2.2: "Empowering the Black Power Movement"

Chapter 5 Objectives

Students will be able to

• Practice vocabulary with an increased understanding of the chapter words
• Learn about the Cornell note-taking strategy and practice it while reading
• Study and discuss the way movements spread through society with the correct use of the order words "before" and "after"
• Read “Empowering the Black Power Movement” by USHistory.org and answer comprehension questions based on this reading
• Make connections between this chapter and previously assigned texts
• Practice strategies for writing introduction and conclusion paragraphs
• Create a 5-paragraph draft of an essay about social change
• Develop complete sentences while editing for run-on or fragment errors

Vocabulary Introduction

Exercise 1 Prior Knowledge

Look at the words in bold in Exercise 2 without reading the example sentences. Rate your current knowledge of the word before doing the unit exercises. Use the numbered scale and write the number in front of the sentences in Exercise 2. With each exercise and by the end of the unit, your knowledge should work toward a "4", which means you will know the word, can explain it and give an example. It is expected that you will mark many words with a "1" or "2" now since they might be completely new words.

1. I do not know this word, and I have never heard of it before.

2. I have heard of this word before. It sounds familiar.

3. I can give an example of this word, but I cannot explain it.

4. I know this word. I can explain it and give an example.

Exercise 2 Definitions

Read the sentences below. Guess the meaning of the words in bold based on the example sentence(s).

____ 1. Alicia was determined to pass the class, so she studied often.

Your definition:

____ 2. The financial aid will help me have more time to study instead of working.

Your definition:

____ 3. Parents should be involved in their children’s lives by doing activities on the weekend, talking at dinnertime, and taking trips together.

Your definition:

____ 4. Ahmed will never disobey his parents. He follows all the rules.

Your definition:

____ 5. The abandoned house attracted homeless people and drug activity.

Your definition:

____ 6. His body rejected the medicine. He had to change his treatment strategy.

Your definition:

Reading

Exercise 3

Take Cornell Notes on a separate piece of paper. To help you, read the passage first and write margin notes and highlight. Next, transfer your notes into a Cornell Notes template.

Empowering the Black Power Movement by USHistory.org

This informational text discusses how the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s emerged as a major political force following the Civil Rights Movement. While the Civil Rights Movement helped end legal segregation in America, the Black Power movement sought to end the economic and social inequality that African Americans continued to face. As you read, take notes on how the Black Power Movement was formed.

¹On June 5, 1966, the Civil Rights Movement’s James Meredith was shot in an ambush as he attempted to complete a peaceful solo “March Against Fear” from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. Meredith had already made national headlines in 1962 by becoming the first African American to enroll at the University of Mississippi.

²Civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Floyd McKissick of CORE, and Stokely Carmichael of SNCC rushed to Meredith's hospital bed. They determined that his march must be completed. As Carmichael and McKissick walked through Mississippi, they observed that when it came to race relations, little had changed despite federal legislation. Local townspeople harassed the marchers while the police turned a blind eye or arrested the activists as troublemakers.

³At a mass rally, Carmichael uttered the simple statement: “What we need is black power.” Crowds chanted the phrase as a slogan, and a movement began to flower.

⁴Carmichael and McKissick were heavily influenced by the words of Malcolm X, and rejected integration as a short-term goal. Carmichael felt that blacks needed to feel a sense of racial pride and self-respect before any meaningful gains could be achieved. He encouraged the strengthening of African American communities without the help of whites.

⁵Chapters of SNCC and CORE — both integrated organizations — began to reject white membership as Carmichael abandoned peaceful resistance. Martin Luther King Jr. and the NAACP denounced black power as the proper forward path. But black power was a powerful message in the streets of urban America, where resentment boiled and tempers flared.

⁶Soon, African American students began to celebrate African American culture boldly and publicly. Colleges teemed with young blacks wearing traditional African colors and clothes. Soul singer James Brown had his audience chanting “Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud.” Hairstyles unique to African Americans became popular and youths proclaimed, “Black is Beautiful!”

⁷That same year, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale took Carmichael's advice one step further. They formed the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California. Openly brandishing weapons, the Panthers decided to take control of their own neighborhoods to aid their communities and to resist police brutality. Soon the Panthers spread across the nation. The Black Panther Party borrowed many tenets from socialist movements, including Mao Zedong's famous creed “Political power comes through the barrel of a gun.” The Panthers and the police exchanged gunshots on American streets as white Americans viewed the growing militancy with increasing alarm. Newton himself was arrested in October of 1968 after he was involved in a shootout with police that left an officer dead. Despite the escalation in violence around the country, the Black Panther Party kept growing.

⁸The peaceful Civil Rights Movement was dealt a severe blow in the spring of 1968. On the morning of April 4, King was gunned down by a white assassin named James Earl Ray. Riots spread through American cities as African Americans mourned the death of their most revered leader. Black power advocates saw the murder as another sign that white power must be met with similar force. As the decade came to a close, there were few remaining examples of legal discrimination. But across the land, de facto segregation loomed large. Many schools were hardly integrated and African Americans struggled to claim their fair share of the economic pie.

⁹Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement led by CORE, SNCC, and NAACP achieved much with their nonviolent civil disobedience methods in regards to ending Jim Crow laws and supporting integration laws. But the 1970s would belong to the Black Power movement.

“Empowering the Black Power Movement” by USHistory.org is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Text-Dependent Questions

Exercise 4

Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which of the following best identifies a central idea of this text?

A. The Black Power movement’s main purpose was to incite violence against white power.

B. The Black Power movement’s goals included integration and ending police brutality.

C. The Black Power movement’s purpose was to establish black pride and protect black communities.

D. The Black Power movement’s goals included empowering black urban youth and arming them for their own protection.

2. PART B: Which TWO phrases from the text best support the answer to Part A?

A. “Carmichael and McKissick were heavily influenced by the words of Malcolm X, and rejected integration as a short-term goal.” (Paragraph 4)

B. “Carmichael felt that blacks needed to feel a sense of racial pride and self-respect before any meaningful gains could be achieved.” (Paragraph 4)

C. “they observed that when it came to race relations, little had changed despite federal legislation” (Paragraph 2)

D. “Openly brandishing weapons, the Panthers decided to take control of their own neighborhoods to aid their communities and to resist police brutality.” (Paragraph 7)

E. “Riots spread through American cities as African Americans mourned the death of their most revered leader.” (Paragraph 8)

F. “Many schools were hardly integrated and African Americans struggled to claim their fair share of the economic pie.” (Paragraph 8)

3. How does the inclusion of paragraph 6 contribute to the author’s description of the Black Power movement?

A. It explains how black musicians were more influential than black activists.

B. It depicts the enlightenment and spiritual awakening of the Black Power movement.

C. It shows how the movement celebrated and uplifted African Americans.

D. It reveals the wide gap between white America and black America during integration.

4. What statement best describes the relationship between Stokely Carmichael and Huey Newton?

A. Carmichael’s call for black power inspired Newton to physically empower black communities.

B. Carmichael’s exclusion of white members inspired Newton to form a black-only movement.

C. Newton worked with Carmichael to learn how to start the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California.

D. Newton’s self-defense methods scared Carmichael because of Newton’s conflicts with the police.

Reading/Writing Strategy: Understand Order of Events

Exercise 5 Discuss how movements spread

1: Watch the video

Take notes of the main ideas. Click "CC" for English subtitles. Re-watch, if needed.

2: Practice vocabulary from the video

Take notes on new vocabulary terms. Click "CC" for English subtitles. Pause as needed.

3: Share Your Ideas

Hint: This type of movement is defined as a group of people working together to advance their shared political, social, or artistic ideas.

How do social-political movements become popular? How do the ideas spread?

Give an example of one movement: What was it? How did it start? How did others join in?

Write at least 5 sentences for your initial post.

Example:

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement began due to videos of police brutality against Black people spreading online. Protesters called for justice and equality through peaceful demonstrations, marches, and civil disobedience, raising awareness about police violence. Social media, especially hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter, helped the movement go global, gaining support through videos and personal stories. While the movement led to some policy changes in certain police forces, there's still work to be done. The movement continues to spread through online stories and news sources.

4: Reply to two of your peers

After you have created your own post, respond to at least two of your classmates' posts. See if others know about similar movements or have information that you find interesting. You may ask a follow-up question or make a connection to the other student's post. Each reply post should be at least 3 sentences.

Exercise 6 Using before and after to show sequence:

Before connects to the clause of the later event to show that something came before this. Example: Before I came to Delta College, I took some English classes at adult school.

(this happened later) (this happened first)

After connects to the clause of the earlier event to show that something came after this. Example: After I came to Delta College, I made a lot friends from many different countries.

(this happened first) (this happened later)

Punctuation: When you use before and after, your sentence will always have two clauses to show the two different events. You can write these clauses in any order. Before and after are called dependent clause words, meaning the clause with this word is not a complete sentence; it needs to be connected to the other clause. Use a comma to separate the two clauses when you start a sentence with any dependent clause word.

Example: Before a movement really takes off, someone has to start it and a few others have to join in.

(comma needed to separate the two clauses)

Use ideas from the chart to complete the before/after sentences. Add/change words when needed.

First	Later
A leader begins a new idea alone	One person joins the leader
A second person joins in	Another few people join in
Lots of people join in	It’s a movement

1. Before ,
2. before
3. After ,
4. after
5. After ,

.

Writing Skill-Introduction to Essays

Paragraph to Essay

Recall that a paragraph has three major components: a topic sentence (main idea), supporting details (the body), and a concluding sentence. An essay also has three major parts: an introductory paragraph, a body (supporting paragraphs), and a conclusion paragraph. In this unit, you will learn about the parts of an essay in more detail. In Chapter 4, you wrote an outline with ideas for three body paragraphs about social change. Now, we will discuss strategies for adding an intro paragraph and a conclusion paragraph to create your first full essay assignment.

Introductory Paragraphs

The first paragraph of an essay is called the introduction. Typically, instructors want a hook, connecting information, and a thesis statement. The hook is a sentence that attracts the reader’s attention; however, it is important to note that once you have the reader’s attention, you need to try to keep it. The thesis statement is similar to a topic sentence in that it states the main idea of the essay. In this section, we will focus on the first two parts of an introductory paragraph. Then, you will add your thesis statement.

Strategies

There are several strategies for the introductory paragraph. More than one strategy can be used.

Definition: Define key concepts that are the focus of the essay.

Surprising facts or statistics: Provide statistics and facts

Funnel: A funnel is like an upside-down triangle. The paragraph begins with a general statement and then the sentences become more and more specific.

Historical Background: Explain the history of the topic. What is the relationship between groups involved? Has there been conflict? This strategy usually involves dates.

Quotation (Expert or Expression): Use a quote or expression related to the topic. The quote should be from an authority or expert on the topic. The expression can be cultural like a proverb.

Anecdote: Tell a story of someone or something that is related to the topic of your essay. For example, if your essay is about immigration (which it is!), then tell the story of an immigrant.

Exercise 5: Identifying the strategies

Look at the three example introductory paragraphs. Identify which strategies are used in each paragraph. More than one strategy per paragraph is possible. Underline the thesis statement.

Example Introduction 1

There is a famous expression in English: "Stop the world, I want to get off!" This expression refers to a feeling of panic, or stress, that makes a person want to stop whatever they are doing, try to relax, and become calm again. 'Stress' means pressure or tension. It is one of the most common causes of health problems in modern life. Too much stress results in physical, emotional, and mental health problems.

Example Introduction 2

First generation immigrants are people that decided to immigrate to another country

looking for a better way of life. Through the years, most of these immigrants get established and

overcome economical hardships. At the same time that these foreign people begin to form their

families in the country where they immigrate, they start to provide to their children who are the

second generation immigrants, better opportunities to live. As immigrants there are some

contrasts between both of these groups, such as economic and educational success, social beliefs,

and social relationships.

Example Introduction 3

United States immigrant history can be found since first English colonists stepped on this land. By the 1960s, United States had become first choice for immigrants. About one-fifth of world immigrants now live in United States (Zong, Batalova, and Hallock). By 2016, United States immigrant population already pass 43.7 million, about one-eighth of total US population. In this large group, Asians and Hispanics are the top two immigrant sources. A recent study shows there are big differences between the first generation and second generation of Asian and Hispanic immigrant by comparing data of education, social views, and identity from each.

Example introduction 1 strategies:

Example introduction 2 strategies:

Example introduction 3 strategies:

Which introductory paragraph is your favorite? What features of this paragraph do you like?

“Example Paragraph 1” is derived from “Writing for Success” by Tara Horkoff and Scott McLean licensed CC BY-NC-SA.

Exercise 6: Write a draft for your Essay Introduction (social change)

Write an introductory paragraph for the outline you wrote about social change in Chapter 4. Be sure to use one or more of the strategies you learned in this chapter. Then end the intro paragraph with a clear main idea (your thesis statement!)

Writing Skill-Conclusion Paragraphs

A good conclusion paragraph will restate the main idea from the thesis but not in the exact words and end with a final thought. Strategies for the final thought might be a suggestion, solution, prediction, or opinion. The conclusion should not be a summary. Writing a summary for the conclusion can be redundant or repetitive.

Final Thought Strategies

Suggestion: What do you suggest people do or not do? Should policies or rules be changed? Should people stop a habit?

Example: The second-generation immigrants could give back to their parents who worked so hard to help them become successful. They could help their parents learn English.

Solution: How can the problem be fixed? What are the steps to fixing the problem?

Example: To prevent students from dropping out of college, a peer mentorship program could be created so that students can get advice from students who may have faced the same obstacles in their educational career.

Prediction: What might happen in the future related to this topic?

Example: If immigration policies in America are reformed to create legal status for dreamers, lives will be tremendously changed for the better.

Opinion: How do you feel about this topic without saying “in my opinion”? Is this good, bad, important and why?

Example: Creating laws that deter texting while driving is an important step in preventing accidents, major injuries, and even death.

Exercise 7: Write a draft for your Essay Conclusion (social change)

Write a conclusion paragraph for your essay on social change. Be sure to write a restatement of the thesis and several sentences that provide a final thought using one or more of the strategies above.

Social Change Essay Draft 1

Exercise 8

Use the outline from Chapter 8 to write the first draft of your essay (a 5-paragraph essay on the most effective strategies for social change). When you write your draft, be sure to use strategies for the introductory and conclusion paragraphs. Remember that you are trying to convince the reader that these are effective strategies, so be sure to provide strong reasons why these strategies will bring change. You are encouraged to use examples from the readings in this unit.

Vocabulary Practice

Exercise 9 Sentence Completion

Complete the sentences using the vocabulary in the box below.

determined to involved in reject abandon disobey aid

Table 20 Chapter 9 Sentence Completion

1. Esmeralda had to ________________ the car and walk to the gas station.

2. Jorge is ________________ sports and clubs on campus.

3. Christina ________________ offers of help. She wanted to do it alone.

4. Soloman ________________ his mother and went to the party although she said not to.

5. After the earthquake, ________________ arrived from different regions of the country.

6. Natasha is ________________ lose weight, so she only eats salads.

Exercise 10 Discussion Questions

Take notes answering the questions below. Then discuss your answers with a partner or group.

1. Tell about a time you were determined to do something. Why were you so determined?

2. Tell about a time you disobeyed your parents, teacher, or an authority.

3. Are you or your children involved in any clubs or organizations (e.g., sports or religious)? Explain. Why or why not?