Yo soy moreno; yo luchare; yo seré victorioso

This unit was created by educators in Woodburn, OR Schools, as part of the 2023 cohort of The 1619 Project Education Network. It is designed for facilitation across approximately three weeks, or four 50 minute class periods.

Essential Questions

• In what ways do you see African resistance today in the Americas? 
• What is the legacy of Africans and their descendants in the Americas?

Objectives

Students will be able to…

• Explore the history, culture, and characteristics  of early African communities 
• Explore historical stories of resistance movements led by Indigenous and Enslaved African communities
• Analyze and make connections to Afro-Mexicans by engaging in reporting on culture, identity, and resistance
• Analyze the structure of The 1619 Project: New Origin Story
• Analyze the key assertions of Nikole Hannah Jones in the opening chapter “Democracy”
• Write an essay that captures their own “new origin story”
• Curate a historical fact, art object, and photograph to support their essay

Unit Overview

This unit asks students to reexamine what they know about the enslavement of Africans, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and resistance movements, past and present, led by Afro-descended peoples of the Americas.

Students begin by connecting to the images that capture enslavement, resistance, and resilience in  Born on the Water. They explore a range of informational videos, essays, and primary source excerpts that detail the rich early history of African civilizations, the sequence of events that accelerated the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and then examine stories of resistance in the Americas by focusing on Afro-Latinx figures that successfully resisted slavery like Gaspar Yanga. 

Finally, students read, analyze, and discuss “Democracy,” The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by Nikole Hannah-Jones. In a culminating project, students utilize the structure of The 1619 Project to create their own chapter that centers Afro-Latinx resistance and answers the following questions: 

• In what ways do you see African resistance today in the Americas? 
• What is the legacy of Africans and their descendants in the Americas?

Performance Task

1619 Project Final Project: Crafting Your Own New Origin Story [.pdf] [.docx]

Using The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story as a model, students will create their own New Origin Story chapter that includes the following components:

• historical fact
• Image
• Poem
• Essay

Alternative Final Project: 1619 Project Mentor Research [.pdf] [.docx]

As an alternative performance task, a student can choose to  spend more time with the writers in The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. Students can research a writer and make connections between their other work and The 1619 Project.

Three-week unit plan for teachers, including pacing, texts and multimedia resources. Download below, or scroll down to review key resources included in the unit plan.

Unit Resources

Common Core Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

Learning for Justice Social Justice Standards

Students will respectfully express curiosity about the history and lived experiences of others and will exchange ideas and beliefs in an open-minded way.

Students will respond to diversity by building empathy, respect, understanding and connection.

Students will examine diversity in social, cultural, political and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or oversimplified.

The 1619 Project for everyone, including myself, was a sight into the truth. A lot of this history is hidden, banned, or erased, and that’s exactly why it’s so important that we learn this history. Students are learning the truer history of America. 1619 isn’t a whitewashed or diluted book; it’s the full detail with nothing hidden. Learning this history helped me connect the dots with a lot of things. I’ve learned the origin of certain stereotypes, ideologies, and behaviors and why we still see them today. This history makes me think and ask a lot of questions. It also makes me feel embarrassed, not for myself, but for the grown adults who uphold the institution of white supremacy and try to ban these books.

Student Reflection on Unit

Alternative Final Project: 1619 Project Mentor Research

As an alternative performance task, a student can choose to  spend more time with the writers in The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. Students can research a writer and make connections between their other work and The 1619 Project. [.pdf] [.docx]