UNIT 2: SYSTEMS & POWER
Sample Lesson:
From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration
Ethnic Studies Lesson
Developed by Ariana Brown
Lesson Focus Questions:
Identity: Students will learn how the U.S. prison system affects communities of color, especially Black people.
�Skills: Students will practice analyzing multimedia, primary, and secondary sources; comparing and contrasting; and annotation.
�Intellect: Students will examine the relationship between slavery, race, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, and prison abolition.
�Criticality: Students will learn to be critical of the idea that prisons create justice; they will build knowledge to question commonly held ideas about crime, punishment, and prisons.
�Joy: Students will learn the foundations of prison abolition and use imaginative exercises to explore how it can benefit their communities.
Information used in this lesson was retrieved from: Learning for Justice
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration - Warm Up
Complete the prompts “Something I know … ”, “Something I believe … ” and “Something I wonder ... ” about each of the following (totaling 12 responses):
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Vocabulary
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Video Activity
Step 1: Draw a Venn diagram on a piece of paper. Label one circle “Jim Crow” and the other “Mass Incarceration.”
Step 2: As we watch the video(s) on the next slide, fill out your Venn diagram with the information you learn about Jim Crow and Mass Incarceration.
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Videos
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Discussion
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Vocabulary
Jim Crow Laws (1890s-1960s)
Jim Crow laws legalized racial segregation and were often enforced through violence. The laws affected almost every aspect of daily life, mandating segregation of schools, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, and restaurants, and denying Black people the right to vote.
The reality that the United States criminalizes and incarcerates more of its own people than any other country in the history of the world and inflicts that enormous harm primarily on the most vulnerable among us: poor people of color.
A contemporary political movement with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Close Reading Activity
Step 1: Review “Thinking Notes” guide to annotation.
Step 2: Individually read excerpt from The New Jim Crow and annotate.
Step 3: Students can work alone, in partners, or small groups for this activity.
Read the excerpt again, working together to fill out Page 1 of this worksheet.
Step 4: Discussion
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Discussion
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Discussion
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration - Sources
PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS & IMAGES
This 1865 example of Black Codes to regulate black behavior and impose social and economic control.
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which legalizes slavery in prisons.
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Sources
PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS & IMAGES
This 20th century poster comparing the number of prisons to schools in California.
This 1998 pamphlet on the relationship between prison labor, private prisons, and the government.
SYSTEMS OF POWER�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Joyful Activity
Analyze the following quote from prison abolitionist Angela Davis:
“Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages.”
— Angela Davis, June 19, 2020
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Joyful Activity
Complete the following activity individually or in groups.
Create a poem, short story, song, or drawing that imagines what the world would be like without prisons, greed, or inequality. What would your community be like if everyone was safe, healthy, and had what they needed?
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – ELA Extension
Students read Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas, a coming-of-age novel about a young Black boy struggling to make the right choices.
The story covers topics of racism, poverty, teenage parents, and the school to prison pipeline.
Click images for a discussion guide, reading exercises, and research topics.
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Extension Activity
Systems of Power�From Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration – Extended Learning