Using Obama's Speech on Race in the Classroom

Three new lesson plans for grades 9-12 offer educators fresh, engaging strategies to deepen students' understanding about race and racism throughout history and today.

In March 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama — responding to controversial remarks made by his former minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright — gave a speech [1] to outline his own views about race in America. It was perhaps the first time a major presidential candidate took on the issue in so direct or comprehensive a way.

As Obama enters office as our first black president, Teaching Tolerance invites you to explore his history-making speech with your students. The lessons in this package will help your students to:

Compare Obama's speech to a past president's speech on race – and discuss students' own differences on racial issues.
Dig deeper into Obama's assertions about the racial wealth divide in the U.S.
Explore the meaning of Obama's assertion that the white experience is "the immigrant experience" – and take a critical look at how immigration and other narratives are covered in your school's own history textbook.