Grade level: 9-12
Subject areas: US History, Sociology, Language Arts
Estimated time length for lesson: two to three class periods
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW:
Two of the most famous and controversial Civil Rights leaders of the late 19 th and early 20 th Century were Booker T. Washington, the major African-American spokesman to many white Americans, and WEB DuBois, who challenged Washington’s cautious attitude with views that included more civil rights for blacks as well as better educational opportunities.
In this lesson, students will analyze the views of Washington and DuBois and make conclusions as to the two men’s impact on the early Civil Rights movement. Students will analyze these two documents and compare them in a simulation in which they will act as historians looking for the document and individual which had the largest impact on late 19 th and early 20 th Century African-Americans. They will do this either through an organized debate or a group discussion.
RESOURCES TO BE USED IN THE LESSON:
Students will read Booker T. Washington’s speech to the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta in 1895. This speech later became known as the Atlanta Compromise speech. They will also read WEB DuBois’s rebuttal to Washington’s remarks published as part of DuBois’s 1903 essay collection entitled, “The Souls of Black Folk”, which criticized Washington’s views and beliefs.
The resources are available online at these locations:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/39/ is the location for “Booker T. Washington Delivers the 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech”.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/40/ is the location for “WEB DuBois Critiques Booker T. Washington.
In addition, the teacher may also wish to direct students to the following supplemental resources for further research:
“The Progress of a People” (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/aapexhp.html), highlights a Library of Congress American Memory collection of writings and pamphlets to consider the status of the black race in the late 19 th Century. Included are references to the Atlanta Compromise speech as well as DuBois’s rebuttals.
“The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow” (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/) includes several biographical pages and other information about the Civil Rights movement in the late 19 th and early 20 th Century, including photos of the actual text of the Atlanta Compromise speech as delivered by Washington.
“The Booker T. Washington Papers” ( University of Illinois) (http://www.historycooperative.org/btw/) contains several volumes of letters and writings by Washington. (Also contains a search feature in which mentions of Jack Johnson, his career, and legal problems can be found.)
“African-American Odyssey: The Booker T. Washington Era” (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart6.html) contains biographical information.
http://www.ushistory.net/toc/washington.html is a biography of Booker T. Washington.
“Up From Slavery” is the title of Washington’s acclaimed autobiography (http://docsouth.unc.edu/washington/menu.html).
Biography of WEB DuBois (http://www.duboislc.org/html/DuBoisBio.html)
“The Souls of Black Folk” (includes the chapter, “Of Booker T. Washington and others”)
(http://www.bartleby.com/114/)
Works by WEB DuBois (http://www.dc.peachnet.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/assignments/dubois.html)
National-Louis University page on DuBois (http://www3.nl.edu/academics/cas/ace/resources/webdubois.cfm)
STANDARDS LINK:
This lesson aligns with the following standards set by McREL (http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks):
United States History
LESSON OBJECTIVES:
As a result of the lesson, students:
LESSON METHODOLOGY:
The teacher may begin this lesson with a quick overview of the time period described in “Unforgivable Blackness”, and how common prejudices of that era affected relationships between whites and African Americans at the turn of the 19 th Century. The teacher may wish to brainstorm with students, writing key terms and phrases from the film or other sources on the chalkboard to stimulate discussion.
Next, the teacher may introduce the lesson directly, first by dividing the class into two groups, and then reading the following announcement:
“Congratulations! You have been selected to serve on a special committee that will highlight the contributions of civil rights leaders during the earliest part of the 20 th Century.
“As part of the commemoration, two different works have been selected by another panel as the most important civil rights documents of the last 10 years of the 19 th Century, and first 10 years of the 20 th Century. These two documents are Booker T. Washington’s 1895 Atlanta Compromise speech, and WEB DuBois’s Critique of Booker T. Washington and others, from The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903.
“However, only ONE of the two works can be included in this exhibit. One group, therefore, will research reasons why Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise speech should be included, and DuBois’s Critique should not. The other group will research reasons why the Critique should be included, and not the Atlanta Compromise speech.
“At the end of the research period, each group should be prepared to make an oral presentation to the panel of judges (the teacher, or who the teacher designates) supporting why their work deserves to be placed in the exhibit, and the other does not. At the end of each presentation, the opposing group will have an opportunity to refute the other’s claims. At the end of both presentations and rebuttals, one person from each group may sum up their side’s opinion and restate why the other side did not effectively undermine their case.
“In order to allow for adequate time for both groups to present their case, we’ll follow this time schedule:
Group #1 has 10 minutes to state their case.
Group #2 has 3 minutes to cross-examine Group #1.
Group #2 has 10 minutes to state their case.
Group #1 has 3 minutes to cross-examine Group #2.
Group #1 has 4 minutes to sum up.
Group #2has 4 minutes to sum up.
A coin flip will be used to determine whether the group representing DuBois or Washington is Group #1 and goes first.”
The teacher should also allot some time for students to do further research on the two men, either by using the supplemental resources included in the lesson, or by researching on their own, either online, or through traditional means, such textbooks, magazines, and other sorts of media.
NOTE: While this lesson does not follow the normal rules of interscholastic high school debate competitions, there are some similarities. Should the teacher need more information about how to conduct this lesson, or wish to make the lesson more like an actual interscholastic debate competition, the following resources are suggested.
Debate-Central (http://www.debate-central.org/)
“Code of the Debater” (http://debate.uvm.edu/code/001.html)
“Debate Rubric” from About.com (http://712educators.about.com/cs/rubrics/l/blrubricdebate.htm)
“How To Debate” (by About.com)
(http://712educators.about.com/cs/lessonsss/ht/htdebate.htm)
Debate Rules (http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/uclasp/ISSUES/bringing_water/debate.htm)
The teacher may also assist the student in organizing information for arguments by developing a chart student groups can use to outline the positions of both men. The teacher may develop their own worksheet, or may use the sample provided below:
Name of author |
Occupation
|
Name of work |
Position on Civil Rights noted in work |
Main statements/evidence that support this position |
Opposition to the other author’s point of view |
Main statements/evidence that support position of opposition |
Booker T. Washington |
|
|
|
|
|
|
WEB DuBois |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The teacher can specify the amount of time needed to actually research the two men and two views.
ASSESSMENT:
As the debate progresses, the teacher (or judges) should score the debate according to a pre-designed rubric, such as the one provided above (http://712educators.about.com/cs/rubrics/l/blrubricdebate.htm). If the school has an interscholastic debate team, the teacher may also ask for “regulation ballots” to be used in scoring. At any rate, the judge/teacher should be prepared to give some sort of critique as to the preparation and ability of each “team”.
The teacher should use their own discretion as to how to assign a “point total” to the exercise. One suggestion might be for the teacher to evaluate the “position charts” by which both teams evaluated the strengths of their candidate as well as the weaknesses of the opposition. At any rate, it should be understood that the lesson is an exercise in learning as much about the views and beliefs of these two early Civil Rights leaders as it is an exercise in public speaking.
ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT:
Depending on the size and ability of the class, the teacher may wish to change the structure of the assignment to small groups. In doing this, the teacher must be prepared to develop subtopics within the main topic of early Civil Rights, and the format of the assignment changes as well.
Typically, group discussions last approximately 50 minutes or so, and therefore more time would be needed if the teacher has a larger class. In addition, the goal of a group discussion is more often not to prevail over the other side, but to communally work together to come up with a acceptable solution to a problem or condition.
Usually, one member of the group is selected as the “leader” who tries to keep the group of track and follows the format of the discussion. He/she is evaluated along with the rest of the discussants.
A typical format for a discussion group is as follows:
Definition of terms related to the discussion and the situation
History of the situation/problem
Problems with the current system
Solutions to the problems identified by the group
While there is no set time limit for completion for any of the segments of the discussion, it should be remembered that the discussion is considered a single period exercise, and that a successful discussion depends on all participants working together to determine common solutions to problems or conditions.
ASSESSMENT (FOR ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT):
Once the discussion is completed the teacher/judge should evaluate each participant according to a pre-designed rubric. While the teacher may wish to develop their own rubric, an example rubric is provided for a model:
Knowledge of the subject material (20 points): How much research did the participant do toward the discussion? How effective was the research used?
____________________points total.
Participation (20 points): How often did the participant speak? Was the participation worthwhile?
____________________ points
Development of logic skills (20 points): How well did the participant utilize logic skills in making points and demonstrating viewpoints? _________________________ points.
Speaking ability (20 points): Did the participant make points well? Use correct grammar? Were they able to be heard by the audience? _____________________ points.
Cooperation (20 points): Did the participant act in a manner of cooperation toward the leader and other members of the group? Did the participant tend to monopolize the discussion, or did they contribute significantly to the final solution?
_____________________ points.
As mentioned in the debate activity, while the teacher may wish to award more point to the side that “wins” the debate, care should be taken to recognize the work and research of the opposition.
In addition, if sufficient facilities exist in the school, the teacher may wish to have an area set as a “stage” with microphones and lighting available, as well as videotaping facilities for the teacher to videotape the event for later playback.