This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students face an America that is grappling with issues of identity and race as public debates over Trayvon Martin and Immigration flood the airwaves. My students need an approach to history that recognizes and celebrates the complexity of American Society, rather than offering a narrow viewpoint.
My students attend a high school in our nation's capital that is high free/reduced lunch and predominantly African-American.
We are close to power, but many of my students often feel a lack of power in shaping the world around them. In particular, they have been terribly shaken up by the events in Florida surrounding Trayvon Martin's death and the trial of George Zimmerman. They want to succeed and be successful in America, but see a society that sometimes projects images of people who look like them as less valuable members of society, while at the same time accepting the president and his family as someone who looks like they do.
This cognitive dissonance creates real challenges for my students as they try to conceptualize their identity as individuals and Americans. This year, we plan to put stereotypes aside and uncover the true multicultural image of the America that exists, not the images of America that are too-often portrayed in pop culture.
My Project
"A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural America" offers a vibrant image of the important and powerful role that non-Anglo communities have played in the development of the America we know today. This adapted version of Ronald Takaki's classic exposition of multicultural life in America offers students with the historical background to interpret current events within their appropriate historical context. The book shows that America is not just one idea, but many ideas developed by immigrants and those who are Native Americans.
This year in US History, my students will explore our nations diverse past so they may discover how America is a land of many people that has long struggled to become "a more perfect union."
My students need to graduate and become informed citizens that take their role in changing inequality in society seriously.
Reading "A Different Mirror" will show that they DO live in a diverse society and that the actions of citizens dedicated to making a change CAN make a difference.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Kennedy and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
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