Fulfilling the Dream
A LibraryQuest for 7th Grade American Studies
and Language Arts
 

The Process


African American Odyssey: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aointro.html

This unit will take approximately two weeks to complete. The overall break down of the unit is as follows:

  • Day 1: Introduction to unit, Web site, and primary sources
  • Days 2 – 4: Computer Lab Research Days – Includes exploring your topic and completing the specific tasks using the Library of Congress American Memory Collection
  • Days 5 – 8: Independent/Group Work Time – Persuasive Paper Topic Assigned, Sharing of Findings, and Artifact Selection
  • Days 9 – 10: Artifact Presentation Day, Persuasive Paper Turn-in, Discussion/Debate

To accomplish the tasks, you will work as part of a group to explore one of the selected time periods in U.S. History using the American Memory Collection from the Library of Congress. Specifically, these selected time periods from the African American Odyssey Exhibit will be used to complete the tasks:

  1. Reconstruction
  2. World War I and the Postwar Society
  3. The Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II
  4. Civil Rights

As you work as part of a group exploring one of the topics listed above, don’t forget to periodically reflect on the following questions:

  • What events following the Civil War motivated African Americans to seek equality?

    Was it the slavery experience? Was it living through the era of Jim Crow Laws and the Black Codes? Was it dealing with segregation and the notion of “separate but equal”? Or was it simply the personal experience of feeling inferior to others just because of the color of your skin?

  • What were some effects of slavery and segregation on American society?
  • How did the African American struggle for equality become a mass movement?
  • How did the law support the struggle for equality for African Americans?
  • Has equality for African Americans truly been achieved today?

Now, it’s time to begin. Find your specific time period below. Click on the link for that time period and follow the specific instructions provided.

  1. RECONSTRUCTION
  2. WORLD WAR I AND THE POSTWAR SOCIETY
  3. THE GREAT DEPRESSION, NEW DEAL, AND WORLD WAR II
  4. CIVIL RIGHTS

Persuasive Paper Requirements

  • You will write a short 1-2 page (typed, double-spaced) persuasive paper which addresses the following unit question:

    Has this goal of equality for African Americans truly been achieved today?

  • The teacher will assign the paper. It will be due at the end of the unit on the day of the class discussion/debate.

Artifact Choices

  • Diary
  • Letter
  • Lyrics (music)
  • Map
  • Newspaper Article
  • News Report
  • Pamphlet
  • Photographs
  • Poem
  • Political Cartoon
  • Postcard
  • Protest Poster (sign or button)
  • Readers’ Theater
  • Scrapbook
  • Timeline

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RECONSTRUCTION GROUP MEMBERS:
Students in each group will complete six total tasks!


J. Hoover. Heroes of the Colored Race.
Philadelphia, 1881.

  • Analyze THREE images

    NOTES:

  • Before analyzing the image, make sure to inform the students to read the accompanying text.
  • All items are listed by title.
  1. Celebration of Emancipation
  2. Victorious Soldiers Return
  3. A Hunger to Learn
  4. Glimpses of the Freed Women
  5. African Americans and the Franchise
  6. Teaching the Newly Freed Population
  7. Nineteenth Century Leaders
  • Analyze TWO text documents
  1. Ho for Kansas
  2. Freed Persons Receive Wages From Former Owner
  • Analyze the African American Population Distribution, 1890 Map and answer the following questions:
  1. Where was the heaviest concentration of African Americans in 1890?
  2. In what western states did significant populations of African Americans settle?
  3. Prior to Reconstruction, why was the heaviest population of African Americans in the southeastern part of the U.S.?
  4. Why did African Americans migrate north and west during Reconstruction?

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Now that you’ve printed out your instruction and activity sheets, journey through the American Memory collections to learn more about the African American movement for equal rights.

Click the following link to begin your journey:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart5.html

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WORLD WAR I AND POSTWAR SOCIETY GROUP MEMBERS:
Students in each group will complete six total tasks!


Charles Gustrine.
“True Sons of Freedom”

  • Analyze TWO images

    NOTES:

  • Before analyzing the image, make sure to inform the students to read the accompanying text.
  • All items are listed by title.
  1. Sharing the African American Cultural Heritage Abroad
  2. True Sons of Freedom
  3. Death Sentences in Scottsboro, Alabama
  • Analyze THREE text documents
  1. Guinn v. United States – One Victory During the Quest
  2. Mary Church Terrell and the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs
  3. Harlem Renaissance – The Quest for Artistic Freedom
  • Analyze ONE person of the Harlem Renaissance
  1. The Harlem Renaissance – Shuffle Along by Eubie Blake
  2. Nella Larsen – Identity Crisis
  3. To Make a Black Poet and Bid Him Sing – Countee Cullen
  4. Marian Anderson – World Famous Contralto
  5. Multi-Talented Zora Neale Hurston
  • Choose one image above and answer the following questions:

    NOTE: Before analyzing the item, make sure to inform the students to read the accompanying text.

  1. What was this person’s role in the Harlem Renaissance?
  2. How did the Harlem Renaissance further the quest for equal rights?
  3. Do African Americans today receive the same recognition for their contributions or achievements?

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Now that you’ve printed out your instruction and activity sheets, journey through the American Memory collections to learn more about the African American movement for equal rights.

Click the following link to begin your journey:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart7.html

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THE DEPRESSION, THE NEW DEAL, AND WORLD WAR II GROUP MEMBERS:
Students in each group will complete six total tasks!


Marion Post Wolcott.
Negro Man Entering Movie Theatre
by "Colored" Entrance.
Belzoni, Mississippi, in the delta area.
October 1939.

  • Analyze TWO images

    NOTES:

  • Before analyzing the image, make sure to inform the students to read the accompanying text.
  • All items are listed by title.
  1. In the Grip of Segregation
  2. Traveling Jim Crow
  3. Murder of African American Veterans
  4. A Threatened March on Washington - 1941
  • Analyze ONE text document
  1. Battling Discrimination at the 1936 Olympics – An Unsent Letter
  • Analyze the Non-White Households in Birmingham, Alabama, 1940 Map and Key and answer the following questions:
  1. In what part of the country is Birmingham located?
  2. Where was the heaviest concentration of African Americans in Birmingham in 1940?
  3. Looking at the map, what evidence is there that this city is segregated?
  4. What are some possible reasons why there are more African Americans in section three of the city than there are in section four?
  5. Would a map of Arlington County be similar or different from this map, why or why not?
  • Analyze ONE Contribution that African Americans made to World War II
  1. A Naval Hero – Dorie Miller
  2. African American Nurses Abroad
  3. Tuskegee Airmen – Breaking Flight Barriers
  • Choose one image above and answer the following questions:

    NOTE: Before analyzing the image, make sure to inform the students to read the accompanying text.

  1. What was this group’s or person’s role in World War II?
  2. How did the World War II further the quest for equal rights?
  3. Based on the contributions of these African Americans during World War II, how might their status in the Armed Forces change in the future?
  • Analyze ONE African American Athletic/Entertainment Contribution
  1. Billie Holiday
  2. Duke Ellington – Cultural Ambassador
  3. Paul Robeson – Singer, Athlete, Actor, Civil Rights Leader
  4. An African American Woman on the Courts – Althea Gibson
  5. Wilt the Stilt Captures Basketball Records – Wilt Chamberlain
  6. Olympian Wilma Rudolph
  • Choose one person above and answer the following questions:

    NOTE: Before analyzing the item, make sure to inform the students to read the accompanying text.

  1. For what was this person famous?
  2. How did this person’s achievement in athletics or entertainment further the quest for equal rights?
  3. Choose an athlete or entertainer that is popular today who is similar to one of the individuals listed below. Make sure you justify this individual’s contributions to society. This person must do something beyond just being an athlete or entertainer.

Click here to print out:

Click here to print out:

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Now that you’ve printed out your instruction and activity sheets, journey through the American Memory collections to learn more about the African American movement for equal rights.

Click the following link to begin your journey:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart8.html

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CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP MEMBERS:
Students in each group will complete six total tasks!


"By Executive Order -
President Truman Wipes Out
Segregation in Armed Forces."
Chicago Defender, July 31, 1948.

  • Analyze THREE images

    NOTES:

  • Before analyzing the image, make sure to inform the students to read the accompanying text.
  • All items are listed by title.
  1. Land Where Our Fathers Died
  2. Brown Decision – Separate Is Inherently Illegal
  3. The Montgomery Bus Boycott
  4. James Meredith and Ole Miss
  5. Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-in
  6. 1963 March on Washington
  7. The Voting Rights Act of 1965
  8. We Shall Overcome (political cartoon on right side)
  • Analyze TWO text documents
  1. President Harry Truman Wipes Out Military Segregation
  2. Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine (letter with image)
  3. Freedom Riders Seek to Integrate Southern Transportation (text portion)
  • Analyze the Freedom Riders Seek to Integrate Southern Transportation Map and answer the following questions:
  1. What does this map show?
  2. What is the significance of the stars on the map?
  3. What was the goal of the Freedom Riders?
  4. Which states appeared to be most strongly against the Freedom Riders?
  5. What happened to the Freedom Riders when they made it to the South?
  6. What does this map tell you about the struggle for equal rights in the South?

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Click here to print out the:

Now that you’ve printed out your instruction and activity sheets, journey through the American Memory collections to learn more about the African American movement for equal rights.

Click the following link to begin your journey:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart9.html

 
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