American History Project TE19

The first African slaves

1501-1505 the first slaves were brought by Spanish and Portuguese settlers.

In 1619, the first slaves arrived in North America (British Colony in today's Virginia).

Task

The triangular slave trade

On slavery in America - vocabulay work

After 1700 the slave trade intensified and an estimation is that 6-7 million slaves were transported to North America (the new world) during the 1800 alone.

Book tip: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

'The Underground Railroad begins on a particularly vicious Georgia plantation, where all anyone wants to do is escape. “Every slave thinks about it. In the morning and in the afternoon and in the night. Dreaming of it. Every dream a dream of escape even when it didn’t look like it.” We meet Ajarry, taken from her West African village and across the ocean on a slave ship. We meet her daughter, Mabel, who flees the plantation and its odious owner, Randall, prompting a wild and fruitless search, and Cora, Mabel’s daughter, our heroine.'

-The Guardian 2016-10-09

Film tip: 12 years a slave

'Soon after its world premiere last year, 12 Years a Slave was widely described as the best film that has yet been made about American slavery.

That’s a big claim — and, I believe, an accurate one — although it raises an interesting question. Where, exactly, is the competition?

The new film from the British director Steve McQueen is an adaptation of the memoirs of Solomon Northup, a freeborn black American family man from upstate New York who was kidnapped, shipped to the South and sold to the owner of a Louisiana plantation in 1841.'

- The Telegraph, 2016-06-04

The American Civil War 1861-1865

Describe the events that happened

10 facts: What Everyone Should Know About the Civil War

Read the text (link on Fronter) and answer the questions to learn more about the Civil War 1861-1865

The man of the hour - Robert E Lee

Homework for Tuesday: Summarize & be ready to inform your group about your part

So, who was Robert E Lee? Based on an article from The Telegraph you will together dig deeper into his life and deeds!

You will each get 1/3 of the article and your task is to read and summarize it, in order to explain the content in your part to the others.

When summarizing you are not to use the article directly but your own notes.

Objectives:

• Read
• Understand
• Summarize
• Inform orally

Part 1: Tony, Stefan, Noah, Adam, Anton L & Rebecca

Part 2: Emil, Milton, Lucas R, Alice, Lucas J, Kenan & Joel

Part 3: Ella, Kenny, Selma, Anton G, Xhevat & Danny

Read thoroughly!

Look up words you don't know!

The Civil Rights Movement in the US 1950s and 1960s

• slavery was abolished in 1865

• African-Americans still segregated in society

• fear of attacks by the Ku Klux Klan

• Martin Luther King - one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement

Quiet Strength

Textwork

When done:

• Robert E Lee-article
• Extension task - American & Education

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

"Enter a vanished world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962.

Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver..."

January 20, 2009

Listening

Obama's acceptance speech

Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President

of the United States of America and became the

first African-American president in The US.

• Summarize what he said
• What is your impression of Barack Obama here?
• What is his focus in this part of the speech

August, 11 2020

Presidential candidate Joe Biden chooses U.S Senator for California Kamala Harris as his Vice President candidate

#BlackLivesMatter

As a response to the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin where the killer, George Zimmerman, was not held accountable Alicia Garza called for action among blacks and created the hashtag which today is a movement.

June 2020

What is happening in this picture?

Where?

Why?

Black Lives Matter

The Mayor of Washington decided to paint a street close to the White House

George Floyd died on May 25 after a brutal police arrest

What are the protests about?

NB! Cultural difference!

In the US they talk about race in a way that we in Sweden do not

13%

of the

American population is black

• Systematic racism and injustice against black people

• Systematic police brutality against black people
• For ex. black people are 3x more likely to be killed by the police in the US

Systematic = organized carefully and done thoroughly

A social structure in society which has existed for a long time

• Working against white supremacy = the idea that white people are superior to, and therefore more powerful and advanced than, other groups

The world joins the cause

Sweden

France

Australia

South Africa

The UK

Japan

Brazil

Premier League reacts

Discussion

• Why do you think the attention given to this matter is so high now?
• Why do you think there is such a wide spread of these protests outside the US?

Started with the idea of "cancelling" celebrities for problematic actions or statements.

A "cultural boycott" of a certain celebrity, brand, company or concept.

Early on often used in connection to alleged sex offenders and/or sexual harassment.

Now used widely and with many different definitions, though often seen as something negative.

Free speech is a corner stone of democracy as long as we never offend anyone based on their skin colour, ethnicity, religion or sexuality.

Removing statues connected to the slaveholding times...

• 1 of the 13 original colonies

Friday night August 11th 2017 there was a torch march in Charlottesville to protest against the plan to remove the memorial of Confederate general Robert E Lee

• Home state of George Washington & Thomas Jefferson - two of USA:s founding fathers

• Joined the Confederate states in the Civil war - fought against the north led by President Lincoln

Charlottesville, Virginia, US, 2017-08-11

Robert E Lee

• Confederate Army General

• The Confederates states wanted to keep slavery - the North wanted to abolish slavery

• The Confederate States lost against the North

• Seen as a hero in the South after the war

Discussion whether to remove statues like this one due to history or keep them as a way to preserve history

• Now, also a symbol of racism & America's slaveholding history

"Unite the right"-rally

Present about any topic

Charlottesville, Virginia, August 2017

Flag with Thor's hammer - a symbol used by Nazis and white supremacist as a sign of power

The Confederate flag - used by southerners in the Civil war, during the 1950s and 1960s a symbol of segregation & used by the KKK

In 1920 this symbol became the official party symbol of the Nazi party in German and is since one of the most common symbols for Nazism

One dead and thirtyfive injured by alleged pro-Nazi

How does language and images have an influence?

Discuss in groups:

• How does the use of flags and other symbols influence our view of the events? Compare the initial Friday night torch march with the Saturday protests in the "Unite the right"-rally.

• How does our understanding of and knowledge about history affect us when hearing about similar events? For ex. our knowledge about Nazism and the Holocaust during the Second World War

Film tip!

"...it’s a stranger-than-fiction tale (“based upon some fo’ real, fo’ real shit”) of an African American cop infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1970s."

The Guardian 2018-08-26

Documentary tip!

Write your own tweet connected to #Blacklivesmatter or

#NoRoomForRacism

• On your post it - write a tweet based on your thoughts after these initial lessons. It should have a connection to #Blacklivesmatter or #NoRoomForRacism - or both.
• Put the post it on the door!
• N.B! A tweet can only be 140 characters.
• Write your name on your post it!

Terms which are good to know

White supremacy = when white people have more power than other groups of people in society due to an idea of being superior

White supremacist = a person believing that white people are better than everyone else

Neo-Nazi = a person that belongs to a group which believes in the ideas and policies of Hitler; anti-semitism and the idea of race

Antisemitism = hostility toward or discrimination against Jews

Right wing-extremism = anti-democratic, belief in dividing people on the base of ethnicity or culture, i.e. racism and with that a belief in nationalism

Your tweets

"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves." - Abraham Lincoln

Almost 200 years and we still have racism #NoRoomForRacism

All lives matter, no matter religion or color #NoRoomForRacism

#BlackLivesMatter I think it is good but we have to do it in a peaceful way. But all life is the same, we all come from the same place.

Nobody said that only Black lives matter, we said that Black lives also matter. #Blacklivesmatter

All lives are created equal! #NoRoomForRacism

No one should be judged or killed because of their skin colour. #Blacklivesmatter

Write an article of an event in American history

Examination 1 American History Project:

Article about a historical event

• An event of your own choice

• Pretend you write it in the year(s) when it happened - you are a reporter!
• Describe what, why and also how people reacted

• Be creative!

• 400-700 words

• Deadline Sunday October 4, 10 pm

How to write a news article

A news article covers some current issue and should be objective and impartial.

Headline

• capture interest
• reveal what the article is about
• no subjective or emotionally charged words - be objective

Body

• Who? What? When? Where? How? Consequences?
• don't overestimate the reader's knowledge about topic but don't underestimate his/her intelligence
• no emotionally charged words or opinions unless it's the words of an interviewee
• adapt message to recipient

Preamble

• introduction of article - in bold
• summarize main content
• cover what is in the text

Subheading

• divide text into smaller portions
• quick overview gives a good idea of content

Byline

• name of the writer
• adds credibility

The "discovery" of America

• When Columbus came to America, the continent became known in Europe

• However, America was already known and inhabitated - "Native Americans"

• The whites claimed their right to the land and the natives were pushed away