraints of the American Dream.
They will pair the study of Native America with the text
A Raisin in the Sun
, therefore introductory activities should also include a conversation about civil rights. Here, activities such as a free-write or group work activating prior knowledge about civil rights is appropriate. Students can be asked to share what they know of the civil rights we currently have and share. What are current issues surrounding civil rights? Has it always been this way? How much do they know about the history of civil rights regarding American Indians? This prompt can be before, during or after the historical context is taught.
A Raisin in the Sun
is named for and introduced by a famous poem by Langston Hughes entitled
A Dream Deferred
, which includes the lines:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
. . . Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
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Student can consider the lines of this poem when reading or viewing both plays. What does Hughes mean when he asks if a dream deferred “explodes”? What is the American Dream? Students can at this time be prompted to compose a mini-essay on what they believe the American Dream means, analyzing how they believe an American Indian would respond to that question – in the 1800’s? Today? At this time it is appropriate to begin the study of their Native American play,
Sliver of a Full Moon
by aforementioned playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle. The play is rich enough to be used from a foundational reading skills classroom to this junior level literature course. The play performance is also available on YouTube (Appendix A-2). Students will delve into the aforementioned plot points (see historical overview section) and important historical context in
Sliver
. In fact, students could and should view performances of both plays (see Appendix A-4 for
A Raisin in the Sun
). The textual analysis can be of the full play manuscripts or of highlights in the text to supplement viewing.
Further comparing the two plays, students can analyze the same “why” questions as are highlighted in the reading intervention section:
Why has there been so much persecution in human history?
Why has it taken so long for some people to attain justice?
To form a deeper understanding for junior American Literature students, the questioning should continue:
Why have people throughout history believed they’ve had the right to persecute and harm others in this way?
Why is it still happening?
Students should be encouraged to ask these questions during this unit, and apply them to current events and their own lives. In this way, the applications are virtually endless – vis-a-vis the inclusion with any non-fiction article, modern or historic. Students will compose a comparative analysis essay concerning the themes of surviving versus thriving as interpreted in both texts.