Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of African-American life in the United States and the changes on their social structure through time. They will learn how individual African-Americans broke through many color barriers.
Presenter: Howard
Gentry, Metro Nashville Criminal Court
clerk; former Vice Mayor . . .the first African-American Vice Mayor in
Nashville
Target Audience: Grades 5-12
TIME: Two sessions: one at 9:00 AM CENTRAL TIME
and one at 10:00 AM CENTRAL TIME
COST: $75 for each
videoconference session.
FORMAT: 45 minutes in length.
Format is 25-30 minutes presentation and then
15-20 minutes for question
and answer session.
OBJECTIVES
Students will:
- Discover how skin color affected social status in the United States
- Realize the difficulties in breaking color barriers
- Learn some of the effects on individuals breaking the color barrier
- Determine why African-Americans organized their own institutions (churches, civic and social organizations)
- Gain knowledge of some social, economic, and political gains made by African Americans in last 50 years
PRE-ACTIVITIES
- Ask students what they think the word barriermeans. Guide them to define barrier as: a problem or obstacle that stops you from moving forward.
- Tell students that barriers can be physical or conceptual. Explain that a physical barrier is something you see, such as a fence. A conceptual barrier is something that you can’t see, such as being afraid of something.
- As a class, ask students to suggest different barriers that people face. Ask students to explain why each barrier prevents people from moving forward or accomplishing something. Create a list of suggested barriers on the board.
- After barriers have been written on the board, ask students to choose three of the barriers from the list. Instruct them to write a short paragraph for each barrier explaining how they themselves would face and overcome it.
- Ask students to read their paragraphs aloud. Encourage students to ask one another questions about the barriers they have chosen.
Introductory Activities
Objective: To help students understand segregation and what it felt like.
First, randomly separate students into two groups, called the Stars and the Stripes.
Began the lesson by giving the students a diecut of a star or a rectangle with stripes on it, so I could see who belonged in what group. Next, I gave each Star a cookie, and allowed them to eat it. One of my students asked if the Stripes got a cookie too. I just said no, and ate a cookie myself. The Stars gathered around the computer screen when I was teaching and were allowed to sit in chairs and the Stripes had to sit on the floor.
I then explained that we were going to learn about segregation through a series of activities where the Stars were going to have certain privileges, but the Stripes would not. The Stars were allowed to sit in the front of the room at desks and were given extra instruction, while the Stripes had to sit in the back of the room with just a chair and a white board to use as a writing surface. They were given worksheets to do without any instructions. When the Stars were finished with their assignment, they were allowed to go to centers, while the Stripes were given extra worksheets. At this point, I asked the Stripes how it felt to not be allowed to do the same things as the Stars. I then explained that after lunch, the Stripes would get the privileges while the Stars would not.
To make the point, the groups had to line up separately, with the Stripes in front and the Stars in the back. At recess, the Stripes were allowed on the playground, while the Stars had to stay on the grass. The Stripes were allowed to use the restrooms inside the building, while the Stars had to use the restrooms by the portables. They were also told that if they needed to use the restroom, they had to change their cards. We also had a math facts challenge, but the Stripes were given the answers ahead of time so they all got the answers correct. To have a deeper impact, I separated the friends into separate groups, and did not allow them to associate with the other group: Stars could only talk to stars, Stripes only with Stripes.
To close the lesson, we discussed how it felt to be the group who got the privileges, and how it felt to be left out. I explained that the Whites Only signs could easily have read Stars Only or Stripes Only. My students asked why there were no Blacks Only signs, which I explained was not necessary because if the signs read Whites Only, the blacks could not eat or drink there, or sit there. If they did, they were arrested. One student asked what would happen if they were a Star, but their parents were Stripes. I explained that if you were a Star, your parents would also be Stars because you could only associate with people who were the same as you. I had the students complete a Venn diagram thinking map to compare and contrast the activities, and how it felt to be privileged or not privileged.
On the back, I had the students write down their thoughts on segregation, and to also let me know whether they were a Star or a Stripe. We closed the lesson by saying that the stars and Stripes were chosen because they are the symbols of our country's flag, and that both had to be united to form the American flag.
The comments by the students were profound. They felt that segregation was unfair, and that people shouldn't be treated differently because of the color of their skin. The children definitely felt and understood the impact of segregation through these activities, where they wouldn't have if they had just listened to the story.
LESSON
Discussion
Step back in time before the mid-1950's in the United States . Experience through this videoconference the amazing, historic, and terrifying time when schools for African American children were described as "equal" with those schools of white children. . . .but they were NOT. Think about what it would have felt like to be an African American student in an American school in the 1950's. . . think about being a student who was intelligent, hard-working, and African American.
Think what it was like to have good teachers in your all-African American school but nothing else quite as good as in the white students' schools. Schools were often freezing in the winter. School books were old and worn and often “passed down” to the African American schools when the white schools discarded their books. Lab equipment was outdated or non-existent.
Life in America before the 1950’s and for much of the 1950’s and 1960’s was segregation. It was two worlds that were afraid of each other. Racial segregation was the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It applied to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a bath room, attending school, going to the movies, or the rental or purchase of a home. There were separate schools for blacks and whites, separate restaurants, separate hotels, separate drinking fountains and separate baseball teams. Life was unkind to black people who tried to bring those worlds together. It could be hateful.
On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled that separate public schools were illegal and the lives of African American students changed forever! In the case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote "We conclude that the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that African Americans were "fighting for generations not yet born" when they participated in marches demanding the rights of African-American children to get the same education as white children.
Discussion in this videoconference will include many areas where the color barrier was broken or moved during this time of cultural transition in the United States . Join Howard Gentry as he shares stories of his life growing up in a much different Nashville than exists today. As an African-American child, he was not allowed to enter many of the places that are now Nashville landmarks: Elliston Place Soda Shop, the first Krystal restaurant downtown, and even Centennial Park . But Gentry heeded the words of his father (a Tennessee State University legend head coach of football and Athletics Director). . . . . . that ONE day, things for African Americans would eventually be better.
Howard Gentry served as the first African-American ever elected Vice Mayor in Nashville ,Tennessee. His election as Vice Mayor was evidence that qualified African Americans can be elected to major leadership positions regardless of race, gender or background, and that qualified African-Americans can depend on citywide voting support as well as votes from the African American community.
Today, Howard Gentry is currently serving as the CEO, Nashville Chamber of Commerce Public Benefit Foundation.
POST-ACTIVITIES
1. In 1949, two years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, he and three others (Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Larry Doby) became the first-ever African-American players selected for an MLB All-Star Game. How is this achievement a result of Jackie Robinson’s earlier achievement? (Answers might include: Breaking barriers can open doors for others to follow.)
2. Have students research a figure from the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s–’60s and report on barriers he or she broke.
3. Engage students to research and discuss contemporary examples of individuals who have broken barriers, and values that they relied upon in facing barriers. For example, in November 2008, Barack Obama became the first African-American to be elected President of the United States. What values are important in serving as a leader?
4. Encourage students to conduct interviews with family and friends to discuss any barriers they have faced, as well as values they have called upon to overcome these barriers.
NATIONAL STANDARDS
LANGUAGE ARTS: EnglishGRADES K - 12NL-ENG.K-12.1 Reading for PerspectiveNL-ENG.K-12.5 Communication StrategiesNL-ENG.K-12.6 Applying KnowledgeNL-ENG.K-12.7 Evaluating DataNL-ENG.K-12.8 Developing Research SkillsNL-ENG.K-12.9 Multicultural UnderstandingNL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills
MATHEMATICS: CommunicationsGRADES Pre-K - 12NM-COMM.PK-12.2 Communicate Their Mathematical Thinking Coherently and Clearly to Peers, Teachers, and Others NM-COMM.PK-12.4 Use the Language of Mathematics to Express Mathematical Ideas Precisely
MATHEMATICS: ConnectionsGRADES Pre-K - 12NM-CONN.PK-12.3 Recognize and Apply Mathematics in Contexts Outside of Mathematics
SOCIAL SCIENCES: GeographyGRADES K - 12NSS-G.K-12.1 The World in Spatial Terms
SOCIAL SCIENCES: U.S. HistoryGRADES K - 4NSS-USH.K-4.3 The History of the United States: Democratic Principles and Values and the People from Many Cultures Who Contributed to Its Cultural, Economic, and Political Heritage NSS-USH.K-4.4 The History of Peoples of Many Cultures Around the WorldGRADES 5 - 12NSS-USH.5-12.2 Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763) NSS-USH.5-12.3 Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)NSS-USH.5-12.4 Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) NSS-USH.5-12.5 Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) NSS-USH.5-12.6 Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)NSS-USH.5-12.7 Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930) NSS-USH.5-12.8 Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)NSS-USH.5-12.9 Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s) NSS-USH.5-12.10 Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the Present)
TECHNOLOGYGRADES K - 12NT.K-12.1 Basic Operations and ConceptsNT.K-12.3 Technology Productivity ToolsNT.K-12.4 Technology Communications ToolsNT.K-12.5 Technology Research Tools
