Example 1
Central Question: When is the government justified in limiting radical groups?
Archive: A song from the Industrial Workers of the World Songbook and the Ten Point Program of the Black Panther Party.
Sources: Renshaw, Patrick.
The Wobblies: The Story of Syndicalism in the United States.
Doubleday 1967
New York. p.28.
Baruch, Ruth- Marion and Jones, Pirkle. The Vanguard: A Photographic
Essay on the Black
Panthers. Beacon Press, Boston 1970. p. 42-7.
Purpose/Goal: Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate intelligence through interpreting song lyrics and creating new song lyrics based on the Panther party platform. Students will be provided with information that will help them to draw some parallels between the Panthers and the Wobblies.
Method/Activity: Place the students in their cooperative learning groups. Give each student a copy of the lyric sheet for the song "Dump the Bosses Off Your Back." While they are reading silently, play the tape of the person singing the song to the tune of the Protestant hymn "Take it to the Lord in Prayer." Have the students answer the following questions (on a listening guide or in discussion): To whom is the song appealing? What type of person would be attracted to this song? Why do you think John Brill wrote this song? What was his purpose? What type of change did he seek to bring? Why was the song set to the music of a Protestant hymn? Was this meant to be sarcastic? After these questions have been addressed, hand the students a copy of the Panther's platform. Ask the students to create a song based on the agenda of the Panthers. The song should in some way do the following: 1) State at least three of the Panther's complaints. 2) State what the Panther's felt should be done about the complaint. Student's should be allowed to present the song in their own creative way. This could be anything from reading the song to actually singing the song to the class.
Product: Students should produce
songs that are very diverse. By expressing the Panther platform in
an alternative way, they will learn the basic political philosophy of the
Black Panther Party.
Example 2
Central Question: When is the government justified in limiting radical groups?
Archive: A poem written by a Black Panther about the violence of police.
Sources: FBI file on the Black Panther Party, North Carolina. United States Bureau of Investigation. Microfilm 2 reels. Circa, January 1970.
Purpose/Goal: Students will gain skills interpreting poems. From the poem, students should gain insight about how the Panthers viewed actions of police that were directed against the party.
Method/Activity: Give a copy of the poem "An Ode To The Panthers" to each group of students. At this point students should be told some of the basic imagery in the poem ie. pigs represent cops. Have the students read the poem. In their groups they should discuss ways that the poem could be illustrated without words. They ask the students to make a graphic representation of the message being sent by the author of the poem. This could be done with magazine clippings, but preferably the students should use their own artistic abilities. Students might draw one picture for the entire poem, or a series of pictures; one for each stanza. For each picture, the students should write a brief explanation of why they chose to illustrate the poem's message this way. After completing the drawings and explanations, the student's should present their drawings to the class. After the presentations, there should be a class-wide discussion about the poem. Questions such as the following should be addressed: How does the poem portray police? What reasons would the Panther's have for feeling this way about the police? Could the police be justified in acting towards the Panther's as they did? What is the Panther's proposed response to the alleged police brutality? Would the Panther's be justified in this response?
Product: Students should produce
drawings that represent the images in the poem. Through the drawings
and discussion, students should gain insight into the relationship between
the police and the Black Panther Party.
Example 3 - Entire
Archive (Instructor's comments in red)
Central Question: When
is the United States justifed in using force to intervene in foreign political
affairs?