To continue their study of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the beginning of the civil rights movement, class members watch the YouTube video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" as an introduction to an examination of lynching in America. After reading primary source articles and analyzing statistics on lynchings in the United States, individuals blog their reactions to the subject of lynching.

Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Prior to the lesson, model how to set up a blog and have class members create a blog and practice posting

Classroom Considerations

• The resources comes with the caution that many of the photographs (and some of the articles) are graphic and not suitable for most classrooms; therefore, preview all the materials before using any of them
• The lesson requires the establishment of a protocol for the safe discussion of emotionally charged and controversial issues

Pros

• The resource provides step-by-step directions for the activities, links to a wealth of primary and secondary source materials, and a rubric to assess the persuasive essay blog posting

Cons

• None

Common Core

W.9-10.1.a W.11-12.1.a RH.9-10.1 RH.11-12.7