King's Speech ... part one

I had the students study Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech las week after a week looking at Civil Right from Jim Crow to Emmitt Till to Dockum Drug Store. We divided the classes into four teams and they dissected the speech. Here is the first of four installments of their thoughts.

The first task was to identify the key words. Each student selected 8-10, then each team collected the most frequent 8-10. I took the three classes I teach and came up with the following three words. The words appeared in at least two of the three class lists:

• Freedom
• Segregation
• Injustice

The next task was to summarize their section using King's own words.

The final task was to put that cutting in their own words. To do this, they were asked to either write a tweet, compose a haiku or create a notecard (20 word limit). What each of the teams came up with was impressive.

Haiku
Hundred years ago
Our Country was in slavery
Freed but still not free

Notecard
Emancipation Proc.=great hope 4 slaves >>>
100 years L8R = not free >>>
Constitution =4 2B

Tweet
100 years ago, Abe Lincoln sing the EMan Proclamation & the Negro was decreed free. 100 years later they still r'nt free. #Free@Last

Below are some of my favorites among the individual students compostitions.

Tweet
We r ere 4 a protest. da EP grntd us frdom, but 100 yrs ltr slvs rn't fre. We r stil in injustice & unfrnss. da Dclrton grntd us rits. #Free@Last

Tweet
After emancipation, slaves supposed 2 b free, 100 yrs later, still aren't, DofI says to be. #Free@Last

Notecard
They say we've been freed with GR8T document.>>>
But 100 yrs L8R--shckled with disctrimination >>>
But the Constitution says we are all created =

Notecard
We were promised freedom. >>>
We are not equal >>>>
We would like to be equal

The first cutting of the speech is below:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Roller Coasters, Civil Rights and an afternoon at the Roundhouse

Friday we spent the day at WSU. We toured the Enginering Department, visited The Ulrich Museum and spent the afternoon at Koch Arena where we watched the Lady Shockers beat the Colorado State University Bears by more than a dozen points.

First of all, the ladies at the Engineering department did an amazing job. They completely got that it was a field trip and these were 13-14 year olds. They had them design rollercoasters. The young lady who was in charge explained that engineering is about designing...that it is often done in teams and that there is usually something tangible which comes as a result of this design. Our kids ate it up. Their designer were impressive given they only had 30 minutes to design and create. Most of them worked flawlessly.

Our second stop was the Ulrich Art Museum on the campus of the Wichita State. The outdoor sculptures of the museum were named one of the top ten collections on any college campus in 2006. Its inside collection is as impressive. We viewed a civil rights exhbit titled, "The Hard Kind of Courage: Gordon Parks and the Photographers of the Civil Rights Era". Parks is a nationally celebrated photgrapher, film maker and writer who is also a native Kansan. His work is shown beside other photogrpahers of the era. I was in hog heaven since three of the protos displayed were ones I use in my civil rights module. For the kids to see the works beyond my SMARTboard was exciting. The other portion of our tour was an exhibit tied to the civil rights exhibit on identity. The piece which caught my eye was the one below. I use the 1968 placard from the Memphis strike in my class and to see the Thomas painting was phenomenal for both my students and me! The Thomas painting are takes on the placards you see in the photograph below. Its important to note that it is the sanitation strike which brings Martin Luther King, Jr. to Memphis in April 1968 and it in Mepmphis where he will be assassinated.



I Am a Man, Hank Willis Thomas, 2009

I Am A Man, Sanitation workers assemble outside Clayborn Temple, Memphis, TN, 1968. (© Ernest C. Withers. Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA)

The last stop was Koch arena to watch the Lady Shockers against Northern Colorado. The Lady Shox had a slow start but ultimately doominated the last half and won by more than a dozen. There is something surreal about several thousand middle school students in one place. There is nothing more fearsome as hundreds of kids want to get on the Dance Cam. It was a little disturbing to be completely honest.

A great day off campus. It is one of those days where I can say... I love my job.