Hurdles

Kristina Thompson

level: Intermediate

85 minutes

The American Dream

Message from the creator Begin lesson

Lesson Tool Kit

MATERIALS NEEDED

Between the World and Me Clip or Excerpts for Reading:

I have seen that dream all my life. It is a perfect house with nice lawns. It is Memorial Day cookouts, block associations, and driveways. The Dream is treehouses and the Cub Scouts. The Dream smells like peppermint but tastes like strawberry shortcake. And for so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my head like a blanket. But this has never been an option because the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies. And knowing this, knowing that the Dream for persists by warring with the known world, I was sad for the host, I was sad for all those families, I was sad for my country, but above all, in that moment, I was sad for you. (page 11)

[forgetting]...is yet another necessary component of the Dream. They have forgotten the scale of theft that enriched them in slavery; the terror that allowed them, for a century, to pilfer the vote; the segregationist policy that gave them their suburbs. They have forgotten, because to remember would tumble them out of the beautiful Dream and force them to live down here with us, down here in the world. I am convinced that the Dreamers, at least the Dreamers of today, would rather live white than live free. (page 143)

Chart Paper or a Digital Method of collectively note taking (Padlet, Jamboard, etc).

Projector and Laptop (with speakers, if showing clips)

PREWORK

Students and facilitators should have a general understanding of historical policies addressed by Coates in the excerpt. Facilitators may have to refamiliarize themselves with the following policies:

The Racial Wealth Gap: From Slavery to the Present

Washington Post - “Why the racial wealth gap persists, more than 150 years after emancipation”

NPR - “Why the Racial Wealth Gap Is So Hard to Closes”

Voter Suppression

Carnegie Corporation - “Voting Rights: A Short History”

The Brennan Center - “Voter Suppressions Laws from 2021”

Lynching and Violence Against Black communities

PBS – “Lynching in America”

NAACP – “History of Lynching in America” (includes graphic images)

History - “Birmingham Church Bombing”

Redlining

NPR – “A ‘Forgotten HIstory’ of How The U.S. Government Segregated America” (radio segment and article)

The Atlantic - “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates

Banking and Interest Rate Inequalities

Morgan Stanley - “Building Black Generational Wealth” Black farm owners (podcast and article)

New York Times - "The Land of Our Fathers, Part 1 (podcast, transcripts available)

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

How can we use historical knowledge to analyze a text and/or piece of media?

OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to articulate their interpretation of The American Dream through discussion and movement.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING SUPPORT :

Facilitators should anticipate that this lesson could be emotionally activating for some students.

Facilitators may want to check the temperature of the room by asking questions throughout the lesson to gauge students’ level of emotional safety.

For example, survey students discreetly throughout the lesson using either technology (jamboard) or having students write a number from 1-10 on paper at their desks and walk by to read them all. Instruct students saying, “On a scale of 1-10, how would you describe your emotional comfort level now? ‘1’ being completely comfortable and 10 being extremely uncomfortable.”

STANDARDS

NGL: STANDARD 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including across multiple texts.

Students will be able to evaluate an excerpt from Between the World and Me that focuses on “The American Dream” and integrate their historical knowledge of United States policies to determine which policies may serve or have served as a hurdle in the way of achieving their American Dream.

While we have built each lesson and workshop sequentially, feel free to tailor your exploration of them to suit your needs. You may choose to follow a lesson as provided from beginning to end or select sections of various lessons and combine them for a different approach.