INTRODUCTION

For years, Global History has been taught from a European perspective. Therefore, African American students have difficulty in identifying with their cultural roots. They are unable to locate many of the countries within Africa, identify certain cultural aspects of these countries, influences or inventions of these countries on the world (culturally, economically and politically). On the other hand, these same students have no difficulty recalling information about European history, culture, inventions and politics. As someone once said, “if you don’t know your history, you are bound to repeat it.” Therefore, you are going to take on the role of young African American historians who will explore current textbooks written from an European perspective. You will then prepare a table of contents for a factitous textbook that would address the issue of under-representation of students of African descent. In so doing, your table of contents will contain the information listed in the TASK section below for your country of choice. Please read the task carefully.

You will be assigned to a two-person group that will address the issues stated above. The class will develop a table of contents for a factious Global History textbook.

TASK

Your group of two students will choose one country on the continent of Africa: e.g. Sudan, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Lesothos.

Each group will study a different country so that we can compose a table of contents for a ficticious textbook.

Once you have chosen a country, you will research the following:

One topic in the areas of government, culture, history, or geography.

Once data is gathered about your chosen area, you will organize your table of contents as follows:

Your table of contents should include:

1. A total of 3 unit (section) topics

2. Each unit topic will contain 3 subtopics, containing three areas of researched information.

3. Your table of contents should include some practical solutions for the inclusion of the African experience in Global History as a public policy in the American Educational system.

GEOGRAPHY

· Where on the African continent the country is located.

· Temperature and climate.

· Natural resources

CULTURE

· Education

· Religion: Native vs. European influenced

· Art and customary dress

· Languages: Native vs. European - Do they speak English?

· Architecture

GOVERNMENT/ECONOMICS

· Type of money

· What European country colonized this nation?

· When was independence achieved?

· Type of government

· Major exports/imports

· Largest producer

Use the following six worksheets to help you organize your thoughts.

Identify the problem

Gather evidence that this indeed is a problem

Identify the causes of this problem

Evaluate the existing policy

Develop possible solutions

What, in your opinion, would be the best solution?

RESOURCES

Websites have been provided for this purpose.

Geography

http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/afrquiz.html

http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/curriculum/lm6/activityfour.htm

http://www.africanculturalcenter.org/1_4east.html

Culture

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/cult.html

http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/lpca/

http://www.dac.gov.za/

Government/Economics

http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/poli1.html

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/forme.html

http://www.southafrica.gr/index.cfm?get=business

African Experience in Text Books

http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/specials/bhm/story/nancy.fitch.html

http://www.studentsfriend.com/onhist/chronarr.html

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ht/34.4/olwell.html

EVALUATION

	A/85-90	B/80-85	C/75-70	D/65-70
	EXCELLENT	GOOD	DEVELOPING	BEGINNING
ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS	Ideas for table of contents flow from one unit to the other Two sub-themes used connect with larger unit	Some ideas for table of contents flow from one unit to the other One sub-theme used connects with larger unit	Ideas used do not flow from one unit to another Sub-themes do not connect with larger units	Connections between units lack clarity and no sub-themes exist
USE OF PPA WORKSHEETS	All parts of the table of contents include information of the PPA worksheets	Some parts of the table of contents include information of the PPA worksheets	Few parts of the table of contents contain information from the PPA worksheets	No information from PPA worksheets found in table of contents
SENTENCE STRUCTURE	Good sentence structure Entries for table of contents show grade level vocabulary	Sentence structure consists of simple sentnences Entries for table of contents display low level vocabulary	Sentence structure lacks clarity Entries for table of contents show miscomprehension of words choosen	Sentence structure lacks clarity Entries are missing
MECHANICAL AND GRAMMATICAL	No mechanical or grammatical errors	No more than two mechanical or grammatical errors	Five or more mechanical and grammatical errors	Grammatical and mechanical errors affects readbility

NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS

English Language Arts

STANDARD 1

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

STANDARD 3

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.

STANDARD 4

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

Social Studies

STANDARD 2

Students use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

STANDARD 3

Students use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

STANDARD 4

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision-making units function in the U.S. and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and nonmarket mechanisms.

STANDARD 5

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the U.S. and other nations; the U.S. Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

Technology

STANDARD 2

Analysis, Inquiry and Design: Students will use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as appropriate, to pose questions, seeks answers and develop solutions.

CONCLUSION

The mantra, “All children can learn,” and the latest political law, “No child left behind,” will be greatly enhanced because African American students will want to learn more about their rich history from an African perspective. In addition, the table of contents developed here can serve as a model for history textbooks still written under the Global History curriculums of today. As a result, African American students will understand that their rich history was not “left out” nor “left behind.”