I. Introduction

We are currently reading the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The setting of the novel is Malcolm, Alabama, in the mid-1930’s. In this society, much racial tension strained relations between African-Americans and “white” Americans as revealed in the novel. Segregation under the aegis of “Jim Crow Laws” prevailed. These laws caused segregation between African and “white” Americans in all public facilities. To Kill a Mockingbird depicts the world of segregation as African-Americans live isolated in an area removed from the town of Macolm. Lee depicts the racial tensions as many of the white citizens of Macolm view African-Americans as inferior, and segregation is seen in all public places, including the streets that African-Americans can use to traverse. Particularly, the reader sees the segregation and racism of African and “white” Americans in the court case of Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a white woman. Atticus Finch, Tom’s attorney, explains to his son that a racist jury causes Tom’s charge of guilty. Atticus explains to his son the causes of the racist jury despite Tom’s innocence. Robinson attempts to escape the prison to which he has been sentenced and is shot and killed by prison guards.

In this webquest we will investigate the social problem of segregation and racism in “Jim Crow” Alabama in the 1930’s. Racism as we know it now in the South in the 1930’s began in the late the nineteenth century by the failure of Reconstruction to enfranchise the “Freed” man into post-Civil War Southern society. The black man was politically, economically, and socially separated from white society. The federal authorities, state legislatures, and the United States Supreme Court conspired to create a public policy of segregation. Plessy vs. Ferguson, the 1883 Civil Rights cases, removal of troops from the south in 1877, the industrializing North and the unabated rise of the Ku Klux Klan all created an atmosphere of racism, segregation, and circumvention of the Fourteenth Amendment.

You are a reporter for the Evander News. Your school drama team is producing the play of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. You have been assigned to research the social problem of segregation and racism in Alabama in the 1930’s. Through your research, you will go back in time to Montgomery, Alabama in the 1930’s. You will record life as it existed during that time and report various aspects of daily life in Montgomery. With your findings, you and three other reporters will create a newspaper covering a day of life in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1930’s for your school’s adaptation of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. This newspaper will be used in the play to represent the society of Harper Lee.

II. Task

You will work with three other group members. You will use Internet resources to gather evidence to research life in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1930’s. Specifically, you will research information on life for African-Americans. You will report court cases and other items of information that is covered in daily newspapers in Montgomery at this time. You want to find out facts about race relations in Montgomery at this time.

Your final product will be a newspaper with the following criteria based upon the Tips PPA website, www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS.html.

1. A headline article that explains and defines the problem of racism and segregation in Alabama. Use the website, http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet1.html and complete the worksheet for “Defining the Problem”.

2. You will gather evidence of the problem using the worksheet found at the website: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/TIPS/worksheet2.html.

3. You will identify causes of the social problem of racism using the worksheet found at the website: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet3.html.

4. You will evaluate existing policies that address the problem of racism as it existed in Alabama in the 1930’s using the worksheet found at website: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet4.html.

5. You will consider solutions to the problem of racism by using the worksheet found at website: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html.

6. In addition, you will complete the worksheet found at the website, http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet6.html, for selecting the best public policy solution.

7. You will weigh the costs and benefits of the public policy you have selected by first completing Worksheet 7 at website: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet7.html. Then, you will complete Worksheet 8 found at website, http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet8.html, in order to identify the costs of the public policy you have chosen to solve the problem of racism in Alabama in the 1930’s.

8. You will discuss Supreme Court Cases involving cases of segregation in Alabama in the 1930’s.

9. You will use Microsoft Publisher to create the newspaper. Each article will have a headline that represents the 1930’s in the south. In addition, you will use the websites listed in “Resources” of the webquest to download pictures that reflect how segregation affected society at this time.

10.Your group newspaper will be evaluated according to a rubric given in the “Evaluation section” of the webquest.

III. Resources

This is a list of Internet resources you will use to research and gather information for your task:

1. http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS.html

2. http://www.archives.state.al.us/geninfo.html

3. http://bcri.bham.al.us

4. https://www.google.com

5. http://memory.loc.gov/pp/cphSubjects06.html

6. http://naacp.org/past_future/naacptimeline.shtml

IV. Process

You and three partners will identify and define the social problem caused by the racism and segregation laws, which prevailed in Montgomery, Alabama in 1930. You will also gather evidence that reveals the rights African-Americans had in Alabama at this time. You will evaluate current public policy on race relations in Montgomery today as they exist today in relation to the problem of racism as it existed in the 1930. You will next create an approved public policy that will alleviate the racial tensions caused by racism in Alabama in 1930. You will use the worksheets on the TIPS website to record the information for the above issues.

1. Your group will divide the task of writing this newspaper among the participants.

2. Use the Internet resources and other outside sources to complete the task.

3. Focus on the PPA website worksheets for outlining your newspaper articles.

4. Find photographic images that reflect segregation in Alabama in the 1930’s on the Internet for your newspaper.

5. Try to include literature such as poetry and songs in your newspaper.

6. Create advertisements that show racism and segregation from the time period.

7. Try to place a trial transcript in your newspaper representing the problem of racism.

8. Include interviews of various citizens of society.

9. In your Editorial section you will express the opinion about the social problem of racism and segregation in Alabama in the 1930’s.

IV. Evaluation

Your classmates will review your newspaper critically based on the following rubric:

	3	2	1
Content	Writing shows in-depth analysis and understanding of historical matters	Writing shows understanding through explicit references to historical matters	Writing shows understanding through implicit references to historical matters
Organization	Writing is clear with elaborate sentence structure	Writing varies length of sentence structure	Writing uses basic sentence structure
Style	Newspaper is arranged in an aesthetically appealing way with historical photographs and articles cover all themes required	Newspaper is arranged in a basic way with no historical photograghs and articles cover all themes required	Newspaper is not arranged in an aesthetically appealing way; articles do not cover all themes required
Photographic Images	Capture the social problem of racism and are relevant to the problem in the 1930’s in Alabama	Capture the social problem of racism but not as relevant to the problem as category 3	Do not capture the social problem of racism and are irrelevant

V. Conclusion

This webquest should have taught you about racism and segregation in Alabama in the 1930’s. Through research, you saw the social problem of racism in Alabama in the 1930’s and observed the public policy that existed at this time to address the social problem. You learned how to observe the public policy and social problem, and then you learned how to select a public policy that best solved the existing social problem. You learned to evaluate the costs and benefits of the public policy in order to determine the efficacy of that public policy you selected. Based on your research and efforts to create an effective public policy, you created a newspaper.

In your next webquest, you will explore racism in Alabama in 2002. You will compare and contrast public policy that addresses racism in 2002 with public policy as it existed in the 1930’s.

This webquest has enabled students to meet standards one, three, and four of the New York State curriculum assessment. Through the activity, students are able to enrich their understanding of the social problem of racism in Alabama in the 1930’s.