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A WebQuest for 11th Grade English and U.S. History and Government Classes Designed by
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits Welcome to your "excellent adventure." Your mission is to travel to a specific time period in American history to discover what it was like to be a citizen at that time. Your travels will focus on the theme of civil rights: whether they have been limited or expanded to African Americans. Civil rights grant full legal, economic, and social equality to all citizens. Each person in your group will take a separate journey to gain different perspectives and sources about our country during your team's assigned time period. You will later reconvene in the present time to share your experiences and prepare a presentation that will reveal your time period's connection to the progression of the American Civil Rights Movement in history and literature.As a result of your time travel and class presentations, you will be able to develop an understanding of the chronological sequence of events and perspectives to help you prepare a thematic essay that answers the essential question, Equality: How have the rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as stated in the Declaration of Independence, been denied to African Americans? In addition, you will also create a sample essay writing prompt that will allow others to compare and contrast how this essential question has been addressed in literature.
The Task You will keep a daily journal that will document your travel experiences as well as the travel experiences of your teammates. This journal is the essential foundation of your team's presentation to the class. You will also need to document your classmates' travel presentations. When all presentations have been completed, you will be required to prepare a thematic essay, and create a sample essay writing prompt that will serve as the basis for a comparative literary essay addressing the essential question. Each time traveler will also construct a timeline incorporating events and literature from all three time periods.
The Process
One or two students
will be assigned the role of an historian, interviewer, photojournalist
or literary critic for travel to that team's era.
Historian- Research key political events, such as the creation of laws, the presentation of speeches, incidents of protest, etc. In your journal, record the specific dates of such events to help with the construction of your time line. Literary Critic- Research and collect various literary documents such as poetry, slave narratives, letters, and significant writings from leaders and/or authors of each time period in the area of civil rights for African Americans. In your journal, record your findings in chronological order, and make notations concerning the application of these literary works to historical events. Interviewer- Research the life and times of important historical and literary leaders of each assigned time period. In your journal, record in chronological order the specific events and works authored by this figure that make him/her recognized during this era in the area of civil rights for African Americans. Photojournalist- Research and collect visual documents such as photographs, works of art, political cartoons, graphs, maps, sketches, music, and videos. In your journal, record in chronological order, as well as label such documents as they pertain to the civil rights movement for African Americans. There are three specific time periods listed below. For each time period, you will find links to appropriate Web sites for your research, though you are not limited to only using these. You are to access these sites to find the research that is necessary for you to complete your role's task. If you are a literary critic, you should also refer to the anthologies provided by your teacher and librarian. Forms
to be completed for each research link used in your travels:
Once forms are completed, fold, staple, and attach each form on to a
page in your journal.
Antebellum America and Slavery American Studies
Slave narratives
Gilda
Lehrman Online
True womanhood
in Antebellum America
Role of the Black Church
Antebellum
and Civil War America Literature
Harriet
Beecher Stowe
Frederick Douglass of July 4th to the Enslaved Index of Slave Narratives from the WPA
Reconstruction through the 1920s 
Slave narratives
Records from the Freedmens Bureau U.S. Founding Documents
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Paul Laurence Dunbar -poet and writer American Studies
Booker T.
Washington. Up From Slavery: An Autobiography
Images of Ida Wells
We
Shall Overcome-The Need for Change
DuBois, Niagara
Movement Address
Post World War II Era The Poets
Civil Rights Museum
Africa-American History website
SNCC 1960-1966:Six years of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 
Timeline Issues People Events Greenboro Sit ins Selected Speeches of LBJ MLK
You Can't Hate the Tree and Not the Roots Message to the Grass Roots Malcolm X 
Douglass: Chronological
List of Speeches and Documents
History of Civil Rights Law-A Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement from the Declaration of Independence to the Americans with Disabilities Act ADAH:George
Wallace's 1963 Inaugural Speech
Evaluation Each team member is responsible for: Personal Journal: Entries are comprehensive and written in a clear, concise, organized format. Notes are accurate and illustrate a clear understanding of the chronological sequence of events, making reference to appropriate sources. Analysis worksheets and evaluation of peer presentations are included and convey research, literary, and listening skills. Presentation: Each team is responsible for presenting its research to the class. The presentation format should coordinate all research in an organized, accurate manner. Each member should speak clearly, using appropriate volume and pace to help enhance student understanding of content. Thematic Essay: Essay will be evaluated using New York State Essay rubric for regents exams. Sample English Essay Writing Prompt: Writing
prompt follows the appropriate format of the New York State Regents Exam.
Works chosen are appropriate and and well-matched. Analysis of chosen works
is accurate, reflective, and comprehensive.
Conclusion On your teacher's selected date, your group
will reconvene for a secret rendevous to finalize presentations and prepare
for your final assessment. Each team must be ready to present to the class
their work, and submit their journals on the first date of presentations.
Journals will be secured in the classroom, so they will be available for
notetaking during other presentations. At the conclusion of all presentations,
you will be required to write a thematic essay that answers the essential
question; create a time line of key events for all three time periods;
and construct a sample task 3 essay for the English Language Arts Regents
that asks students to compare two literary works of different genres based
on the same theme of civil rights for African Americans. These sample essay
questions may be used for preparation for the New York State Regents Exam.
For extra points the option of creating a Document Based Question (DBQ)
to be submitted with your presentation will be available.
Credits & References Suggested Anthologies for African American Literature American Studies Album. Oakland: ScottForesman, 1995. Barrett, Eileen, and Cullinan Mary, eds. American Women Writers: Diverse Voices in Prose Since 1845. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Clarke, John Henrik, ed. Black American Short Stories: A Century of the Best. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993. Ellison, Ralph. Flying Home and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 1996. Hughes, Langston, ed. The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers: An Anthology from 1899 to the Present. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967. King, Woodie, ed. Black Short Story Anthology. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972. Madison, D. Soyini, ed. The Woman That I Am. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. Russell, Sandi, ed. Render Me My Song. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990. Words of Ages: Witnessing U.S. History Through
Literature. Alexandria: Close Up Publishing, 2000.
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