Unit 1
“He began to have a dim feeling that, to attain his place in the world, he must be himself, and not another.”
Lesson 1 - In this lesson, students are introduced to chapter 1 of W.E.B. Du Bois’s seminal compilation of essays, The Souls of Black Folk. Students begin their exploration of the chapter entitled “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” by considering the effect created by the author’s choice of epigraph.
- Classwork 1a - Read and annotate Arthur Symons’ poem “The Crying of Water,” the epigraph to “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” by W.E.B Du Bois, and box any unfamiliar words and look up their definitions.)
- Classwork 1b - listen to a masterful reading of chapter 1 of W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk entitled “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” Follow along and pause twice during the chapter (after paragraphs 4 and 9) to write down your initial questions and reactions.
- Classwork 1c - Read and annotate the first half of paragraph 1, from “Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question” to “I answer seldom a word."
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question:How does Du Bois use the word' problem' in the text?
- Homework - to the following prompt: Analyze how two ideas interact and develop over the course of this excerpt.
Lesson 2 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 2 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” in which Du Bois writes of the “strange experience” of “being a problem” in America (par. 2). Students analyze how Du Bois introduces key ideas, and consider how these ideas interact and develop over the course of this excerpt.
- Classwork - Read and annotate the second paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from "And yet, being a problem" to "watch the streak of blue above."
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following prompt: Interpret an example of figurative language and analyze its role in this excerpt.
- Homework - Reread paragraph 2 (from “I had thereafter no desire to tear down” to “watch the streak of blue above”) and record ideas that emerge in this passage on the Ideas Tracking Tool.
Lesson 3 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 3 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois introduces the idea of “double-consciousness.”
- Classwork - Read and annotate the third paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from "After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman" to “strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following prompt: Determine two ideas from paragraph 3 and explain how the ideas interact and develop over the course of the paragraph.
- Homework - Reread paragraph 3 and add at least one idea to your Ideas Tracking Tool and identify at least one central idea.
Lesson 4 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 4 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois discusses the desire of African Americans to unify their two identities “into a better and truer self”
- Classwork - Read and annotate the fourth paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from “The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife” to “the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following prompt: Determine two central ideas from the paragraphs 1–4 and explain how the ideas interact and develop over the course of the text so far.
- Homework - Preview the first part of paragraph 5 (from “This, then, is the end of his striving” to “it is the contradiction of double aims”). Box any unfamiliar words and look up their definitions. Choose the definition that makes the most sense in context, and write a brief definition above or near the word in the text. Also, conduct a brief search on the historical term “Emancipation” (par. 5) for homework and be prepared for a brief discussion of its historical meaning. Refer to this website for information about Emancipation: www.pbs.org/ (or search: The Civil War and Emancipation, WBGH).
Lesson 5 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 5 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois discusses how “double aims” (par. 5) negatively impact the African American community.
- Classwork - Read and annotate the fifth paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, “This, then, is the end of his striving”” to “about to make them ashamed of themselves.”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following qustion: How does Du Bois use rhetoric in this passage to advance his point of view?
- Homework - Reread paragraph 5 and add at least one idea to your Ideas Tracking Tool.
Lesson 6 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraphs 6-7 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, Du Bois explores the hope, impact, and aftermath of Emancipation.
- Classwork - Read and annotate the sixth and seventh paragraphs in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from “Away back in the days of bondage” to “by the simple ignorance of a lowly people”).
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How does Du Bois use rhetoric in paragraphs 6–7 to further develop his point of view on freedom?
- Homework - Based on your analysis in this lesson, add at least two ideas introduced in paragraphs 6–7 to your Ideas Tracking Tool and determine one central idea. Additionally, conduct a brief search for information about the following events and groups that Du Bois mentions in paragraph 8: the Ku-Klux Klan, carpet-baggers, Reconstruction, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and “the revolution of 1876,” also referred to as “The Compromise of 1877” (see the website http://www.history.com/ (Search terms: “Reconstruction”; “Compromise of 1877”)). Write a short description of each.
Lesson 7 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 8 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois describes the renewed optimism African Americans felt after the passing of the 15th Amendment, and how they continued to seek change through the power of the vote.
- Classwork - Read and annotate the third paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from "The first decade was merely a prolongation" to “leading to heights high enough to overlook life.”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How do ideas and events interact and develop over the course of this excerpt?
- Homework - Reread paragraph 8 and add at least two ideas to your Ideas Tracking Tool and identify at least one central idea.
Lesson 8 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 9 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois explores African Americans’ “dawning” sense of “self-consciousness.”
- Classwork - Read and annotate the ninth paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from "Up the new path the advance guard toiled, " to “the obliteration of the Negro home.”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How do two or more central ideas introduced earlier in the text interact or build on one another in this excerpt?
- Homework - Reread paragraph 9 and add at least one idea to your Ideas Tracking Tool.
Lesson 9 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 10 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois explores how African Americans experience prejudice.
- Classwork - Read and annotate the tenth paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from “A people thus handicapped ought not to be asked” to “to whom ‘discouragement’ is an unwritten word.”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How does Du Bois use and refine the meaning of the key term prejudice over the course of paragraph 10?
- Homework - Add at least one idea from paragraph 10 to your Ideas Tracking Tool. Additionally, conduct a brief search into Jim Crow laws and write a short paragraph to answer the following question: How does your understanding of Jim Crow laws contribute to your understanding of Du Bois’s use of the word prejudice in paragraph 10?
Lesson 10 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 11 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois develops the meaning of the word prejudice and the impact it has on the African-American community.
- Classwork - Read and annotate the eleventh paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from "But the facing of so vast a prejudice” to “the sobering realization of the meaning of progress.”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following prompt: Analyze how Du Bois's style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of paragraph 11.
- Homework - Read and annotate an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence as preparation for the next lesson..
Lesson 11 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraph 12 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois further develops the central idea of attaining liberty as he reflects upon the “ideals of the past” (par. 12) and considers what is necessary for the future.
- Classwork - Read and annotate the twelfth paragraph in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from "So dawned the time of Sturm and Drang” to “or her vulgar music with the soul of the Sorrow Songs?”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How do two or more central ideas from “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” interact and build on one another in this excerpt?
- Homework - Reread paragraph 12 and add at least two ideas to your Ideas Tracking Tool.
Lesson 12 - In this lesson, students read and analyze paragraphs 13-14 of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, in which Du Bois concludes the chapter.
- Classwork - Read and annotate paragraphs 13 and 14 in Chapter 1 of W. E. B. DuB Bois's Of Our Spiritual Strivings, from "Merely a concrete test of the underlying principles” to “listen to the striving in the souls of black folk.”
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - Expand and develop your Quick Write response from either Lesson 10 or 11 by refining your evidence selection or adding more significant and relevant evidence, and incorporate appropriate and varied transitions to link ideas and create cohesion.
- Homework - Reread paragraph 13-14 and add at least two ideas to your Ideas Tracking Tool.
Lesson 13 - In this lesson, students reread and briefly analyze the epigraph to “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk. The epigraph is “The Crying of Water,” a poem by Arthur Symons that describes the experience of a speaker listening to the sea.
- Classwork 13a - Reread and briefly analyze the epigraph to “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk (from “O water, voice of my heart, crying in the sand” through “water all night long is crying to me”).
- Classwork 13b - work in small groups or individually to complete the Mid-Unit Assessment Evidence Collection Tool to colect evidence for a response to the Mid-Unit Assessment Prompt: Identify a central idea in “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” and analyze how Du Bois uses figurative language or rhetoric to develop this central idea.
- Mid-Unit Assessment Evidence Collection Tool - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - Expand and develop your Quick Write response from either Lesson 10 or 11 by refining your evidence selection or adding more significant and relevant evidence, and incorporate appropriate and varied transitions to link ideas and create cohesion.
- Homework - Organize, expand, and revise your notes in preparation for the Mid-Unit Assessment. Remember to add to your Mid-Unit Assessment Evidence Collection Tool as you expand your notes.
Lesson 14 - Mid-Unit Assessment - In this lesson, the Mid-Unit Assessment, students use textual evidence from “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois to craft a formal, multi-paragraph response to the following prompt: Identify a central idea in “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” and analyze how Du Bois uses figurative language or rhetoric to develop this central idea.