Seeking Justice: To Kill a Mockingbird (2020)

Lesson 1
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ELA

Unit 7

8th Grade

Lesson 1 of 35

Objective


Define Jim Crow, explain its impact on the lives of white and black Americans, and describe how it was maintained within the social order.

Readings and Materials


  • Video: “Understanding Jim Crow (Setting the Setting)” by Facing History and Ourselves 

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Target Task


Writing Prompt

Describe the relationship between laws, social structures, and the impact of Jim Crow in different places in the American South. Support your answer with two pieces of specific evidence from the text.

Key Questions


  • What was the impact of the Depression on Jim Crow, and why did it have this impact? Provide two pieces of evidence from the text to support your answer.

  • How was Jim Crow maintained even in situations where there were no specific laws in place dictating social interactions? Provide two pieces of evidence from the text to support your answer.

  • According to the speaker, why were the 1930s especially suited to perpetuating Jim Crow? Support your answer with two pieces of specific evidence from the text.

  • Discussion: What was the relationship between gender and the perpetuation of Jim Crow?

  • Discussion: If Jim Crow no longer exists (at least in the way it once did), why is it important for us to continue to talk about it?

Lesson Guidance


Standard and Literary Concepts

  • Tomorrow, students will begin reading To Kill a Mockingbird and will focus that first day on the way that Harper Lee develops the setting of the text. Today’s lesson provides students with more information about the historical context— social setting—of this book. It is particularly important for students to begin the book with an understanding of the relationship between black and white Americans during this time period and the way that social forces dictated the movement, behavior, and interactions of people during this time period. Because Scout, our narrator, takes these interactions for granted, today’s video/text will provide students with a contextual lens through which to see the text and understand what may be unspoken.

Notes

  • Show students the video, then provide them with the transcript of the film in order to answer today’s questions.
  • In today’s discussion question, students will likely discuss sex. Set expectations around mature conversations. Push students to think about why there was so much anxiety around sex between black men and white women (while there was less concern about sex between white men and black women). What does this tell us about the relationship between gender, race, and power? These issues will come up again in To Kill a Mockingbird, and it is therefore essential that students begin to consider them.

Homework

  • Read To Kill a Mockingbird, chapter 1.
  • Read sections “Historic Context” and “Central Issue” from the website 1933 Inaugural Address Curriculum Hub  by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Common Core Standards


  • RI.8.1 — Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Next

Explain how author Harper Lee uses figurative language to establish mood and setting in the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Lesson 2
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