AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES

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Lucy Houston
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1 AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES LESSON PLAN Social Studies Topic: Timbuktu, Great Center of Learning Grade Level: 1 Objective: Competency Link: Recognize key historical developments in West Africa. IIA. Historical Awareness Materials/Resources: < 1 large paper bag < 1 book < 1 stethoscope or thermometer < 1 chess game < Book of poetry Audiovisual: The Bewitched Tree, an African folktale of an old man whose daughter returns home to find that there is not enough food. DCPS Video Catalog Number for videocassette (25 mins.)or Catalog Number for the film reel (25 mins.) Library/Media Strategies: Make puppets or manipulatives for children to hold while telling them the story, e.g., feathers for the wicked bird, a lion s mane. Procedures/Activities: 1. Examine a map of West Africa - locate the country of Mali. 2. Highlight Timbuktu (Tombouctou) on the map with a sticker, star or circle. 3. Explain that this city was a great center of learning - its universities were world famous.

2 Social Studies Topic: Timbuktu, Great Center of Learning Grade Level: 1 4. Have a bag prepared containing: < A book - libraries and bookstores were in abundance there. < Thermometer or stethoscope - city was known for its advanced medicine. < A piece of jewelry or a piece of silk - citizens adorned themselves in gold and finery. < Chess game - chess was a popular game. < Poetry - poetry readings were popular entertainment. 5. Tell students they are going back in time to a place where all of these things are representative of the highlights of the city of Timbuktu, located in the empire of Mali. 6. Discuss the things that Timbuktu was famous for: < Advanced medicine < Temples < Shops < Schools and universities < Factories < Libraries and bookstores < Great wealth Assessment: < Students can draw representations of the important goods and industries for which Timbuktu was known. < Choose one item from the Timbuktu bag to write about.

3 Social Studies Topic: Timbuktu, Great Center of Learning Grade Level: 1 Background Information: Timbuktu, a city located in the country of Mali, was the Songhai Empire s main center of learning, such as Plato s academy in Ancient Greece or Alexandria in Egypt. It was a huge city of over 100,000 people. Two great mosques of stone and lime stood taller than any other buildings. Foods like grains, fruit, milk and butter could be bought. Cloth and gold and silver jewelry were also for sale. Merchants came from as far as Europe to trade goods. Scholars from the great universities mingled there with rich merchants. There were temples, shops, schools and factories, as well as libraries and bookstores. Timbuktu was also known to have excellent hospitals where advanced medicine was practiced with much success. The Songhai people enjoyed fencing, poetry readings, gymnastics and games such as chess.

4 AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES LESSON PLAN Social Studies Topic: Cultural Shock Experienced by Grade Level: 1 African Americans Objective: Competency Link: Materials/Resources: Discuss the cultural shock enslaved Africans experienced when forced to migrate to America. VIA. Global Perspective Story of Olaudah Equiano Procedures/Activities: 1. Have students listen to the story of Olaudah Equiano and his sister who were kidnaped from their home in West Africa and sold into slavery. Then have students respond orally and/or in writing. 2. Explain to students that when Olaudah reached the United States, he was given a new name and not allowed to speak his language. Make certain that students understand that this was the plight of Africans brought to America. They lost their culture, heritage, family, name and language. 3. Have students write a letter to Olaudah and share it with the class. 4. Ask probing questions so that students can explore their feelings. Assessment: Letters to Olaudah.

5 Social Studies Topic: Cultural Shock Experienced by African Americans Grade: 1 OLAUDAH S STORY Olaudah Equiano was an eleven year old African boy who was kidnaped along with his sister from his home in West Africa, the Benin Kingdom, in One day, when only I and my dear sister were left behind to mind the house, two men and a woman climbed over our walls, and in a moment seized us both. They stuffed our mouths and ran off with us into the nearest wood...the next day proved a day of greater sorrow...for my sister and I were separated while we lay clasped (weeping) in each other s arms... I cried and grieved continually, and for several days I did not eat anything but what was forced into my mouth. When I looked around the (slave) ship (when I arrived at the coast) and saw a large furnace boiling and a multitude of black people chained together..i no longer doubted my fate...i fell motionless on the deck and fainted. (Later) I asked if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair... I received such a salutation in my nostrils...with the stench and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat...i now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me...i would have jumped over the side, but I could not...the crew used to watch us very closely...and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case with myself. I had never seen among my people such instances of brutal cruelty, and this not only shown toward us blacks but also to some of the whites themselves. One white man in particular I saw...flogged so unmercifully...that he died as a consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute... The hold was so crowded it almost suffocated us...the shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable... At last we came in sight of the island of Barbados...We were sold after the usual manner...without scruple, are friends and relations separated, most of them never to see each other again. Olaudah was taken to Virginia where his name changed to Gustavus Vassa and sold into slavery. He eventually bought his freedom and became a writer in Europe.

6 AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES LESSON PLAN Social Studies Topic: West Africa Grade Level: 1 Objectives: < Identify a West African country. < Locate physical features in West Africa. Competency Link: IA. Geographic Understanding Materials/Resources: < 1 world map < 1 magic marker < Construction/manila paper for each student Audiovisual: Anansi the Spider, an animated film which related the adventures of the cunning spider, the trickster-hero of the Ashanti people of West Africa. DCPS Catalog Number (cassette) or (16mm), 10 mins. Library/Media Strategies: Media specialists can have students take turns acting out the part of Anansi in any of the Anansi the Spider series. Procedures/Activities: 1. Have students look at a map of the continent of Africa (locate Miami and have them trace over with the index finger to West Africa). 2. Explain to students that it was from this area of the continent that most ancestors (use the term great, great, great grandfathers to clarify if you wish) of African Americans were taken and brought to the United States and other parts of the Western Hemisphere. 3. Outline the region with magic marker or chalk and have students count the number of countries in the region of West Africa (16). Identify the name of each country and choose one for the class to study.

7 Social Studies Topic: West Africa Grade Level: 1 4. After choosing the country, have students draw and color the chosen country. 5. CLIMATE - Indicate on the map (with attached symbols) the varying climate in the region. 6. Discuss the characteristics of the 3 types of climate in the region: < DESERT - Hot and dry. These lands have little vegetation and are mainly the home of nomadic herders. < RAIN FOREST - Hot, humid and rainy, this equatorial region has 135 inches of rain per year. < SAVANNA - A grassland that contains scattered trees. Has a long, rainy and long dry season. 7. Compare/Contrast: using the graphic organizer of choice (e.g., Venn Diagram, T-Bar) discuss: < How are the climates alike and how are they different? < What might it be like to live in a desert or a rain forest? < How might people have to live differently in a desert than in a rain forest or a savanna? Assessment: Students will draw pictures to match the description of a selected area. < A desert is hot, dry, with sand and a few trees. < A rain forest is hot, rainy with lots of trees. < A savanna is hot, with lots of grass and some trees.

8 Social Studies Topic: West Africa Grade Level: 1 Background Information: West Africa is divided into coastal regions and inland regions. Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger are landlocked. The other 12 countries have coastlines on the Atlantic Ocean. West Africa has four climate regions: < DESERT - Hot and dry. These lands have little vegetation and are mainly the home of nomadic herders. < RAIN FOREST - Hot, humid and rainy, this equatorial region has 135 inches of rain per year. < TRANSITIONAL ZONE - A semi-desert climate known as the SAHEL, they form the border between the desert and the rain forest. < SAVANNA - A grassland that contains scattered trees. Has a long, rainy and long dry season. People who live in each of the climate zones have different way of life. List of West African countries: Mali* Niger Chad* Nigeria* Benin Ghana Liberia* Guinea Cote D Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Sierra Lione Togo Mauritania Senegal Gambia Burkina Faso Guinea - Bissau *Strongly recommended that these countries be specifically mentioned.

9 AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES LESSON PLAN Mathematics Topic: Kufi Design Grade Level: 1 Objective: Competency Link: Recognize and duplicate patterns VI. Algebra A Materials/Resources: < Pattern blocks < Pencils < 3x5 index cards < Sentence strips < Stapler < Colored tissue paper Procedures/Activities: 1. Pass out pattern blocks. Give students plenty of exploration time before beginning lesson. Select any four pattern blocks. Place the blocks in a set pattern. This will be the set pattern that will continue repeating over and over again. Trace your repeating pattern onto a sentence strip and color. On an index card, trace around the original set pattern, color in and set aside. 2. Collect the completed index card from each student. Next, make a Kufi by taking the sentence strip and stapling the two ends together to form a cylinder. Glue or staple colored tissue paper to the inside creating a pillbox hat. Children put their Kufi on their head. Pass out the completed index cards at random.

10 Mathematics Topic: Kufi Design Grade Level: 1 Assessment: Each student must find the hat that matches his/her index card.

I. Development of Early African Civilization A. The geography of Africa is diverse (varied). This makes the cultures of Africa very diverse.

I. Development of Early African Civilization A. The geography of Africa is diverse (varied). This makes the cultures of Africa very diverse. 1. The geography of Africa consists of mountains, grasslands,