A Study of Racial
Discrimination as seen in
Richard Wright’s Black
Boy
A Web Quest for Transitional ESL Class
Designed by:
Kirsten Larson
Morris High School
“Jim
Crow”
“…
for the first time I noticed that there were two lines of people at the ticket
window, a “white” line and a “black” line.
During my visit at Granny’s a sense of the two races had been born in me
with a sharp concreteness that would never die until I died.” From Black Boy by Richard Wright
INTRODUCTION
You have a very stressful job as a business
consultant for a prosperous company in New York City where you identify
problems that negatively affect their business and ways they can improve their
businesses. In your free time you have
been reading Richard Wright’s, Black Boy. Due to your interest in the book, you have wanted to do some
research into racial discrimination of Richard Wright’s time, but you haven’t
had the time.
One night after reading the book, you fall into a
deep dream and wake up to find that the year is 1904 and you are in
Alabama. The Better Business Bureau of
the Southern States of America has just hired you as a consultant. The Bureau is concerned because thousands of
African Americans are moving north and leaving the south with fewer workers and
lower state revenues. Your job is to identify
and gather evidence of the factors that are causing this migration, evaluate
the existing policies that address this problem, develop solutions for the problem,
and identify the best solution for the problem. This is your chance to get to do the research about racial
discrimination in the late 1800’s to mid 1900s.
TASK
Each student/“consultant” will write their own
three-page typed report on racial discrimination in the south from the late
1800’s – mid 1900’s as seen in Black Boy and through the various
resources given here. You should do the
following in your paper:
q
Define the problem the Bureau has hired you to
research
q
Gather evidence for this problem by using the
book Black Boy to show one man’s specific experiences with racism by
describing at least three specific examples where Richard Wright faced some
sort of racial discrimination
q
Describe causes for this problem
-
who "Jim Crow"
was and how this name came to be used to describe
segregation laws
-
Describe a few of the Jim Crow Laws in
your own words
- Describe another
method of discrimination, besides the Jim Crow laws, used against African
Americans
q
Describe and evaluate two ways that African-Americans were
portrayed in society due to the stereotypes fostered by these practices (you
can incorporate pictures for each caricature)
q
Develop solutions/policies for this problem and
identify the best policy.
q
Include a cover page with your name, a title for
the paper, and an image related to your paper
q
At least 5 on-line sources where you obtained
this information
Second, you decide to impress the Bureau and use
your futuristic technological skills to create and present a power point
presentation with three other “consultants” from your class. Each team will create a Power Point
Presentation composed of at least 7 slides.
You will need to use the 7-step public policy approach
and complete the worksheets for each step with your group members.
1) Define and
describe the problem
2)
Gather evidence
for this problem
3) Identify causes
for this problem
4)
Describe and
evaluate the existing policy for this problem
5) Develop
solutions/policies for the problems for this policy
7)
Identify benefits
to policy chosen
PROCESS
q
Research the
sources listed below in order to gather information for your three-page paper
and your power point presentation
q
Meet with
assigned group of “consultants”/students to complete the step public policy
analysis work sheets and plan your power point presentation
q
Organize
your notes from the resources into a logical and coherent format and write a
first draft that will be reviewed with your team mates and/the teacher
q
Edit and
rewrite your paper, meeting again with peers/teacher as needed
q
Create the
presentation that supports your groups chosen policy
q
Submit your
report and present your power point slide presentation
RESOURCES
Texts:
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Web sites:
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/welcome.html http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/intro.html PPA process
http://www.lawbuzz.com/tyranny/crow_laws/legacy.htm
- Jim Crow Laws
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/menu.htm
- can take virtual tour of museum and see artifacts from time period, various
caricatures of African Americans, racist cartoons,
http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html,
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture contains historical documents
and photos
http://www.nv.cc.va.us/home/nvsageh/Hist122/Part1/CWAmendments.html,
amendments to constitution after Civil War
http://www.nv.cc.va.us/home/nvsageh/Hist122/Part1/Plessy.html,
Plessy vs. Ferguson case that legalized the separate but equal laws in railway
cars
Scottsboro
the trial that unjustly accused nine African Americans
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am21,
US Constitution, XV right to vote, XXIV
baring poll tax,
Africana
article about Jim Crow laws, article in Africana.com about Jim Crow laws
and discrimination against blacks
http://library.thinkquest.org/10718/body.htm,
site about literacy tests and poll taxes that limited voting rights of African
Americans
http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics2/carnival/2.htm,
article about lynching in America
Search Engines:
http://www.metacrawler.com/index.html
EVALUATION
You will be
evaluated on both your individual paper and your group work and participation
in the group presentation.
Guidelines for
your Power Point Presentation:
q
All four
consultants must participate in the group work and slide show
q
The show
must contain at least 7 original slides, one of which must be a list of your
credits
q
Your slides
must be based on the 7-step public policy analysis
Guidelines for
your 3-page typed report:
q
Your report
must be based on the 7-step public policy format
q
You must
type the report using font size 12 and double-space
q
You must use
paragraphs and follow the conventions of standard written English
q
You must use
the MLA style for citing references
q
Your report
must focus on racial discrimination in the late 1800’s-mid 1900’s
q
You must
ELA Standards
E1c: Read and comprehend informational materials.
E2a: Produce a report of information.
E3a: Participate in one-to-one conference with
the teacher.
E3b: Participate in group meetings.
E3c: Prepare and deliver an individual
presentation.
E3d: Make informed judgments about TV, radio,
film.
E3e: Listen to and analyze a public speaking
performance.
E4b: Analyze and subsequently revise work to
improve its clarity and effectiveness.
E5a:
Respond to non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive and
critical processes.
E7a: Produce functional documents appropriate to
audience and purpose.
This web quest focuses on the following
New York State Standards:
Standard
1: Language for Information and
Understanding
Standard
2: Language for Literary Response and
Expression
Standard
3: Language for Critical Analysis and
Evaluation
Standard
4: Language for Social Interaction
Social Studies Learning Standards:
Standard
1: History of the United States and New
York
The following
rubric will be used to assess your work on both the paper and the power point
presentation:
|
|
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Total |
|
Written 3-page report |
In-depth
and insightful analysis of the topic and use of the PPA format -
Clear and full development of ideas -Shows
sophisticated control of conventions |
Thorough
analysis of topic and use of PPA format -
Clear development of ideas -
Control of conventions with occasional errors in sophisticated language |
Basic
understanding of topic and use of PPA format -
Develops some ideas briefly -shows
minimal control of conventions that sometimes affect comprehension |
Confused
understanding of topic and little or no use of PPA format. Incomplete development of ideas and lack
of control of conventions numerous errors that often affect comprehension |
|
|
Web Site Research |
A
variety of sites (5 or more) used from resource list and student researching
that fully support the topic |
Sufficient
number of sites that support the topic.
Most are directly from resource list |
Adequate
number of sites but few support the topic |
1-2
sites used and do not sufficiently relate to topic |
|
|
Power Point Presen- tation |
-
Shows excellent understanding of P.P. -
7 or more slides that are creative, clear, and appealing -
All slides fully support and present topic |
-
Shows acceptable knowledge of P.P. -
7 or more slides -Most
of slides sufficiently support topic |
-
Shows minimal understanding of P.P.and/0r -
Less than 7 slides -
Some slides support topic, some may be confused |
-
Shows no understanding of P.P. -
Has insufficient number of slides -
Minimal support for topic |
|
|
Oral Presen ation of P.P. |
-
Everyone in group presents -
Excellent eye contact -
clear and loud speech -
Creative use of visual aides |
-
Everyone in group presents -
Most people maintain decent eye contact -
volume and clarity of speech is sufficient -
Visual aides used appropriately |
-
3 people in group present -
Eye contact half of the time -
Can understand most of time -
some use of visual aid, may be inappropriate |
-
1-2 people in group present -Little
eye contact -
Difficult to understand and hear -
No or minimal use of visual aid |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONCLUSION
Through internet research of
racial discrimination in Richard Wright’s time (1870’s – mid 1900’s) students
will be able to learn how policies devised by the government can prevent
discrimination of African Americans.
Students will also create and analyze their own policies that may have
helped change the racially charged atmosphere of Wright’s lifetime or can help
promote racial harmony in our own time.