1619 Project at South Atlanta
A Black History Month Experience
The 1619 Project
Essays from the New York Times special issue are made available by snapping the qr code on hung pictures throughout the library.
Schedule a time to bring your class to walk the installation and read and reflect, listen to speeches from 100 years of African-American resistance or role play as members of the American Abolitionist Society.
Questions Before You Visit the 1619 Project
- How did you first learn about the history of slavery in the U.S.? What did you learn, and how was that information presented?
- What do you see as the lasting legacy of slavery in the U.S.?
- What do you know about the contributions of black Americans to U.S. society, and where does that information come from?
- Referring to the text of the Declaration of Independence, answer the following questions:
- What are the values stated in the Declaration of Independence?
- In what ways can you see those values working in contemporary American life? In what ways can you see them failing?
- How has the interpretation of those values changed over time? Who is responsible for creating those changes?
All questions are printed and ready for classes (please schedule a time so we have the right amount of copies)
Questions to Consider After visiting the Project
- What lines/images/moments stuck out to you, and why?
- What surprised you? What do you want to know more about?
- How do the authors connect mechanisms established to support slavery with modern day practices in law, politics, business, culture and other aspects of American society?
- How do the stories presented in The 1619 Project compare to the stories you grew up hearing about the origins of slavery and its modern day impacts?
- How does the origin story of the U.S. change if we mark the beginning of U.S. history in 1619 instead of 1776?
- What is national memory? How do we create it? How can we change it?
All questions are printed and ready for classes (please schedule a time so we have the right amount of copies)
Station 2: Say it Loud: Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African American Identity
Listen to these speeches in the library at a special station created for listening.
Listen to the hour long presentation here:
Available Lessons : If There is No Struggle Debate & How to Make Amends Mixer
If There is No Struggle (developed by Ms. Atwater as an adaption for the original lesson on the Zinn project)
“So what exactly would you have done to end slavery?”
Students are given a handout with two strategic dilemmas that faced the American Anti-Slavery Society at different points from its founding in 1833 until 1858.
They must research their question and then present their stance in a public "debate".
Full lesson available here
- Should the AASS support “colonization” schemes to send people freed from slavery to Africa?
- Should the AASS support armed attempts to resist enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act?
Student Primary Resource Folder
Standards:
SSUSH9 Evaluate key events, issues, and individuals related to the Civil War
ELAGSE11-12RI1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
ELAGSE11-12RI5: Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
ELAGSE11-12W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
How to Make Amends Mixer
We developed this lesson to help students find a way into thinking and talking more imaginatively about reparations in general before we ask them to examine the modern debate over African American reparations specifically. (We have been piloting an African American reparations role play that will be completed and posted later this year.) We want students to consider how a legacy of injustice as deeply rooted and multidimensional as anti-Black racism in the United States requires a multifaceted strategy, not a single action.
Students are given a handout with their new "identity" (Japanese Comfort Women, German Jews) and a name tag. They spend some time reading and internalizing the information from a real person who has been given some form of reparations (apology, money, etc.) and are then given a set of questions to ask other people in the class as they "mix". They must write down their answers.
Question Examples:
Find someone who received a formal apology from a government for wrongdoing against them. Who are they? What is their story?
2. Find someone who received compensation from a government for wrongdoing against them. Who are they? What is their story?
Highlighted Lesson : Create a Quote Museum
The 1619 Project uses a mix of historical research, personal reflection, analysis, and creative writing to challenge dominant narratives about U.S. history. This activity asks students to read selections from the issue critically and highlight ideas they want to share with their community, then present those ideas in creative ways.
Step 1. Choose one article and one creative piece (poem or story). Click here for an index of options. While you read, identify quotes from both pieces that challenge and/or inspire you; write these down.
Step 2. Select quotes that you want to display for your class and/or school. Consider how you want to present them visually; you can design a typeface, create visual art that interprets the quote, or choose a photograph that illustrates what you want readers to consider when they see the quote.
Step 3. Post your creatively presented quotes alongside those of your classmates in a public place in your school or community to create a curated gallery that offers others a glimpse into The 1619 Project.
Shanna Miles
Email: sxmiles@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Website: www.southatlantalibrary.blogspot.com
Phone: 5005
Twitter: @srmilesauthor