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The Western Migration
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Lesson Plans For The Western Migration
OK in Oklahoma? All-Black Communities Lesson Plan
Grade levels: High school, grades 9-12
Concentration area: History : U.S. Government
In the segment "Migration to Oklahoma," The Western Migration narrative examines African-American migration to Oklahoma and settlement in thirty-two all-black towns. The lesson OK in Oklahoma? is designed for use in conjunction with reading the narrative or as a follow-up activity. Students will be asked to read the narrative, examine the early segregation laws adopted at the time of Oklahoma statehood, and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of single-race communities, focusing on moral, social, security, legal, and economics issues.
The Land Promised Lesson Plan: African-American Homesteaders
Grade levels: Middle school, grades 6-8
Concentration area: History, Geography
The narrative, The Western Migration, features African Americans with agricultural backgrounds who migrated west following the Civil War and availed themselves of the opportunity to homestead. The Land Promised is designed for use in conjunction with or as a follow-up to the narrative. Students will examine African-American homesteaders, the challenges they faced from climate and soil, and the communities they created.
African Americans and the Move West Lesson Plan
Grade levels: Middle school, grades 6-8
Concentration area: History
Freedom and opportunity were guiding principles and desires that sparked African-American migration to the West. Land, jobs, and political and economic motivations led vast numbers of African Americans to the West. The Western Migration altered the lives of those who moved west, as well as altering the region and the nation. In this lesson, students will examine the phases of the migration west and analyze the incentives for African Americans to move. Students will create a timeline of migration to the west along with charts depicting the changes in demographics of areas at selected points in time.
The Western Migration Lesson Plan: Socratic Seminar
Grade levels: High school, grades 9-12
Concentration area: History
This Socratic Seminar centers on the statement, "To those...obliged to exchange a cultivated region for a howling wilderness, we recommend...the western wilds...where the plowshares of prejudice have been unable to penetrate the soil." After reading The Western Migration, students will explore the different experiences of the African-American migration to the West in an open-ended dialogue discussing the quote, the narrative, and the ultimate results of the western migration.
The Western Migration Lesson Plan
Grade levels: Middle and high school, grades 9-12
Concentration area: History : U.S. Government
This lesson is designed for students to use with the narrative The Western Migration. This lesson will ask students to read a narrative about migrations into the western part of the United States. Students will make a flyer soliciting a move to a state in the West and will include some of the facts used to entice people they read about in the narrative.
Voluntary Movement or Not? African-American Movement to the West Lesson Plan
Grade levels: Middle and high school, grades 7-12
Concentration area: History
Many times in history, African Americans, by force or choice, moved about. Using information from The Western Migration and other Schomburg narratives, students will form an opinion on how voluntary these moves really were and then write a persuasive composition supporting their opinion.
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