In this lesson, students in the upper grades will explore the struggle of African Americans to attain voting rights and develop a greater appreciation for the significance of Barack Obama's election.
Objectives
Time and Materials
Framework
After making history on November 4, 2008, by electing the first African-American president, some people cried, fell to their knees in praise, shouted, sang, and danced in celebration. Why? Because the dream of racial equality came one step closer to realization. This lesson is designed to shed light on the significance of this moment in history as students learn more about the struggle for a people's right to vote.
Grades: 9-12
Procedures
Ask students to take out a sheet of paper and divide it in half. Have them write "Positive" on one side of the paper and "Negative" on the other side. They should not write their names on the paper.
Next, ask students to take a few moments to jot down both positive and negative responses they've heard over the past month regarding this year's presidential election, writing the reactions under each respective column.
Collect the papers, shuffle them up and redistribute them to the students. Should they receive their own papers, tell them there is no need to alert anyone, as it is assumed that everyone has a paper other than their own for the sake of anonymity.
Going around the room, have each student read one positive response from their list aloud. Continue going around the circle, reading responses aloud, until every positive response has been read. Carry on in the same manner, reading the negative responses aloud, one at a time, around the circle until all statements have been read.
Take a moment and allow students to express how they feel about some of the statements made. Once they have exhausted themselves, collect the papers from them.
Now, read the following names aloud, slow and solemn. Viola Liuzzo. George Lee. James Reeb. Herbert Lee.
Ask students if they have ever heard any of these names before or if they know what these individuals have in common.
Tell students that Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white stay-at-home mom from Detroit; Rev. George Lee, an African-American pastor from Belzoni, Miss.; Rev. James Reeb, a white, Unitarian minister from Boston; and Herbert Lee, a black man from Liberty, Miss. were all killed [1] as a result of their commitment to the Civil Rights Movement and their struggle to secure the right to vote for African Americans.
Explain to students that while the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," blacks were denied access to voting through intimidation and Jim Crow laws. These barriers included poll taxes, literacy tests, clauses that limited voting to people whose ancestors had voted in the past, and party primaries that were limited to whites only.
Make clear that it took nearly a hundred years before President Lyndon B. Johnson proposed and Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, enforcing the 14th and 15th Amendments and outlawing discriminatory voting practices in the United States of America.
Explain to students that for many civil rights activists, seeing Barack Obama elected the 44th president of the United States of America – a man who happens to be African American – is something they never thought they'd see in their lifetimes; and for this reason, many cannot help but to celebrate.
To close the activity, ask students to write a narrative essay describing an experience related to voting, the right to vote, or the election of Barack Obama. The story can tell of their own experience, that of a family member or someone else. Their essay can be non-fiction or creative non-fiction. For example, it could be a story about their experience as a first time voter or perhaps their longing to have been old enough to vote in this election. Their story could also focus on the experience of an elder in their family or community who never thought they would see an African-American president in America. They might even chose to use factual events or a deceased martyr as the base for a hypothetical story of the struggle and victory in voting rights.
Explain to students that a narrative essay is told from a particular point of view; makes and supports a point; is filled with precise detail; uses vivid verbs and modifiers; uses conflict and sequence as does any story; and may use dialogue.
Links:
[1] http://www.splcenter.org/crm/memorial.jsp