Course: American Protest (Honors and College Prep) The central idea of this semester class is that protest conceptualizes America. That is, protest in America revolves around different conceptions of America, what it can be or should be versus what it actually is or what it is perceived to be. To protest is to define an alternate vision of America. We explore this central idea through an examination of the history and literature of American protest movements during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, especially the stories of the Beats and Hippies and the Civil Rights and Black Arts Activists. We also consider how music – from jazz to blues to folk to rock to rap and hip-hop – reflect and in some cases inspire these movements. When taken at the honors level, the course qualifies as an introductory American Studies course offered in cooperation with the University of Connecticut’s Early College Experience program. If you achieve a C or higher, you can receive three credits of college credit at UConn, credit that is transferable to other colleges as UConn credit.
Big Ideas and Enduring Understandings
Conceptions of America differ. To protest is to define America. Music is aesthetic and political.
Unit 1: The Beats
Approximate Time Frame: 8-10 Weeks
Standards
Essential Questions
RL.11-12.1-7, 10
RI.11-12.1-5, 7, 10 W.11-12. 1-2, 4, 710 SL.11-12.1-4
L.11-12.1-6
How do acts of protest conceptualize or define America? What are the various conceptions or visions of America that the Beat Generation offers? How are these visions different from mainstream conceptions? How is the beat style different from mainstream styles? How do Bebop Jazz and the music of Bob Dylan reflect the beat movement?
Skills Performance Tasks In addition to formal written responses, group activities and assignments, and a Socratic seminar: 1. In a formal response (of about 2 pages doublespaced) that incorporates evidence from both their reading of On the Road and class discussions, students will explain the depiction of America offered in On the Road and compare that conception to the mainstream or “conformist”
Content
Vocabulary
Fiction --Jack Kerouac’s On the Road --Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” or an equivalent story (as comparison to Kerouac’s style)
--Beat --Cold War --Baby Boom Generation --Military-Industrial Complex --Spontaneous Prose --Buddhism
Poetry --Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and “America” --Gregory Corso’s “I am 25” and “The Mad Yak” --Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “Dog” and “In Goya’s Greatest Scenes” --Bob Dylan’s “Let Me Die in My Footsteps”; “Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues”; “All Along the
conception of America of the Watchtower”; “A Hard Rain’s A’ 1950s. [Formative] Gonna Fall”; “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”; and 2. In a formal essay, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” students compare the conception of America Nonfiction offered in On the Road to --Jack Kerouac’s “Spontaneous the conception of America Prose” offered in other works of --Jack Kerouac’s “The Origins of Beat literature read and the Beat Generation” studied in class. Additional --Jack Kerouac’s “Lamb, No Lion” primary and secondary --Stephen Prothero’s “Buddhism sources are provided for and the Beat Generation” inclusion in the essay to --“Buddhism” from Encarta meet the demands of the --Robert Holton’s “Historical synthesis common Background” from Kerouac’s assessment. [Summative] Ragged American Journey --Norman Podhoritz’s “The Know-Nothing Bohemians” from Partisan Review --Paul O’Neil’s ”The Only Rebellion Around” from Life Magazine. --Sean Wilentz’s “Bob Dylan, the Beat Generation, and Allen Ginsberg’s America” from The New Yorker. Media -- Beat Generation Overview (You Tube) --Excerpt from The Beat Generation: An American Dream (2 Parts on You Tube) --Father Knows Best Excerpt --Duck and Cover Excerpt --Excerpt from Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg --Excerpt from The Drug Years, “Episode 1”
--Excerpt from What Happened to Kerouac? --Excerpt from Ken Burn’s Jazz, Episode 8: “Risk” --The Source (7 Parts on You Tube) --Allen Ginsberg Interview with TV Ontario (You Tube) --Allen Ginsberg Interview with BBC in 1994 (3 Parts, You Tube) Unit 2: The Hippies Standards RL.11-12.1-2, 4, 6
Essential Questions
RI.11-12.1-7 W.11-12.1-2, 4 SL.11-12.1-4 L.11-12.1-6
What is the hippie philosophy? How does this compare to the beat philosophy? How do the hippies see or conceive of America? How do these visions compare to mainstream and the beat conceptions? How do allusions convey ideologies and philosophies?
Skills Performance Tasks In addition to formal written responses, group activities and assignments, and a Socratic seminar: 1. Comparative analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, On the Road, and Howl. [Formative] 2. Formal response to three questions related to reading of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test [Summative] 3. Formal response to Joan Didion’s “Slouching Towards Bethlehem.” [Formative]
Approximate Time Frame: 4-6 Weeks Content Vocabulary Nonfiction --Excerpts from Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test --“Youth: The Hippies” from Time Magazine --Ken Kesey’s “Vietnam Day Rally Speech” --Joan Didion’s “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” --Excerpt from Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Poetry/Music --Country Joe and the Fish’s “Feel Like I’m Fixing to Die Rag” --Grateful Dead’s “The Golden Road” and “Uncle John’s Band” --Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” --Select songs from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, and/or Janis Joplin. --Don McLean’s “American Pie”
--Hippie --Commune --Psychedelic --Allusion --Collectivist --Activist --Radical --Liberal
Media --One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest --Excerpt from Magic Trip --The Drug Years: Episode 2 Unit 3: Civil Rights and Black Arts Activists Standards Essential Questions RL.11-12.1-6, 10
RI.11-12.1-8, 10
W.11-12.1-2, 4, 7
SL.11-12.1-4 L.11-12.1-6
What is the philosophy of black nationalism? How does this compare to the beat and hippie philosophies? How do black authors challenge dominant (white-racist) ideologies through their works? How do black authors redefine America and what it means to be American?
Skills Performance Tasks In addition to formal written responses and group activities and assignments: 1. Formal responses to four questions related to the various activities associated with work on Malcolm X. [Summative]
Approximate Time Frame: 4-5 Weeks Vocabulary
Content Drama Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman
Poetry/Music --Gwendolyn Brooks’ “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi …” --Amiri Baraka’s “A Poem for Black Arts” and “Three Movements and a Coda.” --Gil Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not be Televised” and “Whitey on the Moon.” --Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddamn” Nonfiction --Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” --Amiri Baraka’s “Revolutionary Theatre” Media Spike Lee’s Malcolm X
Black nationalism Nation of Islam Ideology American Mythology
