Race, Riots, and Reality

Summer Fellowship Project 2008

By: Amos Lee

Abstract:

Students will examine the history behind Jim Crow laws and customs in the U.S. They will then study the race riots in Illinois, which led to the approval of the State Commission to Investigate Living Conditions of the Urban Colored Population which was commissioned in the summer of 1939. Students will study primary resources from the interviews held by the commission that looked into the economic, cultural, health, and living conditions of the “urban colored” population in Illinois. Students will then create a multimedia project that shows what they learned throughout this unit.

Essential Questions

· What role does government have to ensure equity and justice among its people?

· What should citizens do when laws are unjust?

· What are legal ways to protest?

· How can people change unjust laws?

· Who is the government accountable to?

· Why did segregation and Jim Crow laws exist?

· Why do racism, discrimination, and bigotry exist?

· What causes a population to riot?

· Is the government responsible for serving all its citizens?

· Why is their so much emphasis on race in our society?

· Why does most of society believe race to be biological in light of new scientific evidence proving otherwise?

Assessment

Each lesson will have a pre-assessment (Frayer model) and a post assessment (National Archives analysis worksheet). Furthermore, graphic organizers can be checked to see if students understand both the big picture and the important details.

At the end of the unit, students will produce a project that will be the summative assessment. They will either create a Glogster digital poster, a video documentary using Animoto or a Podcast. The requirements for the summative assessment are attached to the final lesson plan (lesson 5).

Setting the Purpose / Procedures

Lesson 1: Question of Race?

· Students will understand the importance of race being sociological/cultural and not biological. This distinction is important because when race is discussed, students need to understand the historical context of race and the scientific reality.

Lesson 2: Jim Crow Laws

· Students will understand how Jim Crow Laws infiltrated every fabric of live. Students also need to understand the difficulties that African Americans faced throughout the Jim Crow era and how it impacted their view of government and society.

Lesson 3: Race Riots in Illinois

· Students will understand the result of racial tensions in Illinois over disparities in living conditions and opportunities between African Americans and Caucasians.

Lesson 4: Primary Resources from Illinois State Archive

· Students will investigate the live testimonies from members of the African American community about their day-to-day lives under Jim Crow and segregation.

Lesson 5: Race, Riots, and Reality

· Students will work on their summative project where they review, analyze, and present what they learned about race, riots, and reality through a multimedia project.

Duration

The five lessons should take between 10 to 15 days.

Annotated List of Materials and Resources