This lesson is a overview of black history in the scope of the American timeline, starting from the slave trade, to segregation and civil rights, and ending in modernity.
The notion of Black history month in America hold much nuance. In an ideal world, this month would not be needed, as black history is American and World history. However currently, black history remains segregated, and is not taught and akwnowledge year round in the U.S. Nevertheless, Japan has not much awareness towards black history, despite there being black people who are born, or merely reside in Japan: A society otherwise seen as ethnocentric.
Because of this, I found black history month to be an opportunity to introduce students to history they likely don't, and will not learn under normal circumstances.
The lesson is divided into two sections. The first is a timeline of black history in the scope of the U.S. It covers the slave trade, to introduce the word and idea of "Diaspora", segregation to lead into the civil rights, then to present day. I speed through the timeline to get the main ideas across.
The second part deals with the question of "Why black history is important?". A question posed to the students to think about. I personally answer it for these reasons: (outlines in the slidehow)
Due to the Diaspora, black people are everywhere (accompanied with pictures of Japanese born black people. Ex. Naomi Osaka, Ariana Miyamoto). And also Yasuke, a black Samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga.
Black culture is everywhere. We live in a time of mass social media where many cultures around the world intersect and connect. There are cultural influences everywhere in the modern age. Thus it is important to be aware
Knowledge is important to not repeat, or perpetuate discrimation, hate, or racism of any kind. Not just towards black people, but any peoples in a racialized condition of society as we know it.
I wanted to share this as I saw not much on this wiki in the way of black history. However, if you choose to use this resource, please be responsible and do your research. Feel free to make the lesson your own to (resonsibly!). This can be a very sensitive and complex topic, and as a teacher it is our duty to introduce such concepts with finesse. We must also ourselves, not perpetuate and -isms.
I remember being extremely disappointed with how the Sunshine textbooks talked about people like Martin Luther King and completely whitewashing what they were about. This is a difficult subject to tackle and I'm glad that America is being given a chance to be discussed in an honest way.
100%. I was conflicted on teaching Martin Luther King because of that whitewashed history, and wanted to at least teach Malcolm X side by side, but time constraints + density issues made it difficult, along with language. If you make adjustments let me know! I want this resource to grow!