Costume Design for Dance
Focuses on how costume choices enhance movement, character, and thematic elements in dance.
Key Questions
- Analyze how costume design can restrict or liberate a dancer's movement.
- Design a costume concept for a specific dance piece, justifying material and silhouette choices.
- Evaluate the impact of costume on the audience's interpretation of a dance narrative.
Common Core State Standards
About This Topic
The Jim Crow Era Begins covers the systematic dismantling of the rights gained during Reconstruction and the codification of racial segregation. This topic focuses on the Supreme Court's role in this process, particularly the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, and the various legal and extra-legal methods used to disenfranchise Black voters. Students also examine the rise of racial violence, including lynching, and the courageous resistance of activists like Ida B. Wells.
For 11th graders, this topic is essential for understanding the structural roots of racial inequality in the 20th century. It demonstrates how laws can be used to enforce social hierarchies and how the judiciary can fail to protect constitutional rights. Students grasp these complex legal and social shifts faster through mock Supreme Court hearings and collaborative investigations into the tactics of disenfranchisement.
Active Learning Ideas
Mock Supreme Court: Plessy v. Ferguson
Students take on the roles of lawyers for Homer Plessy and the state of Louisiana, as well as the Justices. They argue whether 'separate but equal' violates the 14th Amendment, followed by a discussion of Justice Harlan's famous dissent.
Inquiry Circle: The Tools of Disenfranchisement
Small groups research different methods used to stop Black people from voting: poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. They must explain how each method technically 'obeyed' the 15th Amendment while clearly violating its spirit.
Gallery Walk: Ida B. Wells and the Anti-Lynching Crusade
Display excerpts from Wells's investigative reporting and photos of the era. Students move in pairs to analyze how she used data and journalism to expose the reality of lynching to a national and international audience.
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionSegregation was only a Southern custom, not a legal system.
What to Teach Instead
Jim Crow was a comprehensive legal system of 'de jure' segregation that was upheld by the highest court in the land. A station rotation on Jim Crow laws from different states helps students see the legal rigidity of the system.
Common MisconceptionBlack people did not fight back against Jim Crow until the 1950s.
What to Teach Instead
Resistance was constant, from legal challenges to the founding of the NAACP and the work of journalists like Ida B. Wells. Peer-led analysis of early civil rights organizations helps students see the long history of the struggle.
Suggested Methodologies
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Frequently Asked Questions
What was the 'separate but equal' doctrine?
How did poll taxes and literacy tests work?
Who was Ida B. Wells?
How can active learning help students understand the Jim Crow era?
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