Bearing Witness through Poetry
Grades 9–12
In this lesson plan, students will review protest poetry from throughout history to understand how poetry functions both as a means of resistance and a historical archive. Students will first learn about the concept of protest poetry and its historical significance, then they’ll read examples of the form from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. After discussing how poetry can promote social change and preserve history, students will create their own protest poems about a past or present social issue.
Lesson plan created by by Danielle Buckingham, fall 2021 Derven Scholar
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Afro-Creole Poetry in French from Louisiana’s Radical Civil War–Era Newspapers
translated and introduced by Clint Bruce
with a foreword by Angel Adams Parham
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