Stefanie Carter-Dodson, 8th Grade, Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School
Implementing Common Core Standards (PDF)
Keywords: LANGUAGE ARTS, CIVIL RIGHTS LITERATURE, HISTORICAL CONTEXT, BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT, SOCIETY AND CULTURE
200-word synopsis:
In this unit, students will explore the reciprocity between literature and culture and come to understand the inextricable link between literature and the socio-historical context (historical and cultural) in which it is created. The literature of the Civil Rights Movement provides an ideal topic for exploration of historical and cultural connections to literature. This unit specifically focuses on how the Black Power and Black Arts Movements (BAM) created an artistic and political subculture that subverted the ideals of dominant culture and created a new aesthetic that unified art and politics. This new aesthetic gave voice to marginalized African Americans and reflected their reality, culture, and history. Students will analyze multiple genres for thematic parallels and articulate in writing the relationship between society and literature.
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