Reading and Writing Workshop

Unit 6 – Contemporary Movements for Racial Justice
Session 1: Black Lives Matter and Racial Justice Activism
Focus Topics:

• Origins and impact of Black Lives Matter (BLM)
• Modern racial justice activism and grassroots organizing

Primary Texts:

• Excerpts from The Purpose of Power by Alicia Garza (2020) – for in-class excerpt reading/discussion (non-public domain)
• The Negro Protest (1963) by Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr., and James Baldwin (public domain)
  Full text via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/negroprotest0000bald

Public Domain Supplement:

• The Souls of Black Folk (1903) by W.E.B. Du Bois – Chapter I: “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”
  Full text via Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/408

Activities:

• Socratic seminar on the evolution of Black protest movements from Du Bois to BLM
• Short reflective essay: “What is the role of collective power in modern racial justice activism?”

Session 2: Environmental Racism and Indigenous Land Rights
Focus Topics:

• Environmental racism in marginalized communities
• Indigenous sovereignty and land defense movements (e.g., Standing Rock)

Primary Texts:

• Indigenous Environmental Network resources (public domain):
  “Declaration of the Indigenous Environmental Network”
  Full text via IEN: https://www.ienearth.org/about/
• “To the Great Spirit” from American Indian Stories (1921) by Zitkála-Šá (public domain)
  Full text via Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10376

Public Domain Supplement:

• A Century of Dishonor (1881) by Helen Hunt Jackson – excerpts on land dispossession
  Full text via Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20239

Activities:

• Write a position paper on Indigenous land rights and environmental justice
• Media literacy discussion: How do different outlets portray Indigenous-led environmental protests (Standing Rock as a case study)?

Session 3: Reparations Debates (H.R. 40 and Other Proposals)
Focus Topics:

• Reparations for Black Americans
• H.R. 40 and national/international models of reparative justice

Primary Texts:

• The Case for Reparations (2014) by Ta-Nehisi Coates – The Atlantic (non-public domain, but for in-class excerpts)
• What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852) by Frederick Douglass (public domain)
  Full text via Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28160

Public Domain Supplement:

• The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America (1896) by W.E.B. Du Bois – excerpts on historical economic impacts
  Full text via Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17700

Activities:

• Debate: “Resolved: The U.S. should pass H.R. 40 and establish reparations programs”
• Write a persuasive editorial arguing for or against reparations based on readings.

Session 4: Anti-Racist Education and Community Organizing
​Focus Topics:

• Anti-racist teaching practices and curriculum reform
• Community organizing and coalition-building strategies

Primary Texts:

• Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) by Paulo Freire – excerpts (public domain in select countries, verify availability locally)
  Public domain version: https://monoskop.org/images/1/1c/Freire_Paulo_Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed.pdf
• How to Change It (2020) by Joshua Virasami (excerpted discussion on community organizing)

Public Domain Supplement:

• On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849) by Henry David Thoreau
  Full text via Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71

Activities:

• Design and Present a Community Action Project: Students will work in groups to research, plan, and present a project proposal aimed at addressing a racial justice issue in their community.
• Media Literacy Workshop:
  Analyze two contemporary news outlets' coverage of a protest (e.g., Ferguson, George Floyd protests, or Standing Rock), compare language, framing, and tone.

Additional Notes:For the Media Literacy Workshop, you may also direct students to public domain photography collections for comparative analysis, such as:

• Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Collection
  https://www.loc.gov/pictures/
• Wikimedia Commons: Category on Protests
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Protests