LEARN NC

North Carolina History Digital Textbook Project

Race in her lifetime

By Kristin Post

1.1 Lesson plan: Race in her lifetime

By Kristin Post

Provided by UNC Libraries / Documenting the American South

Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • become familiar with an oral history and gain a deeper understanding of history from the African American perspective
  • consider the subtler forms of discrimination African Americans faced, and the everyday battles that were fought

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1–2 class periods

Resources/Materials

You may also wish to print out the transcripts of the interviews for the students.

Optional resources

Technology resources

  • internet connection
  • speakers
  • computer
  • headphones (preferred)
  • CD player (in lieu of the computer, speakers and internet connection, if you have burned your own CD)

Pre-activities

Teacher preparation

Listen to the oral histories linked above. Read through the transcripts and teacher’s guides.

Audio preparation

  1. If you are playing audio from a CD player, you will not require a computer or speakers. In this situation, you will want to download the oral histories ahead of time and burn them onto a CD.
  2. If you are playing the oral histories from a computer and speakers in your classroom, you can play it live from the website or download the audio to your computer and play it with a variety of audio players that may be installed on your computer.
  3. If you are going to use the computer lab, you do not have to download the oral histories. You and your students can simply listen to the audio excerpts included in this lesson plan.
  4. Before you use the computer lab, you should ensure every student will have a computer and headphones. Also, ensure that the volume on all of the computers is not muted, and is not too loud.

Consult UNC’s Resources for Teachers: Audio Toolkit if you wish to know more about downloading or playing audio files.

Activities

Warm-up: Stand up, sit down

The subject of this oral history, Rebecca Clark, is probably in her eighties at the time of this interview. This warm-up activity is designed to help students relate to Mrs. Clark by thinking of their grandparents and their lives. Though Rebecca Clark is probably older than most students’ grandparents, her voice and word choice will be similar to theirs.

This warm-up is also designed to use up a bit of energy, since students will have to spend some time concentrating on listening during the lesson. In order to facilitate a more physical experience, read out the following list as rapidly as possible, allowing little time for students to think or rest.

Ask students to stand up if the following statement is true, or sit down if it is false. Repeat for each statement.

  • I look like one of my grandparents.
  • I have a grandparent I enjoy being with.
  • I live near one or more of my grandparents.
  • I have heard a grandparent tell a story from his or her life.
  • I have heard a grandparent talk about life on the farm.
  • One or more of my grandparents graduated from high school.
  • One or more of my grandparents graduated from college.
  • I have heard a grandparent talk about the Depression.
  • I have heard a grandparent talk about segregation.
  • One or more of my grandparents vote.
  • I’d like to have the same job as one of my grandparents.

You may create additional statements, or encourage students to share their own statements.

Activity 1: Oral history overview

  1. Discuss what students already know about oral histories. Ask if they, or someone in their family, have ever created an oral history or family history.
  2. Summarize what is an oral history. An oral history is generally considered to be a recorded dialog between an interviewer and an interviewee. Usually the interview questions are broad at first, allowing the narrator to share one’s general life history, and then become more focused on a certain time and place. An oral history often allows a greater breadth of detail than a formal, news-oriented interview. As such, they can be quite long, spanning hours, even days. In this case, this interview with Rebecca Clark took a couple of days, with each interview lasting about forty-five minutes. The entire oral history is over three hours long.

Activity 2: Rebecca Clark’s oral history

Part 1: Early childhood

  1. Using your Early Childhood teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  2. Using your Early Childhood teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Early Childhood oral history excerpt. Running time: 2 minutes 5 seconds.
  4. Using your Early Childhood teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Part 2: Country memories

  1. Using your Country Memories teacher’s guide, read the the introductory script aloud to the class.
  2. Using your Country Memories teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Country Memories oral history excerpt. Running time: 3 minutes 40 seconds.
  4. Using your Country Memories teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Part 3: Education

  1. Using your Education teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  2. Using your Education teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Education oral history excerpt. Running time: 1 minute 25 seconds.
  4. Using your Education teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Part 4: Race relations

  1. Using your Race Relations teacher’s guide, read the introductory script.
  2. Using your Race Relations teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Race Relations oral history excerpt. Running time: 1 minute 25 seconds.
  4. Using your Race Relations teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Part 5: Pay raise

  1. Using your Pay raise teacher’s guide, read the introductory script.
  2. Using your Pay raise teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Pay Raise oral history excerpt. Running time: 2 minutes 7 seconds.
  4. Using your Pay raise teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Part 6: Politics

  1. Using your Politics teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  2. Using your Politics teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Politics oral history excerpt. Running time: 4 minutes 5 seconds.
  4. Using your Politics teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Assessment

At the end of class, students will write down something they learned from Rebecca Clark’s life that they had never considered before. Students will write a minimum of three additional complex questions (that demand more than a yes or no answer) that pertain to this topic. In the upcoming week, students will contact an older living relative or grandparent and ask them these questions. Students may also use the classroom textbook, the internet, or the library to seek out additional information. Students will write up a short report of their questions and the results of the research. In this report, they will include their perspective on the value of gaining knowledge and information about the past from older relatives.