Introduction
In this lesson plan, DC Activists, students will research a local DC activist using reliable sources and write a mock Wikipedia article lead section about their activist. This lesson has been created to align with DCPS' 8th grade English Language Arts-Unheard Voices cornerstone.
Subject: English Language Arts
Grade: 8th
Objective:
Students will research key figures and organizations critical to the fight for DC Statehood in order to create their own mock Wikipedia article’s lead section that highlights a local activist whose story is missing from Wikipedia.
Standard:
W.8.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
Essential Question:
What is activism and who can be an activist?
What local public figures stories and narratives are waiting to be told?
Resources Needed:
Computers/laptops/tablets
DC Activist presentation
DC Statehood Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon page
Wikimedia DC’s Preparing to Edit: Wikipedia Basics Guide
Procedure:
Ask students to define the terms “activism” and “activist” in their own words. Capture their comments on chart paper or the board. Project the DC Activist presentation using a smartboard and review the terms with students.
After the review of the terms, ask the class if they can name an activist and their cause. Many students may mention names of famous activists. Begin the conversation about local activists and activism: “Do you know of anyone in your community or neighborhood who is an activist?”, or “Do you know of any local causes people in DC are fighting for?” Mention that there are people throughout history who have stood and fought for a cause, but we may never know their names. It is often up to people who know them to try to share their stories. Share the slides on the DC Statehood Party and Josephine Butler.
Review Wikimedia DC's Preparing to Edit: Wikipedia Basics Guide. For the assignment, students will research a local DC activist and create a Wikipedia lead section about them. Students may choose to research an activist from the DC Statehood Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon Specific Sources list or they may choose to write about another notable DC activist of their choosing that does not already have a Wikipedia page.
Extension Activity
Ask students to reflect on the research process and think about the causes they are passionate about. Invite students to brainstorm ways they can take action on a daily basis to create positive change.
Additional Resources
Researching DC Statehood libguide: This DC History Center guide was created with a general audience in mind, providing primary and secondary resources relating to DC statehood. The guide also includes a section dedicated to an actual DC Statehood editathon, with resources relating to specific local activists who either do not have a wikipedia page and/or whose page could use support relating to their DC statehood activism.
DC Declaration of Learning libguide: This DC History Center guide was created to support teachers exploring object-based learning in the classroom. Several examples of local activists and activism are included.
Washington History includes Teachable Moments, which are short articles are designed for classroom use. They take a single local primary source and explore its historical context with DCPS curricular needs in mind. These Teachable Moments address issues such as compensation emancipation, racial covenants, and the civil rights era.
"The Winding Path to Freedom under the District of Columbia Emancipation Act of April 16, 1862"
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“For Real Hometown Understanding, Start with Real Estate Maps"
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“The Rage of the Civil Rights Era”
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“Moving Buildings: The Case of the Burrows Farmhouse"
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““Blockbusting” and Racial Turnover in Mid-Century D.C."
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"Mobilizing the Community in an Era Before Social Media"
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"Demanding the Vote for Black Majority DC: Dr. King’s Home Rule Tour"
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What was the Pilot District Project?
The Pilot District Project (PDP) was a federally funded experiment in community policing. The program launched in 1968 with broad goals for police reform and citizen participation in a predominantly African American area of Washington, D.C., and was an early effort to intervene in the ways that police and residents interacted on the streets. Mired in internal struggle and public clashes, the PDP ended without fanfare when the funding ran out.
The PDP launched with broad goals for police reform and citizen participation. The city’s Third District (now most of today’s Ward 1) was selected as the pilot location. Although the PDP faced criticism from some District residents—resentful of attempts by white government officials to exert control over Black neighborhoods—they were active in public meetings and campaigned for positions on the advisory board.
What did the PDP accomplish?
The project enacted several important innovations during its five-year run, including 24-hour police stations, citizen ride-alongs, and a series of bulletin boards to share information about police work. The program also introduced police sensitivity training along with Spanish-language training. Looking back 50 years later, the PDP serves as a timely reminder that the struggle to repair relationships between police and African Americans is not new.
However, the PDP was a short-lived, controversial program. Conceived as a pilot, it never expanded to other cities. By pretty much any standard, it was not a resounding success. But does that mean it was a failure? Looking back at this project, which operated under both liberal and conservative administrations, helps us understand how citizens and the police force have long disagreed about how we use public space.
Why study the Pilot District Project?
The PDP is a study both in federal intervention in local affairs and a look at grassroots activism. The PDP citizens advisory board was Marion Barry’s first elected office in D.C. Other prominent participants included Carlos Rosario (the leading Latino community activist in Washington, D.C. during the 1960s), Charles I. Cassell (chair of the Black United Front and founder of the D.C. Council of Black Architects), David A. Clarke (served on the first elected Washington City Council),
Calvin W. Rolark (founder of the United Black Fund, Inc. and the Washington Informer), and Walter Fauntroy (Citizens Committee for Equal Justice). Fifty years on, this is a compelling and timely story of urban policing, community participation and resilience, federal intervention, and a program with good intentions that perhaps was never up to its herculean task.
How can my students learn more about the Pilot District Project and the history of interactions between the police and residents in Washington, D.C.?
The following suggested resources are available online through both free sites and fee-based databases; the latter can be accessed through the Kiplinger Research Library at the DC History Center, the DC Public Library, the Library of Congress, and through some school libraries.
This excerpt analyzes a key facet of the urban environment - police /community/ City Council relations. In so doing, it captures the city's atmosphere as it began the transition from appointed to elected city government. The author served from 1967 to 1969 as the presidentially appointed chairman of the first City Council since Reconstruction.
"Mobilizing the Community in an Era Before Social Media"
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Since its creation in 1960, SNCC had focused on registering African Americans in the rural South to vote, and it had not been very active in Washington. In spring 1965, though, SNCC members sensed an opportunity to organize the Black community because "no one else is doing anything effective" in DC despite "the existence of a body of people who want to move." Marion Barry, who came to the city in spring 1965 to take over the local SNCC office, saw the fare dispute as a local issue that could motivate people to participate in an organized protest.