History from Below
History From Below
Non-Elite Perspectives in America
United States History - 1850 to the Present
Author: Steve Hopkins
Conception and Rationale
Overview:
The lesson is designed to introduce students to the concept of History from Below and develop their analytical skills by examining the 'voices' of specific sets of non-elite people. The lesson would be the introduction to a major theme, History from Below: Non-Elite Perspectives, that would be carried forward through the entire course. This particular lesson is pitched high but it could be modified for any level.
Students would do the anticipatory set and the four modeled group presentations in a short time span near the beginning of the course. Groups would be about four to five students. In the first instructional period students watch the initial video, break into groups and begin to preview their documents. Students would continue to work on the assignment interpreting their documents and creating their presentations, which would include the addition of two more documents, of different types that enhanced scope and 'voice' of the non-elite group covered by their project. Student groups would present their findings.
For the remainder of the course students, working individually or in pairs, would be tasked to research and create their own project modeled on the initial four. Students will choose and identify a non elite groups to research and present follow the model of the initial assignment.
Rationale: The conception of the lesson is two-fold. Theme: students examine perspectives of non-elite subjects, listening for their ‘voices’. Skills: source analysis, reading against the grain, presentation, Historical Reasoning Skills- Contextualization, and Continuity and Change.
The hierarchical construction of the lesson: supported single source analysis; modeled groupings with large group research, analysis, and presentation and active audience skills; Individual or paired research; creation, analysis, and presentation of a self-selected non-elite perspective allows students to develop both skills and the theme over the course of the year.
Preparatory Reading: Students are introduced to the concept of History from Below and the problems of Analyzing Sources of non-elite subjects through a short excerpt from E.P. Thompson's Making of the English Working Class. The excerpt is linked to a model of conclusions students should be drawing from the reading.
Anticipatory Set – Modeling the Process.
Students watch This is America by Childish Gambino. Instructor lead discussion after the video, followed by the second video.
Rationale: Many students should be aware of the video and the controversy surrounding it. It is also so rich in imagery and message that students should be able to engage and analyze significant portions of it. It is possible the students could bring knowledge to this discussion. For example, there was an unfounded internet rumor that the guitarist shot in the opening sequence was Travon Martin’s father. The prevalence of the rumor combined with the anti-gun message makes this an important point. The Watchmojo video was chosen for accessibility, length, and the most common interpretations.
Source Analysis – Group Work.
Student groups would have 25 -30 minutes of break-out work to analyze their sources using their Source Analysis skills. (see Source Analysis Skills page linked to the Class Activity page) Students would be given a week to work up a presentation to their peers. Students would be tasked with adding two more documents and teaching their sources to their classmates.
Students would be assessed on the presentation itself, their analysis of the documents, their contextualization of the documents, and their analysis of continuity and change.
Student not presenting would preview the documents for homework prior to the class, and would be assessed on their active engagement with the presentation.
Student presenters would be responsible for handing in a document of about 500 words outlining the results of their research, the contextualization, and the continuity and change.
Rationale: Large group work to familiarize students with the process and the skills with maximal supports.
Source Rationale:
Group 1 – Women.
Sojourner Truth – Ain’t I a Woman. -1851. A surprising early statement on Women’s Rights.
Susan B. Anthony- On Trial for Illegally Voting - 1874– This has been called the greatest American Women's Suffrage Speech.
Aretha Franklin – Respect. Written by Otis Redding about a black man wanting respect. Aretha Franklin's cover turns it into a woman’s anthem.
Women’s March, Washington D.C. 2017. Meant to provoke the students into asking the question how far have women come? Also, interestingly, most pictures tend to be a sea of white women. Will students notice the lack of minorities?
Group 2 – Poverty
Jacob Riis - Lodgers on Bayard Street. 1888. “How the Other Half Lives” is iconic. Riis pictures are the background for the title page and the class activities page.
Woody Guthrie – Jesus Christ – 1940. Woody Guthrie as the voice of the downtrodden.
Spearhead – It’s a Crime to be Poor in America. -1994. Selected as a different voice on poverty, this also could have gone into the African American category because of the lyric: It’s a crime to be black in America.
Economist – Article, March 2018. A secondary source in for a different analytical take.
Group 3- African American.
Solomon Northrup – Excerpt from “12 years a Slave” – 1853. There is no shortage of Slave Narratives, but this selection combines message and accessibility.
Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit – 1939. Vividly powerful. Written by a Jewish New Yorker shocked by his trip by train through the South.
Tommie Smith and Carlos Williams – Black Power Salute-Olympics 1968. Selected for students to draw comparisons to Colin Kaepernick and the NFL kneeling controversy.
Washington Post – Opinion Video – 2015. Selected because it references the process of homogenization of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and should provoke student thought.
Group 4- Workers
Ballad of John Henry- 1880s-1890s. Selected because it covers a still relevant theme of worker replacement by machine.
Upton Sinclair – The Jungle – 1904. Powerful summary of worker injuries that packs a great cumulative punch.
There is Power in Union (Joe Hill) – 1913. Selected to represent the good in Union. Also this tied in great with the last source.
On the Waterfront – This is My Church – 1950. Elia Kazan’s masterpiece. A snapshot on the underbelly of the American Union movement.
There is Power in Union – 2012. Selected as an updated version of the 1913 source and because of Bragg’ intro which reinvents the song and contextualizes it for the 21st century.
Large Group Presentations
Presented over four class days with documents being review as part of student homework on the night before. Students in the class would be assessed on active participation and their own contribution to the analysis.
Rationale: Modeling and multiple skill development.
Individual/ Pair Presentations
Throughout the course, the theme and skills would be developed. Students would be given the freedom to develop any non-elite perspective for presentation to their peers. Student presentations would be consistent with this model and include four to six documents that told a narrative over a period of time and that included a variety of sources that must include at least one document, an image, and an audio or visual source. Student’s would post their presentations in the Google Classroom for their peers to review and evaluate for homework. Students in the class would again be assessed on their active participation in the presentation discussion.
Rationale: Theme development over the course of the year emphasizes the importance of the message. The progressive development of research, presentational, analytical, evaluative, and active audience skills throughout the year can also be integrated into other activities.
The lesson is designed to introduce students to the concept of History from Below and develop their analytical skills by examining the 'voices' of specific sets of non-elite people. The lesson would be the introduction to a major theme, History from Below: Non-Elite Perspectives, that would be carried forward through the entire course. This particular lesson is pitched high but it could be modified for any level.
Students would do the anticipatory set and the four modeled group presentations in a short time span near the beginning of the course. Groups would be about four to five students. In the first instructional period students watch the initial video, break into groups and begin to preview their documents. Students would continue to work on the assignment interpreting their documents and creating their presentations, which would include the addition of two more documents, of different types that enhanced scope and 'voice' of the non-elite group covered by their project. Student groups would present their findings.
For the remainder of the course students, working individually or in pairs, would be tasked to research and create their own project modeled on the initial four. Students will choose and identify a non elite groups to research and present follow the model of the initial assignment.
Rationale: The conception of the lesson is two-fold. Theme: students examine perspectives of non-elite subjects, listening for their ‘voices’. Skills: source analysis, reading against the grain, presentation, Historical Reasoning Skills- Contextualization, and Continuity and Change.
The hierarchical construction of the lesson: supported single source analysis; modeled groupings with large group research, analysis, and presentation and active audience skills; Individual or paired research; creation, analysis, and presentation of a self-selected non-elite perspective allows students to develop both skills and the theme over the course of the year.
Preparatory Reading: Students are introduced to the concept of History from Below and the problems of Analyzing Sources of non-elite subjects through a short excerpt from E.P. Thompson's Making of the English Working Class. The excerpt is linked to a model of conclusions students should be drawing from the reading.
Anticipatory Set – Modeling the Process.
Students watch This is America by Childish Gambino. Instructor lead discussion after the video, followed by the second video.
Rationale: Many students should be aware of the video and the controversy surrounding it. It is also so rich in imagery and message that students should be able to engage and analyze significant portions of it. It is possible the students could bring knowledge to this discussion. For example, there was an unfounded internet rumor that the guitarist shot in the opening sequence was Travon Martin’s father. The prevalence of the rumor combined with the anti-gun message makes this an important point. The Watchmojo video was chosen for accessibility, length, and the most common interpretations.
Source Analysis – Group Work.
Student groups would have 25 -30 minutes of break-out work to analyze their sources using their Source Analysis skills. (see Source Analysis Skills page linked to the Class Activity page) Students would be given a week to work up a presentation to their peers. Students would be tasked with adding two more documents and teaching their sources to their classmates.
Students would be assessed on the presentation itself, their analysis of the documents, their contextualization of the documents, and their analysis of continuity and change.
Student not presenting would preview the documents for homework prior to the class, and would be assessed on their active engagement with the presentation.
Student presenters would be responsible for handing in a document of about 500 words outlining the results of their research, the contextualization, and the continuity and change.
Rationale: Large group work to familiarize students with the process and the skills with maximal supports.
Source Rationale:
Group 1 – Women.
Sojourner Truth – Ain’t I a Woman. -1851. A surprising early statement on Women’s Rights.
Susan B. Anthony- On Trial for Illegally Voting - 1874– This has been called the greatest American Women's Suffrage Speech.
Aretha Franklin – Respect. Written by Otis Redding about a black man wanting respect. Aretha Franklin's cover turns it into a woman’s anthem.
Women’s March, Washington D.C. 2017. Meant to provoke the students into asking the question how far have women come? Also, interestingly, most pictures tend to be a sea of white women. Will students notice the lack of minorities?
Group 2 – Poverty
Jacob Riis - Lodgers on Bayard Street. 1888. “How the Other Half Lives” is iconic. Riis pictures are the background for the title page and the class activities page.
Woody Guthrie – Jesus Christ – 1940. Woody Guthrie as the voice of the downtrodden.
Spearhead – It’s a Crime to be Poor in America. -1994. Selected as a different voice on poverty, this also could have gone into the African American category because of the lyric: It’s a crime to be black in America.
Economist – Article, March 2018. A secondary source in for a different analytical take.
Group 3- African American.
Solomon Northrup – Excerpt from “12 years a Slave” – 1853. There is no shortage of Slave Narratives, but this selection combines message and accessibility.
Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit – 1939. Vividly powerful. Written by a Jewish New Yorker shocked by his trip by train through the South.
Tommie Smith and Carlos Williams – Black Power Salute-Olympics 1968. Selected for students to draw comparisons to Colin Kaepernick and the NFL kneeling controversy.
Washington Post – Opinion Video – 2015. Selected because it references the process of homogenization of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and should provoke student thought.
Group 4- Workers
Ballad of John Henry- 1880s-1890s. Selected because it covers a still relevant theme of worker replacement by machine.
Upton Sinclair – The Jungle – 1904. Powerful summary of worker injuries that packs a great cumulative punch.
There is Power in Union (Joe Hill) – 1913. Selected to represent the good in Union. Also this tied in great with the last source.
On the Waterfront – This is My Church – 1950. Elia Kazan’s masterpiece. A snapshot on the underbelly of the American Union movement.
There is Power in Union – 2012. Selected as an updated version of the 1913 source and because of Bragg’ intro which reinvents the song and contextualizes it for the 21st century.
Large Group Presentations
Presented over four class days with documents being review as part of student homework on the night before. Students in the class would be assessed on active participation and their own contribution to the analysis.
Rationale: Modeling and multiple skill development.
Individual/ Pair Presentations
Throughout the course, the theme and skills would be developed. Students would be given the freedom to develop any non-elite perspective for presentation to their peers. Student presentations would be consistent with this model and include four to six documents that told a narrative over a period of time and that included a variety of sources that must include at least one document, an image, and an audio or visual source. Student’s would post their presentations in the Google Classroom for their peers to review and evaluate for homework. Students in the class would again be assessed on their active participation in the presentation discussion.
Rationale: Theme development over the course of the year emphasizes the importance of the message. The progressive development of research, presentational, analytical, evaluative, and active audience skills throughout the year can also be integrated into other activities.
