Speak Up, Act Out: Celebrating Juneteenth School Tool

What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth (June 19th) is the day that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. But there is so much more to the story. What is the true historical and cultural significance of Juneteenth? When and where was it first celebrated? What are the traditions embedded in the celebration of this day of remembrance and celebration? In small groups, have your students dive deeper into all of these questions by conducting research, including photographs, signs, posters and newspaper clippings, into the history of this holiday.
Once students have compiled their research, have them focus on the photographic data they’ve compiled. Have them choose one of the photos that resonates with their group and, using the context they’ve gathered, work together to write a short narrative story that tells the beginning, middle and end of this moment captured. Next, tell them that, to honor Juneteenth and the celebrants in their photo, they are going to be creating a living/moving portrait encompassing the beginning, middle and end of the story they’ve created. Have each group work together to decide who they would like to portray and create a tableau (a frozen image) that clearly portrays and honors the circumstances captured in their photo. Once each group has created their tableau, ask each of them to devise and speak, in character, one or two sentences of improvised dialogue, or of the story they’ve created. In culmination, have each group present their living photo to the rest of the class, creating a living gallery depicting moments that celebrate and honor Juneteenth.

One notable statesman said of the Emancipation Proclamation that it was a “worthy celebration of the first step on the part of the nation in its departure from the thraldom of the ages.” Frederick Douglass—a self-liberated Black abolitionist, statesman and writer—said this while reflecting on the signing of the document by Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive action which ordered that slavery in the United States be abolished. But before emancipation was ordered, self-liberation was a desire for people enslaved in this country. It must be acknowledged that no liberation, be it from slavery or otherwise, takes place without the participation of those who are on the receiving end of oppression. Use this time to reframe how history is taught and have students learn about and understand the difference between emancipation and self-liberation. Have your students embark on a visual research project in which their objective is to create a vision board of photos, articles and advertisements depicting and addressing the self-liberation (often called “runaways” of enslaved people.) Once each student has collected all of their visual research, ask them to think not from the perspective of white people in power granting emancipation, but from the perspective of the enslaved humans who longed for and deserved freedom. Using their visual research as inspiration, have them create a monologue, poem, song or rap inspired by the photos and text they’ve collected. Have your students think through the following prompts from the self-liberator’s point of view: Who or what inspired you to realize your right to self-liberation? What emotions did you feel while devising and implementing your plan to be free? What did you hope to accomplish by making your voice heard? What do you hope the world learns from hearing your voice and learning about your self-liberation? What do you hope will change as a result of you amplifying your voice? As a culminating experience, have your students showcase their vision board to the class, share the art they’ve created and talk about how their perspective of the items on their vision board has changed from first seeing it, to examining it and then using it to create their own piece of art based on it.

Music and song are strong forces and powerful forms of storytelling. Music can convey an incredible amount of emotion, history, culture and humanity. Take some time to have an auditory exploration by listening to and analyzing the stories set to music in Songs of Our Native Daughters, an album of 13 songs aimed at paying tribute to James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son. The album, inspired by sources from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, tells stories of resistance, struggle and hope from the African American perspective. Focus in on the song “Mama’s Cryin’ Long,” a song inspired by a collection of slave narratives—a type of literary genre centered on the autobiographical accounts of enslaved Africans—which tells the story of a child, from the child’s perspective, who witnesses their mother kill their overseer after being brutally assaulted, repeatedly, by him. Begin the exploration by playing the song in full so that students have an opportunity to listen to the lyrics. Then, play the songs a second time asking students to pay close attention to rhythm. Guide each level of exploration by asking questions like: What is the song about and what are the themes? What story is the song telling? From what perspective are the lyrics written? What word(s) stood out to you, and why? What emotions are expressed in the song? What emotions does the song evoke for you? What quality does the percussive accompaniment bring to the story? What does the juxtaposition of the dramatic nature of the song and the fast tempo bring to the story? What are some modern-day songs that come to mind after this discussion? To culminate, have students use a whiteboard or Jamboard to offer, in an anonymous way, their personal reflections to listening to this song. You may or may not choose to have volunteers share out their reflections. Note: Please use your discretion when it comes to which song on the album you choose to examine as some of the content may be triggering for some and difficult to digest. For younger listener’s, we suggest the song, Git Your Learnin’. Songs of Our Native Daughters can be streamed audibly via Spotify and “Mama’s Cryin’ Long” can be enjoyed visually via YouTube. The text of each song can be found on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings website. See the Teacher Tip below for links to all three!

In this activity, your students will interrogate our shared past through new perspectives.
They’ll reenact historic moments using theater-based strategies to embody the people and places depicted in historical texts.

Materials Needed: A virtual meeting space like Zoom, historical texts of your choice

1. To begin, have a group discussion about an historical event that is often taught through a generally white- identified and dominant culture lens. Note: One entry point could be to use the “Zoom Out / Zoom In” section of this School Tool to spark a conversation about the emancipation of enslaved people in this country, asking the essential question, “It is often taught that ‘Lincoln freed the slaves,’ but in what ways can we interrogate the words ‘freedom’ and ‘liberation’ in order to view them through a new, non-oppressive, more equitable perspective?”
2. As a class, learn about the chosen historical event by asking your students to read selections from various historical texts recounting the same sequence of events, discussing common themes, textual similarities or repetition and examining the framework through which each text was written. Guide this discussion by asking questions like: What are some common themes found across all assigned readings? In what ways are white people in power discussed, portrayed or praised, throughout these texts? In what ways are Black or other people of color characterized or caricatured, as the case may be?
3. After your discussion, and once students have had time to interrogate the chosen historical event, have students choose one defining moment within the historical event. Once those have been voiced, place students in groups in which students have come up with similar thoughts or themes.
4. Offer a good amount of time for each group to discuss their reasons for choosing that moment and identify the ways in which the center of the event, where the power is, is whiteness (or colonized perspective). Then, have students reframe and retell the event—respectfully and justly—through the eyes of the oppressed. In the example given in Step 1, the power structure appears to center whiteness in the statement, “Lincoln freed the slaves,” which diminishes and oppresses Black humans, depriving them of their very humanity—and thereby, their story and voice.
5. Next, have students work together to create a theatrical representation of the moment they’ve chosen as told historically, encouraging them to use tableaux (frozen pictures), visual aids, soundscapes (sounds created by the mouth or body), use an object or collection of objects to convey the mood or emotion or they might even work together to create a movement or dance piece. or music!
6. Then, using the same elements as listed in Step 5, have them reframe and retell that story through a second theatrical representation, which aims to decolonize the educational language commonly used to tell this historic event. Guide their creation by asking them: In what ways can you create a theatrical retelling of this moment that honors its true history and humanity? Hold space for students to continue to explore this idea.
7. Then, gallery style, hold space for each group to rehearse morphing from their first theatrical representation to their second, illustrating the two lenses through which their moment in history is being told.
8. Finally, have each group share their two artistic representations to the class, then hold a group discussion about the importance of reframing and relearning history through multiple perspectives. In this activity, your students will interrogate our shared past through new perspectives. They’ll reenact historic moments using theater-based strategies to embody the people and places depicted in historical texts. Materials Needed: a virtual meeting space like Zoom, historical texts of your choice

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• What surprised you most about this activity?
• What does it mean to examine history in new ways?
• What did you discover about your ability to create a theatrical piece?
• What did you find most challenging about this activity?

Use the activity below to help your students think critically about states’ rights and the expansion of voting rights access throughout the nation’s history. Do this by helping students consider how they might work together to develop new policies that aim to make voting easier for everyone.

Materials Needed: A virtual meeting space like Zoom, facts about states’ rights and voting rights

1. To begin, tell your students that they are going to collaborate in an exercise that asks them to think about states’ rights and voting rights. Have a conversation with your students about how policy becomes law and how legislation affects—favorably and adversely—the very people it’s supposed to serve. Note: One timely offering would be the subject of the struggle for equity in voting rights. In order to dispel with the myth that the fight for equal and accessible voting rights is over, offer information and examples about gerrymandering and voter suppression laws, perhaps citing the most recent voter suppression legislation that was just passed in Georgia. You might want to refer to this State Voting Bills Tracker and this Current Partisan Gerrymandering Cases list for more information.
2. Next, utilizing a Jamboard or similar platform, have students offer up a few facts they already know about the process of passing legislation. Have them do so using imagery, text or visual art. Ask volunteers to share verbally what they’ve added to the Jamboard, and why.
3. Now, offer five groups of facts about voting legislation and ask students to choose which one resonates with them most. A few suggestions are:
   • 1776–1789: The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution leave the power to decide who gets to vote to the states. In 1790, enslaved men and women are denied the right to vote in all 13 states. Free women are denied the right to vote in 12 of 13 states.
   • 1845–1864: States expand voting rights for white men. The last property requirement for white men is lifted. New York votes to keep property restrictions in place for Black voters. In 1848, the federal government expands voting rights for some Mexican Americans living in some Southwestern states and territories.
   • 1875–1885: Congress denies voting rights to Chinese American men. The Supreme Court upholds the denial of voting rights to Native American men.
   • 1965: The Voting Rights Act Passes: for the first time, Black people of all ages can exercise their right to vote throughout the South. Then, from
   • 1970–1975, the Voting Rights Act is expanded, protecting the right to vote for people who don’t speak English, while in 1984, voting accessibility rights are expanded to people with disabilities. 2013: The Supreme Court overturns some parts of the Voting Rights Act, and as of March 2021, 361 laws restricting the right to vote are introduced by Republicans in a number of states across the nation.
   • Note: Have students type their choice in the chat feature or, if using a platform like Zoom, have them rename themselves by putting the date(s) of the legislation in front of their name.
4. Once they’ve chosen their respective corner, have students discuss the legislation and, perhaps, give them time to research how and why the policy was introduced and how it became law to offer more context.
5. Next, have individuals in each group choose one word or phrase from that legislation. Then, have them use those words as inspiration to physicalize their response to the legislation through a sequence of three gestures.
6. Next, give students time to discuss an idea, or range of ideas, which could be developed into policy that, if it became law, would improve their chosen legislation and positively impact those who were adversely affected by it. Then, have them physicalize that new policy idea in a sequence of three new movements.
7. To culminate, ask groups to sequence all six of their movements into a cohesive story, illustrating the evolution from oppressive policy to liberatory policy!
8. Finally, have each group present their movement sequences to the full group. Use the activity below to help your students think critically about states’ rights and the expansion of voting rights access throughout the nation’s history. Do this by helping students consider how they might work together to develop new policies that aim to make voting easier for everyone. Materials Needed: a virtual meeting space like Zoom, facts about states’ rights and voting rights

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• What did you find most challenging about this activity?
• What did it feel like to embody emotion based on a policy?
• What was it like to create a movement piece based on oppressive and liberatory legislation?
• How would you like to share our policy ideas with others?

Think about a rule, policy or law that you feel is oppressive to you as an individual. Now, thinking outside of yourself, how might that oppressive thing affect others’ lives in ways that you may or may not know? Now, make the radical decision to take a stand. Think about what you are vehemently against and channel that passion into these key questions: What do you stand for? How do you want to make your voice heard and affect positive change in the world? Now, envision yourself as the voice of your generation, and write a declaration or proclamation of your own that denounces the oppressive policies or systems you want to stand AGAINST. Focus your energy instead on what can inspire and uplift the things you want to stand FOR. Now, time to write!

Engage in a conversation with your students to help them process their thoughts and feelings about the SPEAK UP, ACT OUT: Celebrating Juneteenth content, instructional videos and the materials in this School Tool. On a large piece of chart paper, physical or virtual whiteboard or Jamboard, draw the outline of a person and use the prompts below to guide students through an active reflection.

On the outside of the outline, have students write or draw their favorite moments of discovery from the content with which you and your class chose to engage. On the inside of the outline, have students write or draw their own feelings about the content and the experience of learning about new places and cultures, and creating worlds and stories. Then, lead students in a discussion:

• What was it like to learn about Juneteenth?
• What was it like to reexamine history through a new perspective?
• What was it like to create new art?
• What was your favorite thing to create or explore?
• What were your favorite parts of the SPEAK UP, ACT OUT: Celebrating Juneteenth content?
• What did you enjoy most about the Activities and Creativity Pages in the School Tool?
• What emotions did these activities make you feel?