1919 Teaching Guide 1 Written by Rabiya Kassam-Clay. Rabiya Kassam-Clay has a Masters of Education in Secondary Education with a focus in social studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She has taught middle and high school English and social studies in Philadelphia, Mexico City, and Los Angeles. Questions or feedback? Please reach out to [email protected] or Chicago Commission on Race Relations. Negro stock yards workers [email protected]. receiving wages, 1922. 2 Table of Contents 1. Overview and Essential Questions 4 2. Common Core and State Standards 5 3. Background 7 Context of Chicago prior to the riots, timeline of the riots, and summary of the impact of the riots 4. Introduction Lesson 15 An outline of activities for a 50-minute class period to start a unit in an English or social studies course 5. Discussion Questions 16 Ten questions to spark and guide class conversation on the historical elements and individual poems 6. Analytical Assessments 18 Five suggestions for literary and historical analysis 7. Creative Assessments 20 Five suggestions for creative written, visual, and social justice work. 8. Related Materials 21 An annotated list of relevant works including: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, visual art, and music 3 Overview & Essential Questions Thank you for making1919 a part of your classroom. The stories un- raveled by these poems invite us to ask questions about our homes, our country, and ourselves. This guide is offered in the spirit of that open- ness. It is intended for adaptation to different ages, abilities, subject areas, and contexts. All materials are centered around the following questions: ◊ What about US society remains unchanged from 1919 to today? What is radically different? ◊ Why are some stories told and remembered, while others are untold or forgotten? How do we tell the story of the places where we live? ◊ How do we understand the causes of conflict? How do we act to build a just and peaceful world? This guide includes historical background to inform teacher or stu- dent reading, prompts to start conversations about the poems, assess- ment possibilities to anchor a unit of study, and resources to enrich your class experience with the text. Please make any and all of it your own, and share your adaptations and additions. 4 Common Core Standards The Common Core standards focus on English Language Arts, and include an approach to building literacy through history/social studies. Whenever appropriate, both middle school and high school standards have been included. Reading Speaking and Listening ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2 ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare Determine central ideas or themes of a text for and participate effectively in a range of and analyze their development; summarize conversations and collaborations with diverse the key supporting details and ideas. partners, building on others’ ideas and ex- pressing their own clearly and persuasively. ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4 Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, History/Social Studies and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1 Cite spe- cific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources. Writing ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1 Cite ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1 Write specific textual evidence to support analysis arguments to support claims in an analysis of of primary and secondary sources, connect- substantive topics or texts using valid reason- ing insights gained from specific details to an ing and relevant and sufficient evidence. understanding of the text as a whole. ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.7 ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6 Identify Conduct short as well as more sustained aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of research projects based on focused questions, view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclu- demonstrating understanding of the subject sion or avoidance of particular facts). under investigation. ◊ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.6 Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence. 5 State Standards As standards at the state level will vary, we have included two examples. The first is from Illinois, whose standards are skills-based. The second is from California, whose standards are content-based. Illinois Inquiry Geography History SS.IS.4.6-8.MdC: Determine the SS.G2.6-8.MdC: Compare and SS.H.1.6-8.MdC: Analyze credibility of sources based upon contrast the cultural characteris- connections among events origin, authority, and context. tics of different places or regions. and developments in historical contexts. SS.IS.4.9-12: Gather and eval- SS.G3.6-8.MdC: Explain how uate information from multiple changes in transportation and SS.H.2.6-8.MdC: Analyze sources while considering origin, communication influence the multiple factors that influenced credibility, point of view, author- spatial connections among hu- the perspectives of people ity, structure, context, and cor- man settlements and affect the during different historical eras. roborative value of the sources. spread of ideas and culture. SS.H.1.9-12: Evaluate how SS.IS.8.6-8.MdC: Assess in- SS.G.6.9-12: Analyze how historical developments were dividual and collective capac- historical events and the shaped by time and place ities to take action to address diffusion of ideas, technolo- as well as broader historical problems and identify potential gies, and cultural practices contexts. outcomes. have influenced migration SS.H.2.9-12: Analyze change patterns and the distribution SS.IS.8.9-12: Use interdisci- and continuity within and of human population. plinary lenses to analyze the across historical eras. causes and effects of and iden- SS.G.7.9-12: Evaluate how eco- tify solutions to local, regional, nomic activities and political or global concerns. decisions impact spatial pat- terns within and among urban, suburban, and rural regions. California 8.11 Students analyze the character and lasting consequences of Reconstruction. 8.12 Students analyze the transformation of the American economy and the changing social and political conditions in the United States in response to the Industrial Revolution. 11.1 Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempts to realize the phi- losophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence. 11.2 Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large scale rural-to-urban migra- tion, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. 11.5 Students analyze the major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s. 6 Chicago Commission on Race Relations. Buying ice from freight car switched into Negro residence area. 1922. Background The following topics could aid teacher preparation as well as build a historical context for students prior to and while reading 1919. World War I Many Black Americans, most notably W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP’s leadership, saw the Great War as an opportunity to gain greater civil rights through enlistment. Some dissented and pointed to the hypocrisy of fighting to make the world “safe for democracy” when it was dangerous for Black Americans to exercise their democratic rights domestically. Unlike the Civil War, WWI did not allow for greater inclusion of Black Americans. Black soldiers were banned from the navy, segregat- ed into primarily supply units in the army, and excluded from the Paris victory parade. When they came back from fighting, soldiers faced the same discrimination as they had before the war—some- times made worse because some white Americans were angry to see Black men in uniform. These disappointments, and Black Americans’ interactions with African colonial soldiers abroad, encour- aged stronger demands for change on the homefront including the 1917 Silent Protest Parade and the growth of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, which advocated for Black national self-determination. 7 Chicago Commission on Race Relations. A negro family just arrived in Chicago from the rural South. 1922. Great Migration Demand for greater war production and decreased immigration from Europe led to new job op- portunities in the urban North. As a result, approximately half a million Black Americans, and even more white Americans, migrated from the rural South. This massive migratory shift for Black Americans was often called a Second Emancipation. So Black Americans made comparisons be- tween this movement and the book of Exodus in the Bible, where Moses leads his people out of slavery in Egypt. Black Americans sought higher wages, children’s education, voting rights, and sanctuary from lynch mob culture. But up north, the realities they found presented continuing challenges in the form of employ- ment discrimination, union exclusion, housing segregation in the Chicago South Side’s Black Belt, and persistent threats of racial violence. As an example of ongoing economic frustrations, the Union Stock Yards, a 475-acre national center for meat processing used Black workers to break union strikes, while these unions excluded all Black workers. In housing, white property owners formed associa- tions to act against black renters and homeowners including bombing personal residences. However, networks of mutual support also formed, such as the interracial Chicago Urban League that provid- ed assistance for newly arrived black Americans. 8 Revolution and Labor In the wake of the Russian Revolution’s creation of the socialist Soviet Union, there were revolutions occurring in countries worldwide in 1919 including Germany, Hungary, Spain, and India. Within the United States, 1919 was a year of unprecedented labor resistance with four million participating in strikes in indus- tries including textiles, telephone, theater, shipping, police, and coal. In the 1919 Great Steel Strike based in Chicago, immigrant workers led the push for union inclusion, higher wages, and an eight- hour work day.