INTRODUCTION TO
ETHNIC STUDIES:
UNIT & LESSON DESCRIPTIONS
Each unit includes 3-6 lessons with detailed lesson plans, corresponding slides, and a unit overview including guiding questions, learning targets, standards, key vocabulary, tips for teachers, and all linked readings and resources.
Please note: the outline listed below is one example of how this course has been implemented in the past - we are happy to work with you to design a curriculum package to fit your needs. Contact XITO for more information.
UNIT 1: IDENTITY
6 LESSONS
Compelling Question: Who are you in relation to yourself, culture, and society?
This is a unit that guides students through the process of developing a strong sense of identity and culture. By investigating the concepts of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability etc., students can examine themselves in relation to those parts of their identities. Along with looking inward, this unit provides lenses and tools to critically read the world around us and identify systems of oppression in order to begin to change those systems. This is a unit that encourages students to use their critical consciousness and historical literacy to better understand who they are, how they fit in society, what messages they are receiving about their identities and where they can make changes in their community. This is not only an opportunity for students to develop a love of themselves and their cultures, but also for teachers to do the same and to create a humanizing classroom space where students feel that they belong and their histories and cultures do as well.
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It is critically important to spend the first weeks of this unit laying the foundation for a safe, open and humanizing classroom as well as an understanding of what Ethnic Studies is and why it’s important. Teachers should spend time co-constructing agreements or norms for discussions, together with their students, as well as expectations for how the classroom community should “show up” every day.
This first lesson lays the foundation for an understanding of what Ethnic Studies is, its historical roots, and why it’s important and effective.
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In this lesson, students will investigate different parts of their identities and cultures by differentiating between their personal and social identities as well as learn vocabulary to use when naming specific parts of their identities.
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This lesson analyzes stereotypes often associated with different aspects of culture and ethnicity. Students will have an opportunity to write an “I am” poem and share it with their peers.
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The concepts of race and ethnicity are the focus of this lesson. By analyzing “hyphenated Americans” or Americans with a dual identity, students have an opportunity to hear from a variety of people with different racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as through an essay by DuBois, to learn about the effects of this dual identity, or a double consciousness.
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Lesson 5 covers the topic of intersectionality by applying the learning from the previous four weeks. When teaching about intersectionality, teachers should be sure to move beyond just having students name different parts of their identities. Intersectionality is how identities intersect with different systems of oppression. Students will have an opportunity to revisit their identity circles worksheet to add a more intersectional analysis of their identities during this week.
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Using all the skills they have gained over the last five weeks, students will have an opportunity to analyze a traditional Mexican game, Lotería, and identify stereotypes within it. They will then use their critical consciousness to develop a card that represents their own identity (and counters the stereotypes), along with a written narrative, and then present it to the class. This culminating week is an opportunity for students to demonstrate a love of their cultures and identities.
UNIT 2: SYSTEMS OF POWER
6 LESSONS
Compelling Question: What are systems of power and oppression and how have institutions maintained or perpetuated them?
This unit focuses on how institutions (educational, medical, legal, law enforcement) maintain and perpetuate systems of power. The unit begins with two frameworks for analyzing these systems - the levels of consciousness and the 4 I’s of Oppression. Using these frameworks as tools for analysis, students can identify what forms of oppression are evident in specific examples and how to ensure that a critical consciousness is being applied to that identification. The unit is then divided into four main institutions that hold power and often maintain oppression for BIPOC communities - those institutions include the educational and legal institution, the medical institution, the law enforcement institution and the immigration institution. Throughout the unit examples are also shared of how communities have pushed back on these systems of power and what social movements have developed through that resistance.
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Week 1 introduces students to the levels of consciousness - a framework used to identify one’s perceptions of oppression and inequality. The levels of consciousness can be used as an analytical framework for the content of this course. Students will have an opportunity to practice using the levels of consciousness in an extension assignment where they analyze a self-selected document for their analysis.
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Lesson 2 introduces students to the “The Four ‘I’s’ of Oppression” (Bell, 2013) - Ideological, Interpersonal, Institutional, and Internalized - and their adverse impact on racialized groups (i.e., Native American, Black/African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and Chicanx/Latinx . Through identifying, articulating and differentiating the Four I’s of Oppression, students can begin to re-imagine and create ways to dismantle these systems of oppression.
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In week 3, students have an opportunity to analyze and evaluate key legal struggles for racialized communities (American Indian/Native American, African American/Black, Asian Americans/Pacific Islander, and Chicanx/Latinx) and assess their impact and implications. This week is the introduction to the first of a variety of different institutions and systems that perpetuate a legacy of inequality for BIPOC communities and in turn those communities, and their allies, have fought back against these injustices.
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In week 4, students will learn about a part of the history of white supremacist policies and practices enacted by the medical and healthcare systems. The main lesson this week focuses on the history of mass sterilization of women of color and the ideologies behind those practices. Students will have an opportunity to engage with primary and secondary source documents to learn more about these histories and also develop a mini campaign poster to bring awareness to the larger community.
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Lesson 5 provides an overview of policing and prisons in the U.S. and how systems of power are connected to who is most heavily policed and incarcerated. A focus on the history of policing, the prison industrial complex, the school-to-prison pipeline and abolition of prisons is covered in this week for students to connect all of these topics under the frame of systems of power. Students should be given opportunities to apply the levels of consciousness and the Four I’s of Oppression to this week’s content as a way to discuss and explain systems of power in policing and the prison industrial complex.
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Week 6 focuses on the experiences of migrants and the impacts of systems of power on immigration. Students will have the opportunity to learn about some of the factors that compel people to leave their homes and emigrate to another country including military violence and climate change. Students will also make personal connections through a text-to-self activity using literature that focuses on a young girl’s experience as a newly arrived immigrant in the U.S. school system. Finally, students will write a unit essay connecting the systems of power and oppression they have learned about throughout Unit 2.
UNIT 3: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS & SOCIAL ACTION
6 LESSONS
Compelling Question: Why is Change Necessary?
Unit 3 provides an overview of social movements that represent the four racial groups included in Ethnic Studies. The unit begins with the overall struggle for Ethnic Studies as a discipline, from the Third World Liberation Front until today, so that students can appreciate how struggle and organizing has led to learning this content. The following weeks cover the Black Power movement, the Young Lords movement, Standing Rock and the NoDAPL movement and finally, the farmerworks movement highlighting solidarity between Chicanx, Filipinx and Arab (Yemeni) communities. The last week of the unit pulls all of the content together to compare and contrast how social movements make change. This is done by analyzing tactics and strategies each movement used and analyzing what worked, and what didn’t. During this unit, students will identify and connect with a local organization that is engaged in movement work around an issue they are interested in and develop a community action project. Students will present their projects at the end of the unit demonstrating their analysis and understanding gained throughout the six weeks of content.
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The purpose of this week is to analyze the origins and historical struggle for the Movement for Ethnic Studies from 1968 to the present. Through this analysis, students will evaluate origins and historical struggle for the Movement for Ethnic Studies and its impact and implications on the current historical moment. Understanding how Ethnic Studies was developed in the 1960’s and the movements that have proceeded, is critical for students to fully grasp the importance of Ethnic Studies today.
This first lesson lays the foundation for an understanding of what Ethnic Studies is, its historical roots, and why it’s important and effective.
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The aim of the week is to provide an overview of social movements during the 1960s-1970s in what is known as the Black Power Movement. Diverse and wide ranging in its approaches to obtain political, social, and economic justice, individuals (i.e., Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hammer, Shirley Chisholm) and organizations (i.e., NAACP, the Black Panther Party, Congress for Racial Equality), nonetheless made collective and significant progress in working toward justice for African Americans/Blacks in the U.S . The purpose of this lesson, within the week’s focus on the Black Power Movement, is to analyze the impact of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in creating change for the African American/Black community and all oppressed peoples. Specifically, the art of BPP Minister of Culture Emory Douglas will be the focus of analysis wherein students will evaluate his art’s impact within The Black Panther newspaper in raising the political and social consciousness for progressive change in the African American/Black community.
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The purpose of this week is for students to learn about the Young Lords and how their actions led to systemic change for Puerto Ricans and other racialized groups. In this main lesson, students will learn about the Young Lord’s organizing to ensure rights for adequate healthcare, which included taking over a hospital to raise awareness of the lack of medical support their community was receiving. Similar to the Black Panther Party, the Young Lord’s had a magazine and a 13 Point Plan. Students will begin to compare the demands of the Young Lords to those of the Black Panther Party and how social movements develop from the community’s pressure for change.
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The purpose of this week is to highlight Indigenous resistance specifically around land and water protection, as examples of tribal sovereignty. Using Standing Rock as one example of social movements led by Indigenous communities, and specifically led by youth, students can then investigate other current issues and movements related to Indigenous resistance and tribal sovereignty. Using a building background knowledge workshop structure, students will have the opportunity to co-construct their understanding of this movement by reading, listening to and analyzing a variety of resources with their peers and comparing new knowledge they acquire.
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The purpose of this lesson is to analyze and evaluate farmworker solidarity between Filipinx, Chicanx, and Arab (Yemeni) during the struggle for farmworker rights during the 1960s and 1970s. Through an analysis of primary and secondary historical sources, students will determine the levels of solidarity that Filipinx, Chicanx, and Arab (Yemeni) practiced during the farmworker struggle. Additionally, students will create a social media meme to articulate the importance of this solidarity amongst the 3 racialized groups. Moreover, this lesson affords students to utilize the solidarity practiced by the Filipinx, Chicanx, and Arab (Yemeni) communities as a model from which to reimagine and recreate new possibilities of solidarity in the present and future amongst all racialized communities.
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Week 6 is the culminating week of Unit 3 and much of the time may be spent on students presenting their community action projects. Students should be encouraged to use a variety of media to present their information and also to make connections with the social movements they have been studying. The week 6 lesson gives students the opportunity to use a framework to analyze all of the movements they have studied so far by identifying the vision, goals, strategies and tactics of that movement and comparing them to one another. Students will then use the same analysis to assess the organization they researched for their Community Action Project. If at all possible, these projects should be shared with a larger community across the school, district or local area.
UNIT 4: NATIVE AMERICAN / AMERICAN INDIAN HISTORY
3 LESSONS
Compelling Question: How has settler colonialism impacted Native American communities throughout history and how did the Red Power Movement resist land theft and assimilation tactics?
Unit 4 focuses on Native American history, first looking specifically at the 1800-1870 time period and how settler colonialism was enacted on tribal lands. An overview of local history frames the first week of the unit and then a broader study of land theft and the Trail of Tears follows, along with an in depth analysis of primary source documents. In week 2, students will engage in a building background knowledge workshop about Native boarding schools, tying themes back to week 1 and analyzing tactics used by the U.S. government to assimilate Native Americans. Finally, week 3 focuses on the Red Power Movement and Native American resistance to land theft, assimilation and settler colonialism. Students will have an opportunity to compare and contrast the Red Power Movement to movements studies in the first semester. Throughout the unit, students will be developing a timeline of events to visualize how events in this unit, and the subsequent units, overlap and inform one another.
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The purpose of this lesson is for students to learn about the project of settler colonialism and Native American relocation, which led to the loss of land and the establishment of reservations. Students will learn about the Trail of Tears by analyzing primary source documents and reading a variety of resources. Students will also hear about local histories as a way to frame the lesson and this unit on Native American history.
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This lesson is designed for students to develop a general understanding of the history of Native American boarding schools and the impact they had on Native American children and communities. Connections will be made between settler colonialism, assimilation and cultural genocide, particularly within the context of educational settings. The main part of this lesson will be a building background knowledge workshop in which students will have the opportunity to read, watch and listen to a variety of sources describing the histories and conditions of boarding schools as well as the long lasting impacts they have had.
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This lesson’s content focuses on the Red Power Movement, including the American Indian Movement, and some of the strategies used for Native American organizers to fight for tribal sovereignty. Two examples from the Red Power Movement will be focused on - the occupation of Alcatraz and the occupation at Wounded Knee. Students will have the opportunity to analyze these movements and make connections to social movements covered in the first semester (units 1-3) as well as the history and concepts covered in lesson one of this unit.
UNIT 5: CHICANX / LATINX HISTORY
3 LESSONS
Compelling Question: What are pivotal episodes in Chicanx-Latinx History which have proven to be socially and politically transformational for both Chicanx and greater U.S. society?
This unit provides a critical examination of 3 pivotal episodes in Chicanx History that socially and politically transformed not only the Chicanx community, but also the greater U.S. society. The first lesson, “The Birth of the Mexican American/Chicanx in the U.S.: Resistance & Affirmation” illustrates this community’s resistance to U.S colonization which led Mexican Americans/Chicanx to forge a distinct cultural and political identity of resistance. The second lesson, “Mass Deportations: Then & Now” affords students to critically examine anti-Mexican sentiment in the U.S. during the Great Depression, which has led to unjust immigration policy resulting in mass deportations. Moreover, students will compare and analyze anti-Mexican sentiment and scapegoating historically with contemporary anti-Mexican sentiment and U.S. immigration policy. Lastly, the third lesson, “The Zoot Suit Riots” provides students with another opportunity to examine anti-Mexican sentiment during the World War II era which led to state sanctioned violence by the U.S. Navy and Los Angeles Police Department (and supported by the white Los Angeles citizenry) which the Mexican American community was subject to, in particular the youth. The Zoot Suit Riots also resulted in Black-Chicanx solidarity, as both groups were subject to this same state sanctioned violence, which serves as a template for much needed future solidarity between these two racialized communities.
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The purpose of this week is to develop students’ awareness of the resistance to the colonization of Mexican Americans/Chicanx in the U.S. Southwest immediately following the U.S. War on Mexico (1848) to the early years of the 20th century. Through an analysis of Chicanx historical figures who exemplified resistance to U.S. colonization and Manifest Destiny, students will evaluate the various methods of resistance and determine their applicability today. The historical analysis of Chicanx resistance to colonization provides insight into “the Birth of Mexican Americans” within the historical context of the times, which was one of outright hostility and violence toward Mexicans. Moreover, students will choose what models of resistance utilized within the timeframe studied in this lesson to counter the oppression of Chicanx-Latinx, re-imagine and create a present and future wherein all peoples are seen and treated in their full humanity and come to realize justice.
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The purpose of this lesson is to bring about critical awareness of the mass deportations in the U.S., which is known as “Mexican Repatriation,” during the Great Depression (1929-1939) era. Equally, students will analyze the anti-Mexican/anti-immigrant sentiment policies of the Great Depression era and evaluate how these sentiments and policies exist today. Students will dialogue on how to effectively counter anti-Mexican/anti-immigrant sentiment through a critical re-imagining and conceptualizing for a more economically and socially just future.
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The purpose of this lesson is to analyze the Zoot Suit Riots (as well as the events of “The Sleepy Lagoon Case” leading up to it), a 10-day attack (April 3 to April 13, 1943) by U.S. Navy Sailors targeting Zoot Suiters, Hepcats (Black/African American Zoot Suiters), and Pachucas/os,which eventually evolved into an attack on all Mexican people in Los Angeles, California. Additionally, this lesson will discuss the implications of the “Zoot Suit Riots” and how they continue to impact Chicanx and other racialized communities. This lesson will demonstrate the levels of solidarity practiced by the African American/Black community with and for Pachucas/os and the Mexican-origin community during the Zoot Suit Riots. Finally, this lesson allows students to utilize the solidarity practiced by the African American/Black community with Pachucas/os during the Zoot Suit Riots as a model from which to reimagine and recreate new possibilities of solidarity in the present and future amongst all racialized communities.
UNIT 6: BLACK / AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
3 LESSONS
Compelling Question: How has the Black/African American community in the U.S. been impacted by systemic racism and how have they fought back against these injustices?
This unit highlights the experiences of Black/African Americans in the U.S. by focusing on three specific time periods and interrelated issues. The unit begins with the slave rebellions and abolitionist movement that led to the liberation of Black/African Americans. Building on that history, the next week focuses on housing injustices and specifically redlining and racial covenants, two processes that not only impacted the Black/African American community disproportionately but also continues to have an effect today. Students will have an opportunity to learn about the local history of their region and redlining, as well as analyzing local maps. Finally, the unit will highlight the Black Lives Matter movement and its connection to police killings, circling back to the topic of abolition. Students will learn about how the movement started, who has been in solidarity with the movement, and what its impact is today.
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The purpose of this lesson is to analyze and evaluate primary and secondary sources on the slave rebellions and the abolitionist movement and how these historical processes led to the liberation of African Americans/Blacks in the U.S. Moreover, students will analyze and evaluate the implications that these historical processes continue to have on African Americans/Blacks in the U.S.
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The purpose of this lesson is for students to investigate the discriminatory housing practices that historically impacted the Black/African American community and connect those practices to the long history of institutional racism that still exists today. Students will have an opportunity to not only deepen their understanding of redlining and racial covenants, but also apply that knowledge to local maps that demonstrate how these practices impact neighborhood, communities and quality of life.
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The purpose of this lesson is for students to develop their understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement, the issues on which it focused, and the connections between it and the history of both systemic racism and organized resistance in the Black/African American community.
UNIT 7: ASIAN AMERICAN / PACIFIC ISLANDER HISTORY
3 LESSONS
Compelling Question: How have exclusionary policies, practices and laws historically impacted the Asian American & Pacific Islander community and how are the effects felt today?
This unit includes lessons on the experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders both nationally and in Tacoma, WA. Lesson 1 begins with a focus on the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Tacoma Method and anti-Chinese sentiment during this historical period. Lesson 2 focuses on the Japanese American experience, specifically the dark history of Japanese American internment during World War II. Students will analyze Executive Order 9066, practicing their skills analyzing primary sources, and make connections to executive orders being enforced today. Finally, lesson 3 focuses on Pacific Island/Oceania peoples and their resistance to colonization. Similar to the previous lessons, students will draw connections between past and present, and explore themes of migration, sovereignty, cultural identity and self-determination.
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The purpose of this lesson is to give students both a local and national view of the social and political conditions that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act and pervasive anti-Chinese sentiment during this time period. The lesson starts with a look at local history of Tacoma, then more broadly at the experiences of Chinese immigrants nationally and finally focusing back on Tacoma and the Tacoma Method. Students will have an opportunity at the end of the lesson to make connections between current anti-immigrant and anti-Asian hate within the historical context they have learned about in this lesson, and develop a protest art piece to raise awareness.
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This lesson offers students a comprehensive examination of the national and local historical context that led to the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the violation of their constitutional rights. Through the analysis of Executive Order 9066, Supreme Court Case Korematsu v. United States (1944), and the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, students will practice evaluating primary source documents and their social, economic, and political ramifications for Japanese Americans and other racialized groups, making connections to current conditions in the United States.
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The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand how Pacific Island/Oceania peoples have actively resisted colonization through political, cultural, and social movements. Students will explore the history of colonialism in Oceania, learn about key figures and movements of resistance, and analyze how these efforts continue to shape the Pacific today. Additionally, students will examine the Pacific Islander/Oceania diaspora in the U.S., exploring the ways migration, activism, and cultural preservation contribute to ongoing struggles for sovereignty and identity. Through discussion, research, and creative projects, students will develop critical thinking skills and reflect on the importance of sovereignty, cultural identity, and self-determination.