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It's All in the Making—Our Local Organizations
Lesson 5:
From Unit Diverse Voices-African American Ventures
Purpose:
Students will understand the roles played by local African American nonprofit organizations in their community.
Duration:
Two to Three Forty-Minute Class Periods
Objectives:
The learner will:
- create a local directory of African American organizations that provide significant service to the community.
- map local African American organizations on a city map and analyze their locations.
- describe how a selected program(s) of an African American organization assists the community.
Service Experience:
Although this lesson contains a service project example, decisions about service plans and implementation should be made by students, as age appropriate.
If possible, a study-trip where students visit a local African American philanthropic group.
Materials:
- "The Story of the National Association of Colored Persons" (see Attachment One).
- Black Organizational Pamphlets
- Magazines
- Local City Map
- Local Telephone Directory Listing
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
Ask students if they know of any African American organizations and list them on the chalkboard. Help students identify the work that these organizations do and list examples.
- Begin with a discussion of African American organizations. Introduce to the students the idea that African Americans played major and vital roles in their local communities. Share with them orally or have them read background information of the NAACP. See Attachment One, "The Story of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)."
- Divide the class into small teams and have students visit the home page of the NAACP (http://www.naacp.org/ ). Ask students to research the many programs of the organization. When finished doing their research, each group should design a poster which will provide information to the rest of the class about the information obtained. An alternative activity would be to invite an organizational representative(s) to visit the class and discuss its work with students. (Note: Should a visitor talk to the class, have students generate a preliminary list of questions prior to the visit to ensure they obtain their information.)
- Another organization for study is the National Urban League, which also has local affiliates. Its home site is http://www.nul.org . This group can be researched as the NAACP was or half of the class can visit this site while the other half of the class studies the NAACP. Design informative posters as well for this group as well.
- Review the list of African American organizations listed on the chalkboard. These groups should be organizations, including churches, which provide support to the community in some substantive way. Using the telephone directory, ask students to locate the addresses of these organizations and place this information on the chalkboard next to the list. If students locate other organizations to add to the list, they may add them. Examples of such groups include:
- Black United Fund
- NAACP
- Detroit Urban League
- Coleman Young Scholarship Foundation
- Black Family Development
- Urban Bankers Forum
- Black Christian National Church
- National Association of Black Social Workers
- National Council of Negro Women, Inc.
- Take a city map and locate these organizations on the map. (An alternative activity would be to give each student team a reproduced 8-1/2" x 11" map of the city and let them locate the organizations on their own maps.) If the maps contain map coordinates, write down the map coordinate for each location on the chalkboard. Discuss the work of each organization and its location(s). Discuss why the organizations are located where they are.
- If possible, arrange for students to visit one of the organizations studied or have the class write a letter to the organizations, expressing their gratitude for the work the organization has done for the community.
Assessment:
Students will write a one-paragraph essay explaining African Americans major roles in the development of the community. Students should: state their point of view on this issue, name two African American organizations that have provided service to the community; and describe the work of one of them.Rubric for Essay on African American Organizations
| Score 1 | Score 2 | Score 3 | Score 4 |
| Correctly named one organization | Correctly named two organizations | Correctly stated a point of view and named two organizations | Correctly stated a point of view, named two organizations and described the work of one |
Bibliographical References:
- Helpful Internet Web sites:
http://www.naacp.org/ http://www.nul.org
Lesson Developed and Piloted by:
Dorothy RogersDetroit Public Schools
Van Zile Elementary School
Detroit, MI 48234
Larry Ray
Detroit Public Schools
Van Zile Elementary School
Detroit, MI 48234
Ramona Purdy
Detroit Public Schools
Van Zile Elementary School
Detroit, MI 48234
Sandra Hughes
Detroit Public Schools
Van Zile Elementary School
Detroit, MI 48234
Handouts:
Handout 1Print Handout 1
The Story of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Even though the Africans were legally free, they did not have the same rights or opportunities as other Americans. African Americans could not vote. They could not get well paying jobs or good houses.African Americans did not like this unfair treatment. In 1905, a group of African Americans had a meeting in Niagara Falls, Canada. Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was one of the people at the meeting. At the meeting, the group talked about ways to help African Americans get better housing and better jobs. They wanted African Americans to have the chance to vote.
The African Americans formed the Niagara Movement. The Niagara Movement decided to bring legal cases in the courts to get rights for African Americans. The Niagara Movement had meetings in Niagara Falls; Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia; Oberlin, Ohio and Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1908, there was a race riot in Springfield, Illinois. The Springfield riot lasted for two days. During the two days, many African Americans were wounded and killed. Many people in the country learned about this riot because Springfield was Abraham Lincoln’s hometown.
In January 1909, a social worker named Mary Ovington, a news reporter named William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moskowitz started talking about the Springfield riot and thinking of ways to help African Americans. Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois joined them.
On February 12, 1909, they asked other people to join them. They picked February 12, 1909 because if Abraham Lincoln had been alive, he would have been 100 years old on that day. Many people did join them. This was the beginning of the NAACP. In May 1910, the group elected officers. The Director of Publicity and Research was Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois.
Dr. Du Bois introduced the members of the Niagara Movement to the members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Both organizations wanted to make life better for African Americans. Since they had the same goals, many members of the Niagara Movement became members and officers in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People published its own magazine called The Crisis. It was first published in November 1910. Dr. W.E.B.Du Bois was the editor. The Crisis is still published today.
Today, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has over 500,000 members, 1,700 branch chapters, and 450 college and youth chapters.
The Home Page of the NAACP can be found at http://www.naacp.org
Unit Contents:
Overview:Diverse Voices-African American Ventures Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Getting the Hang of Philanthropy
- 2.
- Piece of Bread (A)
- 3.
- It's a Matter of Freedom
- 4.
- Underground Railroad—People Get Ready...There's a Train a Comin'
- 5.
- It's All in the Making—Our Local Organizations
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Comments
Very good lesson. I used a local organization for my kids to see that philanthropic acts exist in their community.