This 4-6 week unit plan is designed for middle school students 5-8th grade for ELA with a Social Studies and Science integration at William D. Kelley Elementary School.  William D. Kelley is a neighborhood elementary school identified in network 11 in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP).  W.D. Kelley is in Philadelphia’s Brewery Town neighborhood and serves roughly 350 students.  Students are accepted according to address and zip code.  The SDP operates as a Title I school district; under this policy, all students qualify for free or reduced priced lunch.  Over 95 percent of students at W. D. Kelley live below the poverty line.  Students attend daily class periods of fifty-three minutes each.  The growing importance of education equity is based on the premise that an individual’s level of education directly correlates to future quality of life. Therefore, an academic system that practices educational equity is a strong foundation of a society that is fair and thriving. Providing opportunities for students to consider racial equality as well as matters of racism as part of their study will help them to develop confidence to engage with these concepts as part of future practice, critical thinking, and life skills. Race, social class, and gender as issues related to schooling have received major attention from educators and social scientists over the last two decades. By using the lens of the PA. State Standards for ELA and Social Studies the learning objectives will be focused on achieving the skill of the standards as we learn about this history of African American hair politics and the civil rights movement.

The fifth through eighth grade students at the W.D. Kelley Elementary school are 99% African American. Although this predominantly African American school population has 80% of its teachers that are African American as well. The students are not being introduced to the Civil Rights movement narrative as it relates to the ancillary but subtle implications of how many African American are discriminated against based on their choice of wearing African American natural hairstyles and the effect that particular hairstyle choices made on the overall Civil Rights movement in the past and how those issues around African American hair choice are still affecting African Americans and Civil Rights issues today.

Rationale

Many students at W.D. Kelley have been impacted by discrimination due to not being aware of the implications of their hairstyles and what they represent and project to communities outside of W.D. Kelley community the environment of the neighborhood in which they live, their encounters with the city’s police department, or for having family and friends incarcerated are typical.  Because of these issues, I wish to create a unit that informs students of the history of their natural hair and the way that the world has discriminated against black people who decide to wear natural hairstyles and have violated their civil rights just because of their hairstyle choice. How the past and present criminal justice system continues conditioning Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. I also want to introduce them to the rich history and beauty of wearing natural hairstyles and how it can be used to embrace self-love and empowerment. For Black women, journeys through locs, braids, relaxers, rollers, heat treatments and big chops do not just tie back to a school photo or a wedding portrait. These journeys are tangled up in lessons of identity, confidence, and self-expression.  This unit is meant to be used as a resource for the City of Philadelphia to teach students about the development of societal and governmental attitudes towards black hair and civil rights.  My goal is that this unit, in combination with the other units I teach, exposes students to real-world problems, fosters their civic participation, and encourages students to embrace to celebrate the beauty, power and resilience of black women and men as well as partake in critical thinking that will allow solutions for the issues that affect African-American communities today and in the future.

There is a long history of white people trying to legislate and regulate the gravity-defying, shape-shifting glory of black hair. White people may think their rules are neutral, but they come from a mindset that, consciously or not, defines white hair as normal and black hair as deviant. Black hair must be controlled, conform, or cut down. Its mere existence is often seen as illegal, from a North Carolina pool banning swimmers with locs to a Texas junior high school coloring in a boy’s part with a Sharpie. (Washington) Before the 1960s, conking was extremely popular and accepted. The term “conk” is derived from congolene, a gel-like substance made from potato starch, egg protein, and lye. Black males would slick back their hair, making it sit down so it was not as puffy; this made their hair appear more similar to hair of whites of the time.(Gardner) Black is Beautiful was a peaceful movement started in the 1960s in order to make African-Americans feel more accepted in their own skin and hair. The phrase “Black is Beautiful” was popularized by Civil Rights activist Stokely Carmichael. Blacks began rejecting notions of assimilation by wearing their hair naturally. Fewer black individuals felt shame in being told they had “kinky” or “nappy” hair. During this time, other phrases encouraging natural hair became popular, such as “I am quite happy being nappy.”  As time went on, many acts of violence were committed, which ultimately made the Afro have bad connotations to members of society. (Gardner). Even when you were considered a so-called “good black,” you still had to prepare yourself for all the indignities of daily life as a black person in America. In the 1950s, it was not uncommon to meet an African American woman or man with chemically straightened hair in the United States as this was what was socially acceptable at the time. (Houston, Johnson)

Anti-black hair sentiment on U.S. soil has existed for centuries. In the 1700s, enslaved women who worked in the fields usually covered their hair in head-rags due to the harsh demands of their work. Enslaved Africans who worked in the “big house,” however, sometimes mimicked the hairstyles of their enslavers, either by wearing wigs that had become popular during that era or shaping their kinky hair to emulate them. In cities like New Orleans, however, where free Creole women of color donned elaborate hairstyles that displayed their kinks and coils with an air of regality, the city implemented laws—the Tignon Laws—that required these women to wear a tignon (scarf or handkerchief) over their hair to signify that they were members of the slave class, regardless of whether they were free or enslaved.

The end of the 19th century saw the invention of the hair-straightening comb, which would be used to “tame” black hair. Madam C.J. Walker, a black woman, popularized the comb, and “by the mid-1920s, straight hair had become the preferred texture to signal middle class status.” As a result, Walker became the first female African American millionaire. Although some historians have lauded Walker’s business acumen, others have chided her for perpetuating the idea that straight hair leads to social and economic advancement. For better or worse, she offered black women an avenue for increased societal acceptance.

The idea that straight hair led to social and economic advancement was causally related to the mission and vision of the NAACP. The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race. (NAACP). The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s echoed the NAACP’s goals, but leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, (SLCC) felt that direct action was needed to obtain them. Although the NAACP was criticized for working too rigidly within the system, prioritizing legislative and judicial solutions, being narrow minded or even elitist. Meaning you had to have the right profile which included hairstyle. The Association did provide provided critical support for the modern Civil Rights movement. The following year, the Association accomplished what seemed an insurmountable task: The Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Assisting the NAACP throughout the years were many elite celebrities and well-known leaders, including Sammy Davis Jr. and, Lena Horne, both wore assimilated European looking hairstyles or had features and mannerisms that were acceptable to the popular American society. Since African American culture was a key battleground as a part of the Civil Rights movement the idea that celebrities who had lots of influence could help de-escalate rising militancy among masses of protesters across the country through their projections of politically correctness. As an NAACP director of branches, Ella Baker was another prominent figure who sported straighten hair, she too stressed the importance of young people and women in the organization by recruiting members, raising money, and organizing. local campaigns. (NAACP) So again we have connotations of “good black” political leadership, social and economic advancement, and black culture reinforced by celebrities aligning their platforms and artistry with the NAACP to persuade African Americans to be “good blacks” with “good hair” and non-violent. Horne remained active in the Civil Rights Movement, performing at rallies around the country on behalf of the NAACP and the National Council for Negro Women, and she participated in the 1963 March on Washington. During this era, she also released albums like Feelin’ Good (1965) and Lena in Hollywood (1966). (Biography.com Editors) Sammy Davis Jr. became active in the Civil Rights Movement, participating in the 1963 March on Washington and refusing to perform at racially segregated nightclubs, for which he is credited with helping integrate in Las Vegas and Miami Beach. Davis also challenged the bigotry of the era by marrying Swedish actress May Britt at a time when interracial marriages were forbidden by law in 31 states. (President John F. Kennedy, in fact, requested that the couple not appear at his inauguration so as not to anger white Southerners.)

During the same time equally prominent icon Civil Rights activists such as Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Stokley Carmichael, AKA, Kwame Ture, Angela Davis, and Kathleen Clever did not fit well with the NAACP’s assimilated image. By 1968, the Black Panthers had roughly 2,000 members across the country. Newton and Seale drew on Marxist ideology for the party platform. They outlined the organization’s philosophical views and political objectives in a Ten-Point Program. The Ten-Point Program called for an immediate end to police brutality; employment for African Americans; and land, housing, and justice for all.

The Black Panthers were part of the larger Black Power movement, which emphasized black pride, community control and unification for civil rights. (Biography.com Editors). While the Black Panthers were often portrayed as a gang, their leadership saw the organization as a political party whose goal was getting more African Americans elected to political office. They were unsuccessful on achieving this goal. They were arrested, attacked, criminalized, and depicted as anti-white. By the early 1970s, FBI counterintelligence efforts, criminal activities and an internal rift between group members weakened the party as a political force. As the characterization of militancy and negativity grew with the Black Panther Party’s reputation this was associated with wearing their natural hair styles in what became popularized as the “Afro”. So, what began to happen to Black people in general was discrimination towards our hairstyle choice. Wearing an afro made you a target — for harassment, interrogation, and arrest — whether you were wearing your hair as a political statement. Nevertheless, athletes, entertainers and other public figures have continued to champion the afro in the public eye. One of the most visible demands for equal Civil Rights treatment that took place on an international stage were demonstrations took place at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where black athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised black-gloved fists in the air on the medal podium. Their silent yet powerful protest was witness by the world and the two Olympic athletes both sported afros’. Smith and Carlos were rushed from the stadium, suspended by the U.S. team, and kicked out of the Olympic Village for turning their medal ceremony into a political statement. They went home to the United States, only to face serious backlash, including death threats. Other entertainers who were ostracized and demonized for their choice to support the “Black is beautiful” natural hair projection was Nina Simone. By the mid-1960s, Simone became known as the voice of the Civil Rights Movement. She wrote “Mississippi Goddam” and “Four Negro Women” which was considered “protest music” in response to the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evers and the Birmingham church bombing that killed four young African American girls. As her raw anger and frustration over the treatment of her people is at the forefront of the record. “Her career had suffered from her outspokenness about Civil Rights issues, and she spent most of the 1970s in a musically fallow period, struggling both financially and with her mental health.” (https://www.boulderswingdance.com/news/nina-simone) 4/25/2020. As the sixties progressed, the feelings she displayed—pain, lacerating anger, the desire to burn down whole cities in revenge—made her seem at times emotionally disturbed and at other times simply the most honest black woman in America. “I can’t be white and I’m the kind of colored girl who looks like everything white people despise or have been taught to despise,” Nina Simone could not deny her natural African attributes that included “kinky hair”. In 1979, at a concert in Philadelphia, Simone followed a performance of “Four Women” by scolding the black women in the audience about their changes in style: “You used to be talking about being natural and wearing natural hair styles. Now you are straightening your hair, rouging your cheeks and dressing out Vogue.” (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/11/raised-voice) This statement was researched by Claudia Roth Pierpont for the New Yorker magazine.

Stokely Carmichael, who later became Kwame Ture’, who coined the term ”Black Power!’, who also allowed his natural hair to grow out after deciding to leave SNCC and take on a more audacious role during the Civil Rights movement, was also seen as anti-white, provocative and violent. And it struck fear into many whites.  It was June 16, 1966, and Mr. Carmichael, a spellbinding orator, was addressing a crowd of 3,000 in a park in Greenwood, Miss. James Meredith, who had integrated the University of Mississippi, was wounded on his solitary ”Walk Against Fear” from Memphis to Jackson, and volunteers were marching in his place. When they set up camp in Greenwood, Mr. Carmichael was arrested, and his frustration was obvious. Mr. Carmichael was arrested so often as a nonviolent volunteer that he lost count after 32. In the book ”Black Power,” which Mr. Carmichael wrote in 1967 with Charles Hamilton, now a professor of political science at Columbia University, the authors tried to explain the term. ”It is a call for black people in this country to unite,” they wrote, ”to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations.” (New York Times 1998) By Michael T. Kaufman, Nov.16., To recognize African American heritage is to recognize African American hair in its natural state. Heritage is a person’s unique, inherited sense of family identity: the values, traditions, culture, and artifacts handed down by previous generations. … Some families define their heritage primarily as their ethnic, cultural, or national identity. Why does that have to be interpreted as anti-white when a black person embraces their heritage? ” (New York Times 1998) By Michael T. Kaufman, Nov.16.

“On the evening of May 13, 1985, longstanding tensions between MOVE, a black liberation group, and the Philadelphia Police Department erupted horrifically. That night, the city of Philadelphia dropped a satchel bomb, a demolition device typically used in combat, laced with Tovex and C-4 explosives on the MOVE organization, who were living in a West Philadelphia rowhome known to be occupied by men, women, and children. It went up in unextinguished flames. Eleven people were killed, including five children and the founder of the organization. Sixty-one homes were destroyed, and more than 250 citizens were left homeless.”

MOVE, not an acronym, is a political and religious organization whose principals are anti-government, anti-technology, and anti-corporation. Its creator, John Africa, born Vincent Leaphart, was a West Philadelphia native and Korean War veteran whose ideology combined black revolutionary ideas with environmental and animal rights, as well as a back-to-nature movement. MOVE founded in 1972 still exists today, though its current membership numbers are unknown. Members lived communally and described themselves as a family, changing their last names to Africa out of reverence for their founder and for the continent. In nonviolent but disruptive demonstrations, members protested at zoos, pet stores, and political rallies; the group believed in composting, homeschooling, and a diet of raw foods, and spoke out against war and police brutality. They maintained a complicated relationship with Philadelphia residents; some sympathized with their mission, while others found their lifestyle to be disruptive.

MOVE believes that their hair is left the way nature intended, uncombed and uncut. Though we do not favor using the system’s chemicals, cosmetics, and disposable conveniences, we do spend a good deal of time keeping ourselves and our surroundings clean and tidy. We dress functionally, in clothing that does not interfere with our active lives. Move members deciding to wear their hair in its natural state without combing it took on the shape of what is known as locs. Dreadlocs, dreads, locs, whatever the term of choice for the hair maybe are essentially sections of hair that has not been combed, brushed, or handled at all. Over time, the hair becomes matted and knotted into itself, forming the hairstyle we have come to know as locs. This does not mean that the hair is not washed. However, with the combination of racism and images from the media that have historically depicted descendants of African people wearing locs as dirty, dreadful hence the term “dreadlocs” unclean, and anyone that have them are suspected as criminal. Let us just say you have locs and your walking down the street. The police may decide to pull you over because to them you look suspicious.  You start yelling and arguing with the cops. Next thing you know your pressed up against the wall off to jail for something you’re not even involved in just because you look suspicious because your wearing locs, which makes you appear to be overly aggressive, dangerous, and suspicious hence you would need to be arrested and put into jail. “On August 8, 1978, the city had an eviction order for MOVE’s Powelton Village home that ordered police to raid the house, get everyone out and bulldoze it. Police attacked MOVE and it was a major military operation carried out by the Philadelphia police department under orders of then-mayor, Frank Rizzo. Mayor Rizzo’s reputation for racism and brutality was and is well known–it followed him up through the ranks of the police department to the police commissioner’s office to the mayor’s office. MOVE members were physically pulled out of the house by police and violently arrested. A massive shootout ensued, and Officer James J. Ramp was killed during the shooting. The MOVE adults came out of the house after being overwhelmed with massive amounts of tear gas and 10 thousand pounds of water pressure per minute directed at them from 4 fire department water cannons (for a total of 40 thousand pounds of water pressure per minute)., they were beaten and arrested. Television cameras filmed the vicious beating of Delbert Africa, 3 of the 4 cops that beat Delbert went to trial on minor charges. Despite the photographic evidence, the trial judge (Stanley Kubacki) refused to let the jury render a verdict and himself acquitted the cops by directed order. Then, nine Move members went to trial before Judge Edward Malmed who convicted all nine of us of third-degree murder (while admitting that he did not have “the faintest idea” who killed Ramp). All Nine MOVE members were charged with murder and related charges for the death of James Ramp. They were all convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to 30 – 100 years in prison.” (http://onamove.com/move-9/ 4/25/2020)

Like it or not, you are being judged by how you look, how you dress, and how you carry yourself. And as uncomfortable and unfair as it may sound, people are under the microscope every day. Your colleagues, your neighbors, even people who do not know you judge you upon first site. First and foremost, by how you look, how you dress, how you take care of yourself. Yes, your appearance does matter. For African Americans, this standard is held at an extremely high unrealistic standard of European beauty standards and central to our accepted and not acceptable image is our hair and how its styled. According to Dione-Rosado (2004), relaxed hair, braids, weaves, and shortly cropped hair are considered more professional in nature, hence they are adopted by middle class women more often. Therefore, hair is an indicator of gender, social class, sexual orientation, political views, religion and even age. Some African American women still think the natural state of their hair is cumbersome, unsavory, or even disgusting (Banks 2000). However, there are many others who are starting the journey back to their “roots” and wearing their hair in its’ natural state. Centuries of generations of racial mixing among Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans created unique variations of Black hair textures, ranging from tightly coiled or kinky to curly, wavy, and straight (Robinson, 2011).

Although African Americans have a plethora of hair options at their disposal, there have been punitive measures taken by employers to restrict the donning of the “natural” in the workplace (Thompson, 2009). In 2007, a Black woman in West Virginia was fired from her job at a prison for wearing braids, which was deemed inappropriate. While the argument can be made that Black hair no longer carries the same socio-cultural significance it did in decades and centuries past, the “natural” remains an unwanted politically charged marker in the workplace. Robinson (2006) writes, “Corporate America isn’t the only adversary of natural styles. Some black institutions discourage the ‘natural’ look, believing it’s best to prepare African Americans to blend into a majority-White corporate environment.” Secondly, perhaps fueled by hip-hop culture and its images of pimps, thugs, and gangsters who wear cornrows and braided hairstyles, a review of the discourse on Black hair shows little acceptance of natural Black hair. Today it is not uncommon to hear someone flippantly say, “Just get a weave, it’s no big deal” without a second thought. Covering up your natural tresses and damaging your real hair for the sake of a desired “look” should not be taken lightly (Thompson, 2009). Patton (2006) states that African American women are unique in that they are asked not just to strive to attain mainstream standards of beauty, but to have such standards completely override their natural being. In conclusion, America’s beauty ideal has not altered drastically since the late 1800s. It is the 21st century, yet Black women are still struggling to meet this standard. Thompson (2009) proclaims, until African American women (including “mixed race” women, who may not necessarily process or weave their natural hair) collectively agree that hair alternation stunts any potential to overcome the legacy of slavery and a multigenerational pathology of self-hatred, hair will always be a contentious (and debated) issue. It is recommended that African American women begin researching their history and start the journey to true acceptance of self. In conclusion, there is no such thing as “good hair.” The quote “good hair” is a myth. Nevertheless, some African American women continue to try to attain this ideal. Throughout the years, the importance of African American hairstyles has remained a way of letting one’s social class status be known to others around them. No longer is hair only a marker of what status one has, it is now a maker of individual personality, and a matter of convenience. If African American women would embrace their real identity, the media would eventually accept the natural! (Randle 2015).

The information and resources that have been presented through the Cinema & Civil Rights, by Karen Redrobe, has allowed me to critically analyze the portrayal of African American’s hairstyles during the period of 1955-2019.  The use of historical and scholarly articles and book excerpts have provided a strong foundation in crafting this unit’s argument. I also appreciate the diverse collection of films and documentaries. Some of the films that will be used to help provide a deeper understanding through a visual framework are “Selma” by Ava Duvernay, “Chisolm 72 Unbought and unbossed”, “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners” both by Shola Lynch and “The Bombing of Osage Avenue” by Louis Massiah and Toni Cade Bambara, 1986.  Some of the article and scholarly excerpts that will be used to examine the topic and challenge students to critically examine these arguments are “I Am Not My Hair: African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair!” by Brenda A. Randle and “The Paraphernalia of Suffering: Chris Rock’s Good Hair, Still Playing in the Dark” by Joi Carr and excerpt from Kevin Quashie, “Introduction: Why Quiet” and Chapter 1 “Publicness, Silence, and the Sovereignty of the Interior” in The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture as well as exposure to the MOVE organization literature and website. PowerPoint/Google slides presentations filled with images of some of the well-known leaders who assisted the NAACP organization such as Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Sammy Davis Jr. and Lena Horne contrasted with images of Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, Nina Simone and other African Americans that embraced the natural hair movement of the 1960’s.  These images and works gave me the opportunity to understand that there were multiple voices and narratives that have been left out of the historical documentation that is provided in the SDP approved and suggested curriculum textbooks.

Learning Objectives

Parts A, B, C, and D below detail the specific learning goals and scope and sequence for the unit.

Part A (Week 1) – READING/VIEWING: Reading Informational Text: Students read, understand, and respond to informational text—with an emphasis on comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and making connections among ideas and between texts with a focus on textual evidence. In addition to integration of knowledge and ideas diverse media by viewing films that support topics themes.

The following teaching strategies are used to teach the content background.  While other instructional methods may be included, these strategies are listed to teach the content most effectively at W.D. Kelley Elementary School.

• Turn and Talks is an oral language support strategy that provides students scaffolded interactions to formulate ideas and share their thinking with another student. When Turn and Talk is used, all students have a chance to share their thinking in a low risk setting.
• Stop and Jots is an activity that has students stop, think, and write about what they are learning at specific points within a lesson to check for understanding.
• Stop and Jots help maintain student focus and promote retention and comprehension through active engagement.
• Small Group Collaboration learning that involves students working in pairs or small groups to discuss concepts or find solutions to problems.
• Jig-Saw Reading breaks classes into groups and breaks assignments into pieces

Building Background Knowledge

Prior to reading informational text and or viewing each film clip, students will receive a worksheet and or graphic organizer depending on lesson (see appendix) with vocabulary terms and relevant civil rights movement concepts in order to prepare them for attentive reading and viewing. The worksheet will be used three times – before reading/viewing, during reading/viewing, and after it.

1. Pre-reading/viewing: At the first stage the aim is to guide, direct, and advise the students; introduce them to the new vocabulary; clarify cinematic terminology; and discuss what is expected while reading or during the viewing.
2. During reading/viewing: At this stage, the worksheet (graphic organizer) aimed to push the student to collect data from the film in relation to the written concepts.
3. Post- reading/viewing activity: Class discussion and debate, and students’ evaluation of the readings and film clips.

Comparing Images

Show two different pictures (Two pictures of Coretta Scott-King and Angela Davis) also (NAACP and MOVE).

Find 3-5 differences, Find 3-5 similarities. Discuss the similarities and differences.

Describe the person. Imagine what their life is like. Tell others in your group all about your character – for example, their age, marital status, living conditions, family life, and education. Students write true or false questions about a picture. The partner identifies the statements as either true or false.

Class Discussions and Debates

Students will read journals, magazines, and newspaper articles. They will also view to PowerPoint presentations and watch movie clips, as this is the way that many people receive their information today.  By relying on and citing textual evidence from contemporary informational sources, debating topics of African American natural hairstyles vs chemically treated styles will improve literacy and critical thinking skills.

Field Trip

A visit to the African American Museum of Philadelphia, to view The Jack Franklin Civil Rights Era Collection which includes photographs of: the 1963 March on Washington; the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March; the 1968 Poor People’s March; as well as local political events, such as: the 1965 Girard College Protests, led by lawyer and President of the local chapter of the NAACP Cecil B. Moore, against the discriminatory policy of Girard College; the first major Black Power Rally, held in Philadelphia in 1966; and political rallies and events with guest speakers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Jesse Jackson and Stokely Carmichael, among others. The students will get an opportunity to see and interpret that photo collection through their own lens and then students will document noticing’s and wonderings for classroom discussion and debates. Also, a visit to the MOVE commemorative site on Cobbs Creek Parkway 63^rd Osage Street where the bomb was dropped on MOVE and their neighbors.

Guest Speakers

I will invite several African American hair salon owners and hair experts into our classroom.  The use of guest speakers will provide students with unique and authentic narratives relative to African American hair and provide an interactive engaging learning experience.  The guest speakers will provide special insight into the African American hair industry and business, stimulate interest, and connect classroom learning to the real world.

Research

Excerpts from Charged: I Am Not My Hair: African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair!” by Brenda A. Randle and a variety of other articles published by The Huffington Post and Essence and Ebony Magazines will be assigned.  These readings will offer information on Black hair and why it is not just beautiful; it is political, social, and historical. Its cultural significance to the American story and students will explore of many reasons why Black hair had such a long history of policing in the U.S. — in schools, in the workforce and in the streets. Every loc and strand is an anchor to history.

Suggested Research Topics:

• Afros
• Wigs
• Braids
• Locks
• Chemically Straighten Hair (Perms)
• Hair Weaves
• Civil Rights
• Discrimination

Google Slides Project

After learning about the history of Black hair and its political, social, and historical complexities, students will create a PowerPoint presentation for their culminating project.  This project deals with a wide variety of topics (e.g. civil rights, Wigs, discrimination, braids, Afro’s etc.).  While I will not go into depth about each issue, this project allows students to research one topic they are most interested in. PowerPoint presentations will be created by using online databases to research a specific topic of study that relates to Black Hair and Civil Rights.

Essential Questions:

• How did the history of Black hair affect civil rights for African Americans?
• What are some things that African American to assimilate into American society?
• What impact did the civil rights movement have on American Americans hair?
• What gains or losses did African American have because of the NAACP?
• How did the Black Power movement change African Americans?
• How did African Americans embracing their heritage affect their civil rights?
• What does it mean to have freedom?
• Does having civil rights mean that you have freedom?

Vocabulary:

Assimilation              Civil Rights                            Good Hair                 Black Power

Heritage                     NAACP                                  Kinky Hair                Bigotry

Conk                           Black Panther Party             Afro                            Discrimination

Locs                            Braids                                     Freedom                     Protest

Materials attached in (Appendix)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Davis, Angela Y. “Afro Images: Politics, Fashion, and Nostalgia.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 21, no. 1, 1994, pp. 37–45. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1343885. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.

Golden, Marita. “My black hair: a tangled story of race and politics in America.” Quartz (June 24, 2015): par.1. Digital. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020

Manning, Marable. “Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America”, 1945–2006, 3rd edition (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007)

“Kathleen Cleaver: Interview on Natural Hair.”, directed by Anonymous, produced by Educational Video Group. , Educational Video Group, 1968. Alexander Street. Accessed 22.Feb. 2020

https://video-alexanderstreet-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/watch/kathleen-cleaver-interview-on-natural-hair.

“Good Hair and Other Dubious Distinctions.” , directed by Camille DeBose. , SOC Media Films, 2011. Alexander Street, Accessed 22 Feb.2020

https://video-alexanderstreet-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/watch/good-hair-and-other-dubious-distinctions.

Hamlin, Rebecca. “Civil Rights” Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. Publication Date August 21st, 2019. Access Date February 27th, 2020.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/civil-rights

Washington, Jesse. “The Untold Story of Wrestler’s Andrew Johnson Dreadlocks, How the Highschool Student survived his infamous Haircut”, September 18, 2019. The undefeated. Access Date February 29th 2020. https://theundefeated.com/features/the-untold-story-of-wrestler-andrew-johnsons-dreadlocks/

Allen, Karma. “Texas family sues school, claiming staff laughed while coloring student’s head with marker” Staffers told Juelz, 13, that his haircut violated the school’s dress code. August 19, 2019, 6:06 P. Accessed February 29, 2020

https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-family-sues-school-claiming-staff-laughed-coloring/story?id=65055093

Gardner, Kayla. “Black Power in American Memory” A Class Project for AMST 384: Myth and History and American Memory, UNC at Chapel Hill April 20 2017, Accessed February 20, 2020

Changes in Hairstyles

Randle, Brenda A. “I Am Not My Hair: African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair! “Race, Gender & Class, Vol. 22, No. 1-2, Race, Gender & Class 2014 Conference (2015), pp. 114-121

Jean Ait, Belkhir, Race, Gender & Class Journal

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26505328?mag=how-natural-black-hair-at-work-became-a-civil-rights-issue&seq=1

Goering, John M. “Changing Perceptions and Evaluations of Physical Characteristics among Blacks: 1950-1970”

Phylon (1960-), Vol. 33, No. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1972), pp. 231-241

Clark Atlanta University

https://www.jstor.org/stable/273523?mag=how-natural-black-hair-at-work-became-a-civil-rights-issue&seq=1

Johnson Huston, Nikki, Esq., “The Myth of the ‘Good Negro’” Award-Winning Tax Attorney, Entrepreneur, Donafy App Co-Founder, Motivational Speaker and Advocate for the Poor. 11/08/2015 08:15 pm ET Updated Nov 08, 2016, Huffingtonpost.com. Accessed February 29, 2020 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-myth-of-the-good-negr_b_8506570

Gold Series from Pantene and Royal Oils by Head & Shoulders and co-created by RYOT Studio “The Evolution of 5 Iconic Black Hairstyles Every loc and strand is an anchor to history”

02/21/2020 03:50pm EST | Updated February 27, 2020

Quashie, Kevin. “Introduction: Why Quiet” and Chapter 1 “Publicness, Silence, and the Sovereignty of the Interior” in The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture (New Brunswick, NJ and London: Rutgers University Press, 2012), 1-6.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The resources below provide additional information text related to African American hair as well as examples where African American were discriminated against because of their hairstyle choice. These resources are materials needed for warm-up activities and mini lesson activities as well.

1. This article provides a detailed explanation of hairstyles for African Americans

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/iconic-black-hairstylesfamilytree_l_5e3999ffc5b6ed0033ad3afa

2. This article provides African American women sharing their personal journeys with their hairstyle choices and transformations from hairstyle choice to another hairstyle choice.

Rule, Margaret. “5 Black Women Share Personal Stories Of How They Learned To Love Their Hair Every Black hair journey is personal” 03/17/2020 01:14pm EDT, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-black-women-share-personal-stories-of-how-they-learned-to-love-their-hair_l_5e399ac8c5b687dacc73b8ac

3. This is a video about The History of Black Hair

https://youtu.be/U48565qmqUk

4. This is a video about The History of Braids and Bans on Black Hair

https://youtu.be/e_l0rEJq1_s

5. This video is used to provide a visual explanation for Text Structure https://youtu.be/Eq7IDawqrTw
6. Inferencing video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to30AJm2epQ
7. Flocabulary text structure warm-up https://youtu.be/7kWGQ-_ipBY
8. Frayer Model https://youtu.be/GIPLCYw4ckE
9. ABC news story about Black wrestler forced to cut dredlocs in order to compete in a wrestling match.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/high-school-wrestler-forced-cut-dreadlocks-displayed-character/story?id=60001058

10. Film clip of “Selma” movie by Ava Duvernay Showing scene of African American girls discussing Coretta Scott Kings hairstyle. This scene opens up with Martin Luther King being awarded the Nobel Peace prize in Oslo, Norway 1964.

https://dai.ly/x2vexwy

11. Black Panther Kathleen Clever on Natural Hair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUna84ztulU
12. Biography of Madame CJ Walker Video

https://youtu.be/v5lD9RF43_8

13. Black Panther Party informative video. This video provides a brief history of the Black Panther Party. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNBPewOfL7o
14. MOVE organization video. This video provides brief detail of the bombing of Move organization and 62^nd Osage May 13^th 1985 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RFW9KuL-nk
15. History of NAACP video. This video provides a brief history of the NAACP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeN-DusWecA

Standards:

CC.1.2.5. A Determine two or more main ideas in a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.

CC.1.2.5. B Cite textual evidence by quoting accurately from the text to explain what the text says explicitly and make inferences.

CC.1.2.5. C Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a text based on specific information in the text.

CC.1.2.5. G Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

Students will be able to determine the main idea of text/film and explain how the main idea is supported by identifying 3-5 key details with a graphic organizer and use the 3-5 key details from text/film.

SWBAT identify main idea and supporting details in a text by highlighting the main and underlining the supporting details.

SWBAT determine the main idea and supporting details of an informational article and summarize.

Part B (Week 2)- CRAFT AND STRUCTURE AND POINT OF VIEW- Students read and respond to informational text with emphasis on comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and making connections among ideas and between texts with focus on textual evidence.

Standards:

CC.1.3.5.C Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or

drama, drawing on specific details in the text.

CC.1.2.5. D Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.

CC.1.2.5. E Use text structure, in and among texts, to interpret information (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution).

Craft and Structure Vocabulary

CC.1.2.5. F Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in grade level text, including interpretation of figurative language.

Students will be able to analyze and identify historical events and procedures ​in order to compare and contrast the relationships or interactions between two or more historical events by using a graphic organizer and summarizing.

Students will be able explain the meaning of new vocabulary using graphic organizers and peer support.

Students will be able to determine the meaning of vocabulary words by using them in a summary.

Students will be able to recognize the use of text structure by identifying which of the six was used in the text.

Students will be able to analyze the film clips as well as informational text to demonstrate their ability to answer a question embedded in their summaries.

Part C (Week 3)- WRITING: Students write for different purposes and audiences. Students write clear and focused text to convey a well-defined perspective and appropriate content.

Standards:

CC.1.4.5. A Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

CC.1.4.5. B Identify and introduce the topic clearly.

CC.1.4.5.C Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic; include illustrations and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

CC.1.4.5. D Group related information logically linking ideas within and across categories of information using words, phrases, and clauses; provide a concluding statement or section; include formatting when useful to aiding comprehension.

Students will be able to ​identify and introduce a topic through an informative or explanatory essay using written summaries, information provided from the film clips, guest speaker, and informational text on the topic: African American Hair, Civil Rights and Freedom.

Part D (Week 4)- SPEAKING AND LISTENING: Students present appropriately in formal speaking situations, listen critically, and respond intelligently as individuals or in group discussions.

Standards:

CC.1.5.5. A Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

CC.1.5.5. B Summarize the main points of written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Students will be able to summarize their written works (informative essays or summaries) into a PowerPoint presentation, visual pictorial presentation, debate or by using a poem or rap.