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“The vision of the Social Studies Department is to increase the awareness of Social Studies education through high-quality professional development, equity for all students, structured school support, and continued partnerships with content experts and stakeholders.”
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Contacts
Erin ConklinDirectorDan CannonInstructional SpecialistJoseph EvansInstructional Specialist
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African American History Course
Below you will find the units of study found in the DCPS African American History course. Each unit includes the standards taught along with the objectives and the main resources provided by the district.
Currently, we DO NOT have an adopted textbook to use for this course. All resources are reviewed and vetted by a committee before being distributed to schools for use.
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Unit 1: Ancient Africa: The Kingdoms
Lessons:
- A: Ancient West African Kingdoms
- B: East African City-State
- C: Cultural Contributions of African Societies
Standards:
- 912.A.1.2: Utilize a variety of primary and secondary sources to identify author, historical significance, audience, and authenticity to understand a historical significance, audience, and authenticity to understand a historical period.
- 912.A.1.3: Utilize timelines to identify the time sequence of historical data.
- 912.A.1.4: Analyze how images, symbols, objects, cartoons, graphs, charts, maps, and artwork may be used to interpret the significance of time periods and events from the past.
- 912.G.4.2: Use geographic terms and tools to analyze the push/pull factors contributing to human migration within and among places.
- SS.912.G.4.3: Use geographic terms and tools to analyze the effects of migration both on the place of origin and destination, including border areas.
Objectives:
- Identify the major kingdoms (after the pyramid period) of Ancient Africa in terms of their geographical location and time of existence.
- Explore the interaction among West African Kingdoms and the world.
- Identify the characteristics of East African culture.
- Examine the impact that transportation, trade, communication, science, and technology had on the preservation and diffusion of culture from kingdom to kingdom and abroad.
- Compare different historical accounts about the contributions to society made by the various kingdoms of Ancient Africa.
- Examine the artistic contributions made by the various African kingdoms.
Resources:
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Unit 2: Slavery, from Africa to America
Lessons:
- A: Slavery from Africa to America
- B: Resistance to Slavery
- C: Slavery in the Colonies
Standards:
- SS.912.W.4.14: Recognize the practice of slavery and other forms of forced labor experienced during the 13th through 17th centuries in East Africa, West Africa, Europe, Southwest Asia, and the Americas.
- SS.912.G.4.2: Use geographic terms and tools to analyze the push/pull factors contributing to human migration within and among places.
- SS.912.G.4.3: Use geographic terms and tools to analyze the effects of migration both on the place of origin and destination, including border areas.
Objectives:
- Examine how the practice of slavery developed throughout history and in the various societies in Africa, Europe and the Americas.
- Trace the origins of slavery in America from the first Europeans to enslave Africans to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
- Identify and explain the actions that were taken by enslaved people to resist slavery.
- Describe the role of the Underground Railroad for enslaved African Americans seeking freedom.
- Compare and contrast the treatment of the enslaved versus free Blacks within the American colonies.
- Describe the roles played by enslaved and free blacks in the American Revolution.
Resources:
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Unit 3: Slavery and The Civil War
Lessons:
- A: Spread of Slavery
- B: The Abolitionist Movement
- C: Slavery and the Civil War
Standards:
- SS.912.A.1.3: Utilize timelines to identify the time sequence of historical data.
- SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.
Objectives:
- Relate the invention of the cotton gin to the impact it had on the institution of slavery in America.
- Analyze primary and secondary data to evaluate the significance of the spread of slavery to the cause of the Civil War.
- Examine the efforts of both black and white abolitionists in ending the system of slavery in the United States.
- Identify influential opponents and defenders of American slavery.
- Summarize how sectional differences led to the start of the Civil War.
- Analyze President Lincoln’s motivation for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and the effects it had on African Americans.
- Explain the role that African Americans played during the Civil War.
Resources:
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Unit 4: Freedom Deferred
Lessons:
- A: Black Codes vs. The U.S. Constitution
- B: African American Accomplishments during Reconstruction
- C: Failure of Reconstruction
Standards:
- 912.A.1.4: Analyze how images, symbols, objects, cartoons, graphs, charts, maps, and artwork may be used to interpret the significance of time periods and events from the past.
- 912.A.2.4: Distinguish the freedoms guaranteed to African Americans and other groups with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.
- 912.A.2.6: Compare the effects of the Black Codes and the Nadir on freed people, and analyze the sharecropping system and debt peonage as practiced in the United States.
- 912.A.2.1: Review cause and consequences of the Civil War.
- 912.A.2.2: Assess the influence of significant people or groups on Reconstruction.
- 912.A.2.5: Assess how Jim Crow Laws influenced life for African Americans and other racial/ethnic minority groups.
Objectives:
- Assess how the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution impacted African Americans.
- Describe the differing viewpoints about African American enfranchisement that divided Republicans during the early Reconstruction era.
- Review, analyze and explain how the rights of freed African Americans were legally stripped away by the Black Codes, the sharecropping and debt peonage system, and Jim Crow laws.
- Identify the advances that were made by African Americans during the Reconstruction.
- Assess how the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution impacted African Americans.
- Explain the influence of significant people or groups on Reconstruction including those from Florida.
- Examine the sharecropping system and debt peonage that was practiced in the United States after Reconstruction and explain how it affected the ability of African Americans to progress.
- Trace and evaluate the key events of the Reconstruction Era to determine the reasons why it failed.
Resources:
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Unit 5: Impact of African American at the Turn of the 20th Century
Lessons:
- A: Jim Crow vs. The U.S. Constitution
- B: The Great Migration
- C: African American challenge the Status Quo
- D: African American Culture and Society
Standards:
- 912.A.2.5: Assess how Jim Crow Laws influenced life for African Americans and other racial/ethnic minority groups.
- 912.C.2.9: Identify the expansion of civil rights and liberties by examining the principles contained in primary documents.
- 912.A.1.3: Utilize timelines to identify the time sequence of historical data.
- 912.A.1.4: Analyze how images, symbols, objects, cartoons, graphs, charts, maps, and artwork may be used to interpret the significance of time periods and events from the past.
- 912.A.5.7: Examine the freedom movements that advocated civil rights for African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and women.
- 912.A.5.8: Compare the views of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and Marcus Garvey relating to the African American experience.
- 912.A.3.5: Identify significant inventors of the Industrial Revolution including African Americans and women.
- 912.A.5.6: Analyze the influence that Hollywood, the Harlem Renaissance, the Fundamentalist movement, and prohibition had in changing American society in the 1920s.
Objectives:
- Review, analyze and explain the impact of the Supreme Court case, Plessy vs. Ferguson.
- Examine both the de facto and the de jure laws that limited the rights of African Americans and describe the challenges they faced from racist institutions and groups, especially in the South.
- Explain why African Americans began to leave the South during the latter half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century.
- Explain the purpose and identify the achievements of the Colored Farmer’s Alliance.
- Identify the differences in viewpoints of how to address equal rights for African Americans.
- Compare and contrast the views of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey relating to the advancement of African Americans in America.
- Identify the contributions of significant African American inventors of the Second Industrial Revolution.
- Identify the key figures of the Harlem Renaissance and explain the lasting impact of their accomplishments.
- Assess how the Harlem Renaissance served as a catalyst for African Americans in their struggle to gain equality.
- Assess the role of African American organizations in the struggle to obtain equality for African Americans.
Resources:
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Unit 6: Impact of African Americans During WWI and WWII
Lessons:
- A: Economic and Social Impact of World War I and World War II
- B: African American Support at Home and Abroad
- C: African American Support Abroad
Standards:
- 912.A.5.9: Explain why support for the Ku Klux Klan varied in the 1920s with respect to issues such as anti-immigration, anti-African American, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-women, and antiunion ideas.
- 912.A.5.10: Analyze support for and resistance to civil rights for women, African Americans, Native Americans, and other minorities.
Objectives:
- Examine how the World Wars created opportunities for African Americans and how the Great Migration impacted the social and political composition of American cities.
- Assess the social and economic impact of the World Wars on African Americans at home.
- Analyze American society after WWI as it relates to the African American experience (including racial tensions across the United States and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan).
- Assess why there was support for and resistance to civil rights for minorities in the 1920s.
- Analyze why African Americans supported America’s war efforts at home while enduring harsh racial discrimination and segregation.
- Assess why there was opposition to social, political, and economic equality for African Americans and other minorities in spite of the patriotism they displayed during World War I and World War II.
- Analyze why African Americans supported America’s war efforts abroad while enduring harsh racial discrimination and segregation.
- Assess why there was opposition to social, political, and economic equality for African Americans and other minorities in spite of the patriotism they displayed during World War I and World War II.
Resources:
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Unit 7: The Civil Rights Movement
Lessons:
- A: Origins of the Civil Rights Movement
- B: Impact of the World Wars on the Civil Rights Movement
- C: Brown vs. Board of Education
- D: Key Figures and Organizations of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements
- E: Protest Strategies
- F: Civil Rights Legislation
- G: Civil Rights Beyond African Americans
- H: The Continual Struggle for Civil Rights
Standards:
- 912.A.5.7: Examine the freedom movements that advocated civil rights for African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and women.
- 912.A.5.8: Compare the views of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and Marcus Garvey relating to the African American experience.
- 912.A.5.10: Analyze support for and resistance to civil rights for women, African Americans, Native Americans, and other minorities.
- 912.C.2.9: Identify the expansion of civil rights and liberties by examining the principles contained in primary documents.
- 912.A.7.5: Compare nonviolent and violent approaches utilized by groups (African Americans, women, Native Americans, Hispanics) to achieve civil rights.
- 912.A.7.7: Assess the building of coalitions between African Americans, whites, and other groups in achieving integration and equal rights.
- 912.C.1.3: Evaluate how the environment and personal health are interrelated.
- 912.A.7.6: Assess key figures and organizations in shaping the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement.
Objectives:
- Analyze the views of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and Marcus Garvey in regard to racial inequality and civil rights.
- Explain how a segregated armed force contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.
- Trace and evaluate the economic, political, and social barriers that African Americans faced in American society during the 1950s and 1960s
- Assess the significance of the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.
- Assess the effectiveness of key individuals (including Floridians) and organizations working to achieve social, economic, and racial equality during the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement.
- Assess why African American leaders of the Civil Rights Movement worked with individuals outside of the African American community to enact change.
- Identify the various methods (both violent and nonviolent) employed by African Americans to protest and discuss the effect of these forms of protests.
- Compare and contrast both nonviolent and violent approaches used by African Americans to achieve civil rights.
- Analyze the key democratic concepts found in historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution (Preamble and Bill of Rights).
- Identify and assess the significance of major legislative acts that were enacted as a result of the Civil Rights Movement.
- Assess why other reform movements were influenced by the Civil Rights Movement.
- Examine how other reform movements that advocated civil rights were similar to the Civil Rights Movement.
- Compare the methods of political leaders at the local, state, and national levels as they have worked to affect the lives of African Americans.
- Identify current economic and social issues in the African American community and propose ways of addressing those issues.
- Identify key figures and organizations that continue to push for equal rights in the African community today and evaluate their effectiveness in bringing about change
Resources: