Description of learners

<> African American learn better when there is harmony, cooperation, affect and socialization.
<> They prefer to learn visually.
<> Evidence shows (Myers-Brigg type indicator test) that African American are more spontaneous, flexible, and open minded than European American.
<> They prefer to learn collectively and communicate freely in the classroom.
<> African American learn better when there is no reward system.
<> They prefer active learning, using physical activity and personal relationships.
<> They are more subjective learners.

Box Office Films

American Gangster
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. As a result, his product is superior to what is currently available on the street and his prices are lower. His alliance with the New York Mafia ensures his position. It is also the story of a dedicated and honest policeman, Richie Roberts, who heads up a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government. Based on a true story.


Glory Road
40 years ago, Don Haskins went on the recruiting trail to find the best talent in the land, black or white. 7 blacks and 5 whites made up the legendary 1965-66 Texas Western Miners. They were mocked and ridiculed for their showboating and flaunting of black players on the court. Yet, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, Haskins and his Miners came together as a team united to reach the National Championship game against powerhouse Kentucky.

8 Mile
This film is about a white rapper but gives a good look into Detroit gangs, the black underground of Detroit, and other social characteristics of modern day black (African American) culture. 


Death at a funeral
Aaron's father's funeral is today at the family home, and everything goes wrong: the funeral home delivers the wrong body; a cousin gives her fiancé a Valium from her brother's apartment, not knowing her brother is dealing drugs - it's LSD and the fiancé arrives at the funeral wildly stoned; Aaron's younger brother, Ryan, a successful writer, flies in from New York broke but arrogant; one uncle is angry over his daughter's choice of boyfriends, and the other is cranky and coarse. Add an ovulating wife, a jealous ex-boyfriend, and a short stranger who wants a word with Aaron - what could he want? Would another death solve Aaron's problems? And what about the eulogy?





ROOTS 
A saga of African-American life, based on Alex Haley's family history. Kunta Kinte is abducted from his African village, sold into slavery, and taken to America. He makes several escape attempts until he is finally caught and maimed. He marries Bell, his plantation's cook, and they have a daughter, Kizzy, who is eventually sold away from them. Kizzy has a son by her new master, and the boy grows up to become Chicken George, a legendary cock fighter who leads his family into freedom. Throughout the series, the family observes notable events in U.S. history, such as the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, slave uprisings, and emancipation.


Remember the Titans
- This movie is about a football team which is desegregated so that black players and white players play together. They struggle to be able to play together as a team because of the difference in race. This clip is a turning moment in the fill in which Coach Boone gives a speech that urges the teammates to realize that they should not be fighting amongst themselves because of race. The quality is not great but the words are what are important to this clip.

African American Art - Edmonia Lewis

"Edmonia Lewis has inspired generations of minority artists for over 130 years, even as the mainstream art world resisted recognizing the achievements of women and African Americans. She boldly breached barriers of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and class around the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction, an era when prejudices against these minorities were particularly virulent." 

"She became the first African American sculptor to celebrate Emancipation with The Freed Woman and Her Child and the immortal Forever Free.  She created figures from Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha, popular cherubs, copies of classics, and religious works that readily sold. She created a famous bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, also sculpting Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Horace Greeley, John Brown, Senator Charles Sumner, Bishop B. W. Arnett,  John Cardinal McCloskey, and many others."

"She loved America, but she could not live in a society that cast her unfairly. Slighted by a few Americans even in Rome, she plotted her victorious return to the United States.Advertising Hagar in the Chicago Tribune, Lewis became the first African-American artist to link her race and name with artistic achievement. She shocked and mortified those who claimed African Americans lacked the capacity for intelligence and fine art by standing next to her works and explaining them for days on end. She was the first important female sculptor to take her work to California. At the 1876 Centennial exposition, she stunned the world with her sensational Death of Cleopatra, assuring her right to a place in history.

Edmonia Lewis was endowed not only with special gifts as an artist. Her shrewdness, creativity, perseverance, and passion enabled her to find support against all odds and ever press her case"  

[Taken from http://www.edmonialewis.com/]

Two Samples of Her work 

 "Death of Cleopatra" 1876

"This work was exhibited in the Women's Pavilion at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 with 600 other sculptures by various other artists, and caused a sensation due to the realistic portrayal of Cleopatra. The statue shows female power and vulnerability (power in the fact that Cleopatra was a femme fatale, and vulnerability in the fact that she is dead.) Lewis may be making reference to how Cleopatra was thwarted in her attempts for power, but in suicide she has control. Lewis was quoted by William Wells Brown in "The Rising Son" (1874): 'I have a strong sympathy for all women who have struggled and suffered' " [Taken from http://www.uiowa.edu/~boosf/galleries/afampainting.htm] 

 

Forever Free

About the Poet Langston Hughes

"He is known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in montage of a dream deferred.

His life and work were influential in the shaping of what came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen, Hughes identified fiercely his personal experience with that of the common experiences of the American Negro. He wanted to tell their stories that reflected their dignity, humor, suffering, and language." 

[Taken from http://www.nathanielturner.com/langstonhughesbio.htm] 

Poems

I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America.  [Taken from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-too/]  Harlem   What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? [ Taken from http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=640 ]

Picture of Book Report and brief description

This kid Greg (Slam) can dominate on the basketball court.  He's got all the skills in the bag.  One thing he needs to improve his skills on are his grades.  What makes it worse is that the teachers are shoving all his troubles in his face.

Cass and Jemmie are the main characters of this story. Cass be-friends African American Jemmie. As the two strengthen their friendship they fight the opposition of raciest parents as well as other challenges. The book is a great read for students grade 5-8.


Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Cassie's family faces a real challenge: to hold on to land in the South during the Depression. Her father works away from home and her mother works and runs the family farm. This is an excellent story of a black family's struggles to remain independent and proud against all obstacles.

Description of Learners from African American culture

Pieces of Art

Tuskegee Airmen were dedicated, young men who enlisted to become America's first black military airmen, at a time when there were many people who thought that black men lacked intelligence, skill, courage, and patriotism. Each one possessed a strong desire to serve the United States of America to the best of his ability.