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Campaigning for Peace

Barack H. Obama has become president of the United States barely 50 years after the last governmental impediments were removed preventing black people from voting in his country.

January 2010

Introduction...

Think about the role of campaigning in changing society. Martin Luther King was part of a revolutionary campaign in the USA. 15th January is a national holiday in the USA so use this opportunity to teach about rights, democracy and identities.

Link historic campaigns to current day campaigns and GCSE campaigns. Below ACT suggests some angles to take and some resources to use.

"Protest is the lifeblood and litmus test of democracy. Nearly all our precious rights and freedoms are the result of years, decades and sometimes centuries of popular struggle. Today, protest is still relevant – and effective." Peter Tatchell - see Taking Liberties

Think of the discrimination and segregation in the United States and also in the UK before the 1960s. Consider the campaigning that was necessary to change society. What means did Martin Luther King employ to engage people in the cause of equality? How did he run his campaign? Why did people listen to him?

Think of the discrimination in society today. What are the problems today? What have pupils experienced? What do they know about? Think about the rights and welfare of illegal immigrants, prisoners and young people.

Recommended Resources

ACT recommends you use the British Library's Campaign! Make an Impact site for Citizenship lessons. This site is excellent for linking historical campaigns to today's issues and bringing them to life for pupils. There is also great guidance on creating your own campaign.

How did Obama run his presidential campaign? How can this be linked to other successful campaigns?

Think about the use of the internet, the use of social mobilisation, networking online and in person.

ACT also recommends you look at the British Library's Taking Liberties resources. These are excellent resources for charting liberties in the UK - both those already gained and those that are still controversial.

Further excellent resources for this theme recommended by ACT

Black History Month - resources are adaptable

As the name implies, Black History Month resources tend to focus exclusively on HISTORY. ACT thinks they are missing a trick! However, any wiley teacher knows how to adapt resources for use in their classes.

There's a great Black History Timeline taking you from the start of the slavetrade to Obama. There are also some great biographies of people from Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Obama to Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin and Nelson Mandela.

Use these resources to look at the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. Be sure you're teaching a CITIZENSHIP lesson and not only a HISTORY lesson by making frequent links to the role of campaigning and of social engagement and participation.

Make sure you link to the KEY CONCEPTS of the Citizenship Curriculum: Rights and Responsibilities; Democracy and Justice; Identities and Diversity - living together in the UK. You shouldn't have any problems with this!

Also make sure you cover the KEY PROCESSES: Critical Thinking and Enquiry; Advocacy and Representation; Taking informed and Responsible Action. Once again, this should be pretty simple, given the subject matter!

Citizenship Curriculum

Once you're ready to start planning how your pupils can plan and deliver a campaign use ACT's Campaign Toolkit.

Extension exercise

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “extraordinary contribution to strengthening international diplomacy and cooperation”. But this award is controversial as Obama's presidency is still in its infancy. The prize could be premature. Why has he been awarded this prize already? How have other Nobel prize winners won the prize?

The Nobel Peace Prize is the most prestigious peace prize in the world. Past laureates include: Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Mikael Gorbachev, Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama (full list)

The prize was established by Alfred Nobel, whose will, dated 1895, stated that a large amount of his money should be used to create an international prize for "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".

Read or listen to Obama's acceptance speech when he received the Nobel Peace Prize A Just and Lasting Peace (This is quite long so you may want to edit it for your pupils).

Do you think Obama himself thinks he deserves the prize? Why do you think he accepted it? Do you think he will act differently now that he is a Nobel Laureate?

Alfred Nobel - Inventor of dynamite/creator of peace prize

Alfred Nobel made his fortune as a successful international industrialist. At the age of 17, the Swedish Alfred Nobel already spoke five languages fluently! Perhaps his most famous invention was dynamite. He also invented a detonator or blasting cap which could be set off by lighting a fuse. These were in high demand by warring nations of Europe and beyond. They were also used for blasting rock in construction of roads, tunnels, railways, bridges, etc.

By the time of his death in 1896 he had built factories on 90 sites, started 87 companies and registered 355 patents worldwide! He left a considerable fortune in his will for the creation of the Nobel Prizes.

Alfred Nobel read his own obituary - a newspaper printed the obituary for the wrong Mr Nobel when Alfred's brother died! The article proclaimed "the merchant of death is dead" and described Alfred as "a man who had made it possible to kill more people more quickly than ever before". On reading this he realised that he wanted to be remembered for something other than dynamite and came up with the idea of bequeathing his money for the creation of the Nobel Prizes.

According to his will, this fortune was to be used to establish prizes to award those who had done their best to benefit mankind in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901.

Curriculum Links

History

Talk to your school's history teachers. Is the American Civil Rights movement covered in history at your school? Do you celebrate Black History Month? What about British liberties? Women's rights? Strong links can be made to this to the concepts of voting and democracy and to universal suffrage. Again, ACT recommends the resources from the British Library listed at the bottom of this page.

Civil Rights in America – a detailed introduction for KSt3/4

Complete version of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech

BBC news item on the incident that inspired the hit film "Mississippi Burning"

An incident in England: The Bristol Bus Boycott, 1963 and three resources

1. from www.emas4success.org

2. from BBC learning zone

3. from England's past for everyone

Music

What better way to start the lesson than having Bob Marley on Youtube running when the pupils enter the classroom "Get up. Stand up. Stand up for your rights!"

You can make a playlist on Spotify, or on your ipod to play in class as background music. How about asking pupils for their own contributions?

Pupils may have covered the music of protest in their music lessons. Find out what they already know.

Some further texts to songs of protest

The clip below with the song "Strange Fruit" sung by Nina Simone is a powerful visualisation of the lynching of people in southern states of America in the first half of the last century.

This youtube clip below could be a powerful starter to looking at why Martin Luther King was campaigning.

Strange Fruit - lyrics

Southern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves

Blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck

for the rain to gather

for the wind to suck

for the sun to rot

for the tree to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

Composed by Abel Meeropol (aka Lewis Allan)

Some further songs of protest

Another World (Antony and the Johnsons, 2008)
Windowsill (Arcade Fire, 2007)
(What Did I Do To Be So) Black And Blue (Louis Armstrong, 1929)
I Was Born This Way (Carl Bean, 1977)
Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud (James Brown, 1968)
Alabama (John Coltrane, 1963)
A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke, 1964)
The Times They Are a-Changin’ (Bob Dylan, 1964)
Respect (Aretha Franklin, 1967)
This Land Is Your Land (Woody Guthrie, 1944)
Strange Fruit (Billie Holliday, 1939)
People Get Ready (The Impressions, 1965)
The Proud (Talib Kweli, 2002)
Redemption Song (Bob Marley, 1980)
In the Ghetto (Elvis Presley, 1969)
Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey (Sly and the Family Stone, 1969)
Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2, 1983)
Get Up, Stand Up (The Wailers, 1973)

This page has been written by Millicent Scott

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