Whangarei Girls’ High School
Year 11 History - Racist America? - The struggle for equal rights
11HISRA
Course Description
This half year course dives into the complex and dramatic history of the USA. We investigate the origins of much of America’s racial conflict as a legacy of centuries of brutal slavery; how racist laws and violence trapped southern Black Americans as second class citizens and how the protest and civil rights movement forced change. Learn about the powerful role of key individuals like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X as agents of change and discover NZ’s own form of racial segregation that needed to be challenged and eliminated.
Learning Opportunities
In this course you will need to:
| Develop these skills: | Explore this content: |
- Critical thinking- using logic, interpreting information to create understanding, identifying patterns and trends.
| - Racism is a feature of American life- how did the slave trade affect later generations of Black Americans?
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- Information literacy- identifying fact and opinion, making judgements about the quality of information, assessing the reliability of different sources of information such as websites.
| - Why did individuals and groups fight to end racist laws and how successful were they?
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- Communication skills- communicating effectively in a variety of formats: for example in small group and full class discussions; written work; visual formats.
| - How did racist groups like the KKK try to resist such change?
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| - Why did the civil rights movement become more radical in the 70s? How much impact did people like Malcolm X have on American society?
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| - What issues did Māori face in the second half of the twentieth century?
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| - What are some similarities and differences between race relations in the USA and in NZ?
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| - Why is there still so much racial turmoil in the modern US? Can today’s protesters learn from the past?
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Year Levels/Departments:
Year 11, History
Resources Required
1B8 exercise book