Rights, Race & Dissenting Voices
Americans rebel, revolt, and say no; since the "Don't Tread On Me" flag and the American revolution, dissent is in our blood. In this unit, we'll examine texts connected to our country's racial history and to prominent dissenters who acted upon their ideals to make changes to structural problems that have plagued our country.
Unit Readings
Assignments
Resources
- O'Brien's "On the Rainy River" (from Language of Composition)
- Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (from Language of Composition 1016-1034)
- Walter Wink, "Jesus' Third Way" (PDF)
- Wendell Berry, "Why I Will Not Buy a Computer" (PDF)
- Responses to Wendell Berry (PDF)
- Martin Luther King, Jr's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (from Language of Composition 280-295)
- Sarah Vowell, "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" (from Language of Composition 1057-1065)
Assignments
- Toulmin Analysis: On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (PDF)
- Analysis: Thoreau's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (PDF)
- Rogerian Argument Peer Review (PDF)
- Rogerian Argument Assignment (PDF)
- Rogerian Argument Rubric (PDF)
Resources
Video: Rogerian Argument
Audio: Thoreau's On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" Resources
- Full Text: Clergymen and King's Letters (PDF)
- Arrangement of Details in Letter from Birmingham Jail (PDF)
- Context Source #1: Photos of King and Abernathy from the Associated Press (PDF) (B2: Griffin, Liam, Drew; A2: Spencer, Kevin)
- Context Source #2: J. Edgar Hoover FBI Memo on King (PDF) (B2: John G. , Nick, Luke Weber; A2: Logan, Zane)
- Context Source #3: Birmingham Segregation Ordinances (PDF) (B2: Nick W., Hank, Alex; A2: Aiden, Alex)
- Context Source #4: selection from King's autobiography about Birmingham in 1963 (PDF) (B2: Noah, Austin, Andrew; A2: Chase, TJ)
- Context Source #5: Los Angeles Times articles about May protests and arrests (PDF) (B2: Menke, Poch, Fendinger; A2: Eli, Harry)
- Context Source #6: Video on Bull Connor and Segregation (link below) (B2: Marshall, Nate, Eric; A2: Jeff, Andrew)
- Context Source #7: New York Times articles about May protests and arrests (PDF) (B2: Ethan, Austin, JJ; Eddy, Connor, Jared; A2: Sam, Jake)
- Fulkerson Essay: Analysis of Style as Persuasion in the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (PDF)
- Reading Notes Analysis: Rogerian Argument and Style in King's Letter (PDF);