CSDE Model Curricula Quick Start GuideThe African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino Course of Studies is a one credit, year-long elective in which students will consider the scope of African American/Black and Puerto Rican/ Latino contributions to U.S. history, society, economy, and culture. It utilizes Connecticut’s Social Studies Framework themes and inquiry-based approach already familiar to social studies teachers to deliver a content rich and personalized learning experience.The course is an opportunity for students to explore accomplishments, struggles, intersections, perspectives, and collaborations of African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino people in the U.S. Students will examine how historical movements, legislation, and wars affected the citizenship rights of these groups and how they, both separately and together, worked to build U.S. cultural and economic wealth and create more just societies in local, national, and international contexts.Coursework will provide students with tools to identify historic and contemporary tensions around race and difference; map economic and racial disparities over time; strengthen their own identity development; and address bias in their communities. This course will contribute to the critical consciousness and civic-mindedness competencies of a twenty-first century graduate, and ultimately facilitate students’ interest in pursuing further ethnic, anthropology, or human rights studies in the future.

Semester 1: Unit 3 At-A-Glance: Black Literacy, Organizations, and LiberationIn this unit, students will:• Examine how Africans and African descendants worked individually and collectively to spark revolutionary change to their existence;• Explore various perspectives of enslavement from free and enslaved Africans; and• Analyze the impact of the cotton economy on the development of the domestic slave trade.Compelling Question: When is resistance and/or revolution justified/glorified/condemned? How effective were the actions of abolitionists and the slave rebellions of this period? Are individual contributions or collective efforts more effective in actualizing social change?Pre-Assessment: In what ways have Africans, African Americans, and African descendants persisted past adversity to preserve their own humanity and contribute to the development of American Culture and Innovation? (KWL)

In this unit, students will:• Identify tactics, mission, and accomplishments of major groups involved in the movement for equality• Investigate the causes, consequences, and historical context of key events in this time period• Evaluate how individuals, groups, and institutions in the United States have both promoted and hindered people’s struggle for freedom, equality, and social justice;• Analyze the role of the federal government in supporting and inhibiting various 20th century civil rights movements;• Analyze the role of women of color in the women’s rights movement.Compelling Question: How successful have Black Americans’ movements for equality been in transforming the dreams, status, and rights of Black Americans in the United States?Pre-Assessment: Student Identity: Imagine you are a student during the time period. Describe your school day in a onepage journal entry.

In this unit, students will:• Examine how Africans and African descendants worked individually and collectively to spark revolutionary change to their existence.• Explore the Reconstruction politics through literature and other accounts from primary documents and impact on Whites and Blacks.Compelling Question: How was Reconstruction a success or failure?Pre-Assessment Poll or KWL: How did Reconstruction impact Africans, African Americans, and Blacks?

In this unit, students will examine African American history from the political, economic, and cultural impact of Black Power to Black Lives Matter. During this era, African Americans used the vote to demand reform, created organizations such as the Black Panther Party to address police brutality, and created independent social programs. Since 1965, African Americans have made major progress, such as an increase of college graduates and decreasing the poverty rate; however, institutional racism continues to undermine the progress of African Americans and African and Black Caribbean immigrants as well as an expanding Black middle class.In this unit, students will:• Examine the impact of class and gender on how the Black community is shaped by a variety of identities, communities, and perspectives.• Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.• Reimagine new possibilities and more just futures for our country and our world drawn from the legacy of African American/Black experiences, intellectual thought, and culture.Compelling Questions: What are the greatest human rights issues facing America today and in the future? What does radically reimagining new possibilities and more just futures look and sound like now?Pre-Assessment: Poll students’ knowledge of political and cultural accomplishments during this time

In this unit, students will:• Explore Latinos’ and Puerto Ricans’ identity;• Examine the collective and individual identities of Latinos and Puerto Ricans and demonstrate understanding of how this influences the perception and realities of Latino and Puerto Rican;• Explore Latinos’ understanding of race;• Understand how Latinos “show up in the color line that created a Black and White bin”;• Examine Puerto Rican Migration; and • Learn about the strengths and contributions of the African diaspora in Latin America and in the CaribbeanCompelling Questions: How has Latino and Puerto Rican identity evolved over time? Is there a single “Latino identity”? Is there a Latino “race”?Pre-Assessment: Students engage in a gallery walk to gauge information on definition of culture, Latino/Puerto Rican identity, and migration of Latinos/Puerto Ricans.