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Units January 22, 2025

The Local Underrepresented Experience

Lesson Summary: Students explore the challenges, experiences, and contributions of the local underrepresented populations throughout their community's history. Downloads: Unit resources
SECTIONS


This unit was created by United States History educators in New Jersey, as part of the 2022 cohort of The 1619 Project Education Network. It is designed for facilitation across approximately 3 weeks, or 15 class periods.

Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • Respectfully engage with community members sharing personal experiences.
  • Improve note taking skills with the use of graphic organizers and other tools.
  • Collaborate in small groups by being open to topics that challenge their beliefs while also working in a diverse group.
  • Incorporate primary sources to create a product detailing the experiences of underrepresented community populations.

Essential Questions

1. How would you define an “underrepresented group”?

2. What are some underrepresented groups in history?

3. Are there any underrepresented groups in your area? If so, what are they?

4. What makes you think that the groups you named are underrepresented?

5. What evidence supports experiences of underrepresentation?

6. How were groups or individuals impacted by their experiences?

Unit Overview

Our unit focuses on the challenges, experiences, and contribution of the local underrepresented population. How can students gain an understanding of their community’s history? How have the experiences of these groups changed over time? In what ways have the changes been positive or negative? Students will practice synthesis, research, primary source analysis, collaboration, and writing skills. Students will discover individual experiences through guest speakers, alumni, and collaboration with local museums and/or historical societies. This student-centered unit allows students to collaborate with members of the community as well as peers to develop an inquiry-based, reflective project. Students will use their acquired knowledge to create a culminating project that answers the question, “What were the challenges, experiences, and contributions of the local underrepresented population?” 

Performance Task

Working with community partnerships will provide students with the opportunity to meet and engage with community members that have a shared experience of underrepresentation. While guest speakers share their stories, students will use graphic organizers to actively listen and record the source information. Working in small groups, students will organize speaker experiences into national, local, and school categories focusing on issues for each category. Students will work in the library to research additional information on the issues and themes from a local perspective. This will lead to a student-created culminating project which will include a student choice of either a paper, presentation, or video synthesizing the information gathered through research and/or community members experiences. Student submissions will focus on how the underrepresented from the community have faced adversity and overcome their challenges while contributing to their community. 

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