Overview of Lesson:
Students examine the impact that the legacy of enslavement has had on our public school system, as well as the practices Black folk and their allies have enacted to reimagine, refuse, and resist anti-Black systems. To explore the legacy of these resistance practices, students explore the archives to learn from the past. The students researched artifacts related to what Black folks have written about the purpose and necessity of Black education, to see the nuances, commitments, and focus over time.
Author: Jessica Lee Stovall
Library of Congress Resources:
- https://www.loc.gov/item/12003483/
- https://www.loc.gov/item/12002889/
- https://www.loc.gov/item/sn97064613/1886-10-01/ed-1/
- https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t0e03/?st=pdf
Instructions for Task:
- Introduce primary sources and why archives are important (and why Black folks tend to be excluded from them)
- Get guest archivists to come in and talk about their jobs and do research in the archives
- Field trip to an archive
- Work on the same artifact all together in small groups (split up research and share findings)
- Draft first artifact per the assignment instructions and peer review
- Choose an artifact from a predetermined list, draft and peer review.
- Teach how to navigate an online archive like the Library of Congress (search terms activity)
- Repeat steps, with 1-2 finding an artifact on their own.
