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| | Title: |
|
| Educator: |
Steve Halvorson |
| Educator Affiliation: |
n.a., MN |
| Overview: |
Students will study a horrific incident of racially-motivated
group violence and murder which took place in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1920.
By reading and analyzing a compelling book, The Lynchings in Duluth, and
by researching related topics, students will learn about the historical
context of the incident and its impact on Minnesota and the nation.
Finally, they will investigate their own roles in resisting racism.
Other contributors: Margaret Sausen, Frank Shelton |
| Grade Levels: |
9-12
|
| Subjects: |
Computer Skills
Reading
Research Skills
Social Studies and History
Speaking, Discussion and Debate
Writing
|
| Lesson Goals: |
Students will:
1. learn about the history of racial violence in America; and
2. explore their own responses to racism. |
| Text & Materials: |
The Lynchings in Duluth, Michael Fedo, Minnesota Historical Society
Press, 2000 (ISBN 0-87351-386-X). |
| Activities: |
1. Introduce students to the general content and context of The
Lynchings in Duluth which is a dramatic, yet even-handed narrative. It
presents a terrible true-life story whereby a mob of white residents of
this northern Minnesota city broke into a jail, dragged out and killed
three young African American men who had been accused of raping a white
woman. The word, "lynch," means to execute someone, especially by
hanging, without due process of the law. The book probes the nature of
racism and of group dynamics. It shows how the police and legal systems
can be frail and faulty, but that letting these systems operate are
preferable to having people take the law into their own hands.
a. Have students research and bring to class a report on racially-based
mob activity and lynching between the years of 1889-1930. Additionally,
ask students to find out the origin of the word, "lynch," which is named
after C. Lynch, a Virginia planter and justice of the peace who lived
from 1736-1796.
b. Have students create and conduct a survey to determine the extent of a
group's knowledge about lynching activity in America. (The group could
include their families and friends, or other students.) Questions could
include:
- Approximately how many Americans were hung by people taking the law
into their own hands between the years of 1889-1930? Of these, how many
were African American?
- In what locations of America did most lynchings occur?
- Are you familiar with any lynchings in northern American states? If
so, where did these take place?
2. Ask students to read the book. Prepare students for sensitive issues
in the narrative which, related with objective restraint, does refer to
an alleged rape and venereal disease, quotes people using the word,
"nigger," and describes the death of three men.
3. Facilitate a discussion with the students about the book. Ask students
to identify and describe each of the groups which played a role in the
lynching or were affected by it. These include:
- two white teenagers who made an accusation of rape in what seems an
implausible scenario, and their families who, in turn, were willing to
suspend disbelief and support the accusation.
- the white ringleaders who carried ropes downtown and in other ways
helped instigate and continue to mob action.
- the group of 120 African American circus workers, including those
roughly interrogated by police seeking confessions or witnesses, and the
six men held in the Duluth jail, who never lost dignity by trying to
frame someone even when terrorized.
- Duluth police and public officials who, with no training in crowd
control, displayed both bungling and bravery.
- white men of Duluth, including World War I veterans, and many of their
families who passed on gossip about the alleged rape, and came downtown
to participate or gawk at the lynching, thus swelling the mob size to
over 10,000;
-the entire black community of Duluth.
-individuals - heroes - who took extraordinary steps to prevent tragedy
by actions such as calling to warn the police; harboring at home some of
the accused men; climbing the hanging pole to exhort the mob against
killing; and placing calls to the Governor and the national guard to
prevent more death and mayhem.
- people involved in the investigation and legal battles, such as a
medical doctor who determined from physical examination little likelihood
of rape; another doctor whose report falsely stated that one of the
accused men had a venereal disease; the judge presiding over the trials
of the lynch mob ringleaders; and African American and white trial
lawyers.
- Voices throughout Minnesota and the nation who responded to the
incident.
4. To encourage students to think about their own role in racism and
resisting racism, ask them to take on one of the following activities:
a. write down what you could have said to the angry mob outside the
Duluth jail had you been present during the riot.
b. research a current incident of racial injustice or violence and
describe the incident in writing and your own reaction to it.
c. assume the role of a black youth living in Duluth at the time of the
lynching. Write a series of diary entries assuming a fictional voice
which describe the impact of the lynchings on that person and the
community.
d. research poetry of the Harlem Renaissance and locate a poem by
Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, or other poet dealing with lynching or
racial violence. (Example in the Supplementary Materials section
following.) Create your own poem about a similar topic and hand in both
pieces.
|
| Supplemental Resources: |
n.a. |
| Web Links: |
http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/us-texts/lynching/
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lynching/lynching.htm
http://www.berea.edu/ENG/chesnutt/lynching.html
http://www.journale.com/withoutsanctuary/
http://1912.history.ohio-state.edu/race/lynching.htm
|
| Posting Date: |
2001-04-16 |
Comments: |
Read Educator Comments Add Your Comments |
| Standards: |
View Minnesota Content Standards information |
|
