Format
The program guides participants through an examination of primary resources including artwork, photographs, and letters to learn about the accomplishments, sacrifices, and commitments of the Harlem Hellfighters. Participants will be encouraged to look closely and think critically about primary sources and artifacts. Time will be allowed for questions and answers.
Objectives
At the end of this lesson students, will be able to
*Describe the U.S. Army’s role in World War I.
*Understand how African Americans have used military service as a strategy to advance civil rights.
*Describe the impact of the African American military service on the home front before, during, and following World War I.
Standards Alignment
National Standards
Common Core Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
State Standards
Virginia Standards of Learning
United States History 1865 to Present
USII.4 The student will apply history and social science skills to explain the changing role of the United States from the late 19th century through World War I by
C)analyzing the major causes and consequences of World War I and examining the roles of key leaders and groups;
USII.5 The student will apply history and social science skills to understand the social, political, economic, and technological changes of the early 20th century by
H)describing racial segregation, housing discrimination via redlining, the rise of “Jim Crow” laws, Black Codes, and threats of violence, including, but not limited to intimidation, lynchings, armed conflicts, suppressed voting rights, and limits on political participation faced by African Americans and other people during post-Reconstruction; and
I) analyzing events and impacts of African American leaders in response to “Jim Crow,” including, but not limited to the formation of the NAACP, strikes, protests, the role of HBCUs, and the work of leaders like Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Mary White Ovington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
Virginia and United States History
VUS.11 The student will apply history and social science skills to analyze the emerging role of the United States in world affairs during the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries by
C) evaluating the events, leaders, and changes that brought America out of a period of isolationism to enter WWI;
D) evaluating the United States’ involvement in World War I, including, but not limited to Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the establishment of the League of Nations; and
VUS.12 The student will apply history and social science skills to understand key international and domestic events, interests, and philosophies of the 1920s and 1930s by
A) analyzing the attacks on civil liberties, including, but not limited to the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, the Chicago riot of 1919, the Tulsa Race Massacre and the decimation of Black Wall Street, and the institution of redlining and resulting racial wealth gaps;