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Equality among humans has been a theme across several units in English class this spring. On our trip to Washington, D.C., we visited the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, where we read Lincoln's lofty yet humble Gettysburg Address, as well as Jefferson's noble words in The Declaration of Indepence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." This theme has also thread its way through poems and speeches by African-American authors, as well as Orwell's Animal Farm. To prepare for a team presentation that we called "Equality" and in advance of reading Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun, we studied poems and a speech by African-American authors. An Overarching Essential Question, therefore, is: "How and why is equality a constant concern for human relations through history?" An Overarching Enduring Understanding is: "Equality among humans, especially equality of opportunity, is an important and lasting concern for humans living together, across cultures and across time." An Overarching Topical Question is: "How is equality a theme in these works of literature and speeches?" People have said that if there is no justice, there is no peace. Nations are more prosperous during peaceful times. Justice supports the experience of equality. These poems and speeches include:
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
Cross by Langston Hughes
I, Too by Langston Hughes
Harlem by Langston Hughes
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
Mother to Son by Langston Hughes
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King (excerpt)
The goal was to get a sense of modern poetry written by African-American authors, to examine themes, such as racial identity confusion (Langston Hughes' "Cross," racial identity strength ("I, Too"), perseverence in the face of adversity ("Mother to Son," "I, Too," and "Still I Rise") and living with deferred dreams. We also examined the closing paragraphs of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, with its optimism for a future free from racial tensions.
We began the unit by examining Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" and explored its use of rhetorical devices such as balanced phrases and parallel structure. We examine its dual mood of humility and determination as shown through word choices. Students spoke aloud assigned passages in small groups and were recorded and heard themselves deliver their sections, and were given feedback on their performances.
An essential question was: How does the structure or "architecture" and auditory effects (alliteration, for example) of a political speech create a sense of power and beauty that adds to its effect on the listener or reader?
Topical questions were: Which words should receive emphasis as the speech is read aloud, to bring out the meaning of the text? How can you locate instances of balanced phrasing and parallel structure? Where do you find examples of alliteration?
Later on, for purposes of uniting the essence of Lincoln's address with our African-American poems, we focused on this line:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
The phrase "all men are created equal," of course, comes from Thomas Jefferson's pen in The Declaration of Independence: So Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, five score years later, both alludes to and echoes Jefferson's and Lincoln's writings. In putting together a slide show, I decided to use an image of the Statue of Liberty and juxtapose it with a passage from King's speech. As you can see, the excerpt from King's speech was worked like a "concrete poem" into a shape reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty. Introduction and process of the lesson: With this juxtaposition, I could ask students to create an interpretation of this arrangement -- how does shaping King's text into a "statue of liberty" make sense, given the words at its base, in its torch, and in the statute itself. I asked them to find connections between these three areas in both the images -- the concrete poem and the statue itself. With discussion and questioning, students connected with the pairing of the speech excerpt and the statue itself. They found the middle part of the speech, that which pairs with the body of the statue, the most challenging to connect in an articulate manner. To help them do this, we imagined other ways she might stand or hold the torch. See the topical questions below. That helped students see that how a nation "rises up" and holds itself aloft could be connected with how Lady Liberty is standing.
Essential Questions for this activity are: When you stand straight up, rather than slouch, how do you feel? What is the Statue of Liberty symbolic of? How is the statue both "connected" to the ground and the sky? How is Martin Luther King Jr's speech both grounded and lofty?
Enduring Understandings for this activity are: Poets shape poetic language to create an emotional effect or conceptual meaning by arranging language into symbolic or suggestive shapes.
Topical Questions for this concrete poem (using lines from his speech) include: How is the truth "All men are created equal" a necessary base or foundation for society to function well?" Make connections. How is the idea of a nation "rising up" to live out the "true meaning" of its beliefs similar to how Lady Liberty stands? (How is Lady Liberty standing? For contrasts, how is she not standing?) Make connections. Finally, how is the phrase "I have a dream..." similar to the torch? (How is the torch is held?) Make connections. Students responded: "The shape of the poem is similar to the Statue of Liberty. The statue stands for freedom, justice, and liberty. It stands for everything that was being deprived of the African-Americans. The base is what holds it up, the facts, the reasons. The green is the main structure of the statue, what you look at and what you want. The top, or gold flame, signifies the dream; it keeps people going." (Andrea) "The words in the torch, 'I have a dream,' symbolize dreams of everyone and the things you can accomplish if you reach for them. The body is the people who support the ideas and dreams and who "rise up" to reach these goals. The base holds up our country and the statue. It is the main idea that Rev. King's speech builds on." (Abby)
"King's speech impersonates the Statue of Liberty. When King says, 'I have a dream,' it represents the torch of the statue of liberty. When immigrants first arrived to the USA, they saw the torch, which represents their dream. The body of the statue is also the body of King's speech. Then the very foundation of liberty is that 'All Men are Created Equal,' which is also in the Declaration of Independence, representing the foundation or base of the Statue of Liberty." (Frank)
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