Two Spirit Map of the World

This is a link to an interactive map of the world showing how different cultures recognized Two Spirit people.

With your group, explore three diverse cultures from different parts of the world, then choose one and make a poster for that culture (one for each one), explaining how the culture recognizes Two Spirit people. Use student-friendly language.

• What country?
• What names are two-spirit people called in this country?
• How were they historically recognized?
• How are they recognized now?

Hint: Follow and read any links.

 

 

 

Group Work: ACT UP

In this mini unit, you and your group will learn about the organization ACT UP, which was founded by Larry Kramer after he left the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. This research work will take your group today’s and tomorrow’s class periods to complete. This is a glossary of ACT UP now terms that might be useful.

1. Read about the history of the organization and discuss it with your group. Note important dates and facts.
2. Read this timeline of ACT UP.

   Then…

   Each group member should:

 

• choose 2-3 years to explore more deeply,
• choose a significant action from each of the years
• fill out the graphic organizer with the actions you have chosen
• Discuss these with your group

Writing project: Milk, Larry Kramer, and MLK

Below, you will find some follow-up resources for Milk, The Normal Heart, and Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot.

There are three writing prompts. You will need to answer all three.

Please review the questions and then access (listen, read, watch) the media and make notes before you begin writing. Your answers should be very thorough and complete (a minimum of one paragraph each) and based on your knowledge of the movies Milk, The Normal Heart, and Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot (and the additional resources). Please use specific references from the movies AND the resource materials (links below) in your writing whenever possible.

Work in Google Docs and post your complete answers as a comment to this post by the end of class on Thursday, December 15.

This radio story, “‘Gotta Give ‘Em Hope’: The Legacy Of Harvey Milk” aired in 2009, a few weeks before the movie was released. In it, you will hear people who knew Milk talking about the impact of his life. (Listen, use earbuds or headphones.)

This video interview with playwright/scriptwriter Larry Kramer was made by The New York Times in 2014 when his screenplay of The Normal Heart premiered on HBO. (Watch, use earbuds or headphones)

This 2012 essay by John Blake, religion reporter for CNN explores what Martin Luther King, Jr. may have thought about homosexuality and the gay rights movement, had he lived to see it. (Read.)

WRITING PROMPTS

1. Harvey Milk and playwright Larry Kramer were on very different paths of advocacy for the gay community. What were each of their causes and what methods did they use to advance their causes?

 

2. What personality qualities did Martin Luther King, Jr., Harvey Milk, and the character Ned Weeks (Larry Kramer) share? Do you think these three men would have formed an alliance if they had lived at the same time? Why or why not?

 

3. On his fourth election night, Harvey Milk reminded his supporters, “This is not my victory — it’s yours. If a gay man can win, it proves that there is hope for all minorities who are willing to fight.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement, and why?

Matthew Shepard

Read Matthew Shepard’s bio here.

Read James Byrd, Jr.’s bio here.

Read about the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 here.

With your partners, answer the following question:

Why are laws specific to hate crimes needed?

Why can’t hate crimes be covered under “regular” laws?

What is the difference between federal and state hate crime laws?

Does California have a hate crimes law? What does it say?

 

 

 

Comparing Rights Across the Decades

Each member of your group will need a computer for this project.

Your work group has been assigned a decade/s. As a group, you will:

Choose 5 events  you feel are significant from each timeline (from your assigned decade).(That’s a total of 15 events.) Choose events that are at, or near, the same time, to contrast and compare what was going on with each of these groups during your decade.

Follow links, do quality Google research, and be prepared to explain the significance of each event.

Create a paper triple timeline for your decade/s. Please work on the paper “hamburger style,” so we will be able to assemble your decades into a complete timeline.

We will do group presentations of the timeline, so everyone should be familiar with the events you choose, in detail, and be able to explain.

LGBT Rights Timeline

Civil Rights Timeline

Women’s Rights Timeline

 

 

Bright Young Minds Registration Link

Click HERE to get registered for the Bright Young Minds Conference we’ll attend on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at Samuel Merritt University.

 

Writing: Songs of Social Justice

This writing assignment is the summation of our week-long mini-unit on Songs of Social Justice. This is individual work and should be completed on your own, using your own notes.

You should have the following materials:

• Handouts, “Songs for Social Justice” (four songs), and “Prison Trilogy”
• Notes on excerpt from Joan Baez biography, “How Sweet the Sound”
• Notes on NPR story on Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize in literature
• Your notes on your classmates’ presentations on modern Social Justice songs

Using these materials, please answer the following questions as completely as possible (3-5 sentences each question).

To be complete, this assignment should be written in Google Docs and pasted in the comments section of this post. This should be completed and posted before the end of class today.

1. What are “Social Justice songs”? How would you define them?

2. How do you think social justice songs have changed since the 1960s and 1970s? Contrast and compare your knowledge of social justice songs then and now. What is similar? What is different?  What do they have in common? (Hint: Making a Venn diagram for yourself may be helpful!)

3. Are there differences between the singers and/or songwriters you were exposed to from the 1940s (Woody Guthrie) and 1960s (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger) and 1970s, and the artists you and your classmates chose that created songs post-1990?

4. What are some outside factors that have contributed to differences between social justice songs in the 1960s and those created more recently? Explain.

5. Do you think social justice songs are important? Why or why not?

Social Justice Song Poster

For Monday, 10/17

ONE Google slide (total) about a social justice-themed song (written/recorded after 1990)

Your slide should include:

–The name of the song

–The artist who recorded it

–The person who wrote the song/lyrics

–The year it was written (not recorded)

–A section of the lyrics (4 lines, minimum)

–A researched photograph of the event, person, people, or issue the song discusses and a brief explanation

–Your names (in small, discreet type that’s not part of the design)

Berkeley in the Sixties

Please answer as thoroughly as possible, in a minimum of three paragraphs (in total). Be sure to cite specific instances (dates, etc.) from your viewing of the movie. Write in Google Docs and then paste in your answer as a response to this post. This is due at 11:59, Tuesday, 10/4/2016

The Civil Rights movement was at the center of the student activism at Berkeley from its inception, but like the other movements it was distinct from the Free Speech Movement and the Anti-War movement.  How did each support the other? In what ways were they at cross purposes?

 

The Loss of Minority Voters From Rolls

After reading the New York Times article, “Critics See Efforts by Counties and Towns to Purge Minority Voters From Rolls,” (July 31, 2016), and following the directions (all three parts) on the printout with the article., answer the following questions. Note: Read this for information on HOW to post your writing responses

Based on what you’ve seen (In the documentary Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot, and what you’ve read about state’s laws in researching the group assignment called Do Something!, and in the article by the New York Times on the removal of minority voters from voting rolls, answer the following questions:

Please answer as thoroughly as possible, in a minimum of three paragraphs (in total). Be sure to cite specific instances from your viewing, research, and reading.

1. Do you think that all voting jurisdictions should be subject to the same voter regulations? Why or why not?

2. Should there be a difference between regulations for local (city or county), state, or national elections? Why or why not?