Power and Absolute Power

Introduction

Power creeps into everything we do in here. This unit will show power from one particular part of our history, the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties.

Introduction

This unit will cover the following topics.

Topic

See Page

Quick and Dirty: Civil Rights

A-2

Martin Luther King; Letter from a Birmingham Jail

A-3

Malcolm X; The Ballot or The Bullet

A-4

Poetry: Civil Rights

A-6

Civil Disobedience

A-8

Civil Disobedience, Destroyer of Democracy

A-10

Marrakech

A-11

Prologue; Invisible Man

A-12

Civil Rights: Exam

A-14

Feedback

A-17

 

 

Civil Rights: Quick and Dirty

Introduction

A Quick and Dirty is a research tactic. Instead of lecturing, I ask you to find this information and present it to the class.

You will write a one page brief. A brief is a legal document that briefly states the facts of the case and anything important or relevant. Yours may either be in written form or in an outline.

Instructions

The following are the instructions for doing a Quick and Dirty.

Step

Action

1

Get the assignment from the teacher

2

Figure out everyone's roles in the group

3

Begin Research

If you are using.... Then....

Encyclopedias Go to the Index Volume

Other books Go to the Index first

On-Line search Use your topic as a keyword

4

Someone handwrites the notes

5

When complete, someone edits the notes so that only important details are there

6

Someone then takes the final draft and computerizes it.

Topics

The following are the topics for the Quick and Dirty.

• Selma, Alabama

• Dr. Martin Luther King

• Malcolm X

• George Wallace

• Robert Kennedy

• 1964 Civil Rights Act

 

Martin Luther King; Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Intro

Read the essay on page 591 of The Essay Connection and answer the following questions.

Questions

Content: 1, 3, 4

Strategies: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

Language: 1

 

Malcolm X; The Ballot or the Bullet

Introduction

Malcolm X delivered this speech at a mosque in New York City. The tenets of the black Muslim movement are interesting here, in particular in how he presents the black man as the underclass.

Questions

Read the attached speech and answer the following questions. Use another sheet of paper.

1. Who is the intended audience for this speech?

2. Define black nationalism

What have others said that it is?

What is the political nature of black nationalism?

What is the economic nature of black nationalism?

3. How do blacks create their own slums?

4. Where does Malcolm X want to make a start?

How does that make him different from Martin Luther King?

5. What is a "sit-down" philosophy?

What is Malcolm X's "stand-up" philosophy?

6. According to Malcolm X, how did the American colonies become free?

How is George Washington and Patrick Henry different from MLK?

Who is an "Uncle Tom handkerchief head"

7. What does Revolution do?

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8. When he offers a choice between the ballot or the bullet, what sort of choice is he offering?

9. Why does he want to take the US to the United Nations?

Why might some people call him a communist?

10. What is the final point he wants his audience to know?

Writing

How does Malcolm X's approach differ from Martin Luther King's approach?

• How do both philosophies use violence?

• How would Malcolm X react to Rodney King's "Why can't we all just get along?" How would MLK

• If both were alive today, what would they be doing?

 

Poetry

Introduction

Political poetry is a very dangerous form. Sometimes it can be of great power, sometimes it just reads poorly. These three poems vary in quality, but they paint an accurate and emotional portrait of a time and a political movement.

Langston Hughes: Harlem A Dream Deferred

Read the attached short poem (page 253, Norton Intro to Poetry) and answer the questions

1. What dream is he talking about?

2. What are the six things that could happen to this dream?

• If it explodes, what will really happen?

3. Why is this poem entitled "Harlem"

Dudley Randall; Ballad of Birmingham

Read the attached short poem and answer the following questions.

1. What does the little boy want to do?

Why won't his mother let him?

2. Where does she send him instead?

Why?

3. What does she find in the rubble?

What does she call out?

4. After reading this poem, what do you think of Martin Luther King's earlier actions in Birmingham?

5. How does your opinion change of Malcolm X and his black nationalism?

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Sterling Brown: Southern Cop

Read the attached short poem and answer the following questions.

1. Who is Ty Kendricks?

What did he do?

Why did he do it?

2. Something is ironic when its intended meaning is opposite its actual meaning.

How is this poem ironic?

3. Did he "prove himself a man"?

4. What does the phrase "rabbit-scared" mean?

Why does the poet use the word "wenches"?

5. Who is the speaker of this poem?

Who, do you suppose, the audience is?

6. How is the reader of this poem supposed to feel?

 

Civil Disobedience

Introduction

Henry David Thoreau, nineteenth century wacko, refused to pay his poll tax because he didn't like the war in Mexico or slavery. This essay frames his reason for going to jail and established his criteria as a Republican.

Civil Disobedience

Read the attached essay (from American Reader, pg. 67) and answer the following questions on another sheet of paper.

1. What motto does Thoreau endorse?

Why would he like to see no government?

2. What doesn't the government do?

What accomplishes those three acts?

3. According to Thoreau, why does a majority rule?

What should rule both men and governments?

Does government work that way?

At this time, what is going on in the country that is against his conscience? (thought)

What is the government doing right now that is against your conscience?

4. Who does Thoreau quarrel with at home?

What have they done wrong?

Besides the merchants, who does Thoreau particularly dislike?

How is argument similar to Malcolm X's?

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5. What is the friction of government?

When should you break the law?

What does he tell the abolitionists to do?

6. Where is the true place of a just man?

Why should he be there?

How could a just man "clog" the machine?

In reality, what is he telling the just men to do?

7. Why was Thoreau tossed in jail?

According to Thoreau, who is really in jail?

Explain.

8. Complete the quote "When I see a government that says to me, "Your money or your life," _______________________________________

Explain.

9. How is it that he does not live under a government?

10. What is the final state of government, according to Thoreau?

Writing

How is Thoreau similar to MLK?

How is he similar to Malcolm X?

Which one is closer to Thoreau's "just man"

 

Civil Disobedience; Destroyer of Democracy

Introduction

With such moral heavyweights as Thoreau, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X advocating for some sort of civil disobedience, it's hard to argue against it. yet, Lewis Van Dusen does that very effectively.

Destroyer of Democracy

Read the essay on page 611 of the Essay Connection and answer the following questions.

Questions

Answer the following questions fully. Use another sheet of paper.

Content:

1, 2

Strategies:

1

Language:

Question

 

Marrakech

Introduction

George Orwell writes gruesomely and accurately of hunger and colonialism in this essay. This essay neatly foreshadows his later novel 1984.

Questions

Please read the essay on page 650 of The Essay Connection and answer the following questions.

Content:

1, 2, 4

Strategies:

4

Language:

1, 2

 

Prologue to The Invisible Man

Introduction

Possibly the best and strongest novel about the black experience in America is Ralph Ellison's book Invisible Man. The title is an allusion to H.G. Wells novel of the same name, but with a much different thesis.

 

QuestionsContinued on next page

, Continued

6. As a result of the drug, the music and the invisibility, what does Ellison see?

7. What does the singer of old spirituals say to him?

The singer, her sons, and the master, are metaphors. For what?

8. Why does the son beat him up?

If the son represents who you said he did in question 7, what does that say about him now?

9. Why doesn't he smoke reefer anymore?

10. How is he irresponsible?

 

Exam: Civil Rights

Introduction

In order to get you mentally set for the Power unit, I have taught you a little about the civil rights of the sixties. This test will examine your knowledge of the material and your ability to put it to good use.

Contents

The test will contain the following sections.

• True and False (Quick and Dirties)

• Short Answers

• Quote Identifies

• Wierd Section

 

True and False

Introduction

Read the following statements. If they are True, mark them with a T in the correct space. If False, mark with an F.

True and False

Answer the following.

1. F__ Malcolm X led the Alabama Freedom Walk

2. T__ Bobby Kennedy attended Harvard

3. F__ Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and it was signed by President Kennedy.

4. F__ Martin Luther King was born in Omaha

5. T__ Martin Luther King was shot

6T__ Bobby Kennedy was shot

7. T__ Malcolm X was shot

8. T__ George Wallace was shot.

9. F__ More Democrats than Republicans voted against the Civil Rights Act.

10. F __ Bobby Kennedy was for the war in Vietnam

11. T__ Malcolm X once urged Blacks to seperate from the US.

12.T__ Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize

13. T__ Malcolm X went to jail for selling drugs

14. F__ Bobby Kennedy lost the California primary

15. F__ The Civil Rights act says that someone can be literate if they have passed fifth grade.

 

Definitions and Short Answers

Introductions

Many of the essayists we have read in this section have offered odd terms and specific ideas. This section of the exam seeks to examine those ideas.

Definitions

Define the following words and phrases in a sentence or two. Pick 6.

1. According to Martin Luther King, what is the difference between a just law and an unjust law?

 

 

 

2. According to Martin Luther King, what are the four steps needed for a successful, non-violent protest.

 

 

3. When Malcolm X offers a choice between the ballot or the bullet, what does he mean?

 

 

4. What is his “stand-up” philosophy?

 

 

5. Thoreau writes about the “wisdom of the minority” Explain.

 

 

6. According to Thoreau, Government requires the “sanction and consent of the governed.” What does he mean?

 

7. Van Dusen, in his essay against Civil Disobeidiance, quotes a definition of Civil Disobeidiance as being “a deliberate and punishable breach of legal duty.” Would MLK or Thoreau disagree with this? Explain.

 

Quotes

Introduction

A quotes section forces ou to be creative. You need to look into the quote and see traces and trails of ideas and themes that were more fully developed in the whole essay.

From those traces, you need to identify who wrote the passage and what did they mean.

Quotes

Identify the following quotes. Who wrote them and what do the mean? Pick 10.

1. “If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison or to give up slavery, the state will not hesitate which to choose.”

 

2. “But we must realize that the legitimate pressures that won concessions in the past can easily escalate into the illegitimate power plays that might extort demands in the future.”

 

3. “There will never be a free and enlightened state until the state comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power.”

 

4. “I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids--and I might even possess a mind.”

 

5. “or does it explode!”

 

6. “You can’t open up a black store in a white community--white men won’t patronize it, and they’re not wrong.”

 

7. “This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘never’ We must come to see, with one of our most distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”

 

Continued on next page

Quotes, Continued

8. “One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty.”

 

9. “And I’m here to tell you, in case you don’t know, that you’ve got a new, a new generation of black people who don’t care anything whatsoever about odds.”

 

10. “The disobediant act of conscience does not ennoble democracy; it erodes it.”

 

11. “What did I do, to be so black and blue?”

 

Wierd Section; Hypothetical

Introduction

The varieties of power and civility in this section can really start playing a role in your life, when you start applying them to power systems. Pretend this is a serious exercise (it certainly is a serious idea

Hypothetical

After some discussion, the principal, superintendent and school committee of Nantucket Public Schools decide to expand the school year into the summer.

• What steps might you take in order to prevent this from happenning?

 

• How would you justify yourself to other students?

• How would you justify your actions to a judge?

 

Suppose you were a public relations consultant hired by the system to make sure all of this goes smoothly. What might you suggest?

 

 

 

 

Feedback: Civil Rights

Introduction

Feedback gives you the opportunity to comment on the work you have just studied and how you studied it. Your answers will affect how I teach this unit in the future.

The Work

Answer the following questions by marking a number between 1- 10. 10 means you are extremely happy, while 1 means you are heavily bummed.

• How well did you enjoy studying the essays? ___

• Compared to other works you have studied, how

hard were the essays and works? ___

• How important do you feel the stories are to the ideas in this

unit? ___

The unit

Answer the following questions by marking a number between 1- 10. 10 means you are extremely happy, while 1 means you are heavily bummed.

• How hard were the homeworks? ___

• How hard were the quizzes? ___

• How hard was the other work? ___

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Open ended Questions

Answer these questions with a short phrase or sentence.

• Did you use any other tools (video, Cliff notes, oral tapes) to help you understand this work?

• What could I do to make this unit more interesting or accessible for students?

• Did you do any of the challenges that relate to this unit?

• Did you write any essays that relate to this unit?

• What was your grade on the exam?

Other Thoughts

Do you have other thoughts or concerns about the class or the work?

If so, please put them right here.