A Lesson Before Dying

Final Research Project

A Lesson Before Dyjng takes place in the South in the 1940's. One of its major themes is the disparity between treatment of blacks and whites in schools, the judicial system and in the world. In the end, Gaines seems, at least slightly, hopeful that things will change (signified in Paul and Grant's burgeoning friendship.)

The following project will seek to answer: How have things changed today? AND How can they improve in the future?

Your TASK

You all have been appointed to a youth task force reporting to

President Bush. As a group, you are to come up with an action plan (of at

least 5 steps) to help alleviate racial inequity in the United States. You must also come

up with a way to asses how well your plan worked. We will brainstorm different types of inequities in class.

· How could you, realistically, plan to ameliorate this situation?

· Where would you start? Schools, homes, churches, state, city, nation? (this is where the research comes in).

** If your action plan is accepted, you will have budget of 1 million dollars!!

FYI:

· In the end, you will present your plan to the entire class. There will be a vote to chose the best plan.

· In addition, you will prepare cover letters to accompany your plan to the president.

Your typed action plan will consist of:

- An Introduction Paragraph: (comes directly from your research)

- Describes the problem- giving examples

- Describes what has been done before

- The Action Plan:

- At least 5 Steps

- The Assessment Plan:

-How will you know if your efforts have been successful?

Your plan will be assessed on:

-Does it have all of the above parts?

-How well does it address the area of need?

- How feasible is it?

- How thoughtful is it?

*Individually, each student must write a cover letter to the President--this will accompany your plan to his office! In the letter you must:

- describe who you are

- explain how this issue effects you and the country

- convince him that this plan is important and necessary

Step 1

0nce you are assigned to a specific group for the Task Force

· You must find one article per group member which relates to this particular discrimination.

· Individually summarize the article.

· Discuss ALL articles in your group. Take notes.

· From your research, identify the problem. What specifically is the problem? Who is involved? Define it.

Step 2

Brainstorm, as a group, how could this problem be solved?

· Find one article per group member which describes existing attempts to address the problem.

· Summarize the article--take notes.

· Discuss the articles in your group:

How can you use these articles to inform your action plan? What works? What doesn't? Could you modify these or take some ideas to formulate your plan?

Step 3

Create your action plan, based on your research and discussion.

HAVE FUN AND GOOD LUCK!!