Title:
Understanding Human Rights Through Music And Poetry
Rationale:
Oppression is a common theme among the histories and struggles of people world wide. It is often difficult for students to understand the struggle and plight of a people in another country. Poetry and music serve as historical documents to explore the issues and circumstances surrounding these events. Poetry and music can also serve as a vehicle for students to internalize issues of injustice and generate empathy for international struggles for human rights as well as internalize their own experience of oppression.
Objectives:
The student will:
- Be exposed to poetry and music from different countries in regard to human rights and oppression;
- Be able to analyze and interpret poetry and music from different cultures;
- Be able to identify the major themes of human rights struggles ion poetry and music from different time periods and different countries and the circumstances that surround them;
- Be able to recognize how poetry and music are used to express political statements and sentiments to listeners;
- Create their own poem or song lyrics expressing an issue of human rights to be presented to the class.
Audience:
This lesson is intended as an interdisciplinary unit for tenth grade students, with an emphasis on world literature, world history, and modern world affairs. The lesson is also easily modified for any social studies or multi cultural language arts class at the high school level.
Time Frame:
Two to three class periods, depending on the length of the class and whether additional activities are tied to the lesson.
Materials:
CD/Tape player, various poems and song lyrics either as handouts or overhead transparencies, and copies of worksheets to use as guides for analyzing specific poems or song lyrics (optional).
Background:
This lesson may work best as a follow up activity or transition activity after the study of South African Apartheid, the independence of East Timor, the American civil rights movement, the Zapatista rebellion in the Chiapas, the Communist take over of Tibet, or the 1989 student uprising in Beijing. This lesson can be modified to introduce the issues of human rights and the struggle for human rights as a global concept. Numerous poems and music can be used to address specific or general topics.
Procedures:
Part I
Ask students to brainstorm different word that identify with the concepts of rights and justice (instructor would be responsible for writing word on the chalkboard). Once a list has been completed, go through various concepts and ask students to clarify and internalize their statements. Questions for discussion might be:”What does justice mean?”, “Who protects/guarantees these rights?”, “What are rights?”, “How are these rights oppressed?” Allow for brief discussion.
Part II
Ask students to use examples of poetry and music that deal with the issue of human rights. Offer examples of popular music to help activate schema. Examples might include:”Children of the Sun” by Rage Against the Machine, “Illegal Search”, by L.L. Cool J, or “41 shots”, by Bruce Springsteen. Allow students to generate a list of poems and songs they identify as having themes of human rights and oppression. Have students explain that the background. of behind the songs and poems they offer as examples in a class discussion.
Part III
Introduce the poem by Martin Niemoller (a victim of Nazi Holocaust) to demonstrate how poetry can be used as an instrument to express the ideas of human rights listed by the students. Allow time for students to analyze the poem and formulate their answers. After 5 to 10 minutes, ask the students the following questions to generate discussion: What is the major theme of the poem? What are the historical circumstances that surround this poem? What is the author saying about responsibility? Do you share this point of view?
Part IV
Distribute packets of various poems and song lyrics to students. Allow time for students to read silently. Have the student choose one poem or song to analyze. Students should be told to look for the theme, oppression, and historical circumstance, and what lead to the author to express this point of view. (Depending on the level of the class of the previous cirriculum in the class, this aspect of the lesson can either be student driven or the instructor may lead the class through each of the various poems and songs to help provide historical background).
Part V
Once students have selected an individual poem or song, have them answer the following questions either on a worksheet or in a journal:
What is the theme of the poem/song? Where do you find it expressed most clearly?
What is the poem/song saying about human rights and justice (or injustice/oppression)?
What images reinforce the meaning behind the poem/song?
What are the historical circumstances surrounding this poem/song? (briefly summarize)
Do you agree or disagree with the ideas expressed in this poem/song?
Is there a group of people in this country (or elsewhere in the world) that would agree or disagree with this poem/song? Who are they and why do you think they would agree or disagree?
Part VI
Allow time for students to read and answer the questions. This may be done in class or as a homework assignment for the following day depending on the time frame of the class. Once students have completed their analysis of the poem or song, ask each student to read their responses to the class in reference to the questions asked. Allow other students to offer feedback to the answers and statements given. This may be conducted as a class discussion for the entire class period depending on how much time is needed and for what clarifications the instructor needs to provide on different topics if necessary.
Part VII
Students will be asked to create their own poem/song. Urge them to use the words listed during the beginning of the lesson poems and songs provided and outside resources (magazine articles, newspapers, television and radio broadcasts, etc.) to help produce their product. It is important for each student to internalize the aspect of human rights that they feel affects them most. Encourage students to express their feelings in the form they feel most passionate about (i.e. poetry, rap, rock, thrash, metal, etc.). Each student will present or perform their original work to the class. Provide the following guidelines for the assignment:
Create your own poem or song describing an aspect of human rights and oppression in society. Follow the guidelines below and be prepared to share your work with the class.
- Poems/songs needs to be creative, unique and original. (Do not plagiarize someone’s work!)
- Poems must be over ten lines in length.
- You must write a one-page summary detailing the major theme and background of your work.
- You must also state how your poem/song relates to the concept of human rights and justice.
Evaluation:
Students should receive classwork and participation credit for completed and performed works. Rubrics for original work and presentation are left to the discretion of the instructor. Discussions could be modified for grading under the Socratic Seminar format as well.
Selected Recordings:
Numerous songs and poems will work for this lesson. Some suggested songs are:
“Message in the Belly” recorded by Digable Planets Blowout Comb, Pendulum Records, 1994.
“Zimbabwe” recorded by Bob Marley and the Wailers Survival, Island Records, 1979.
“Get Up, Stand Up” recorded by Bob Marley Burnin’, Cayman Music, 1973.
“Seconds” recorded by U2 War, Island Records, 1982.
“Know Your Rights” recorded by The Clash (Combat Rock, CBS Records, 1982.)
“Holiday in Cambodia” recorded by the Dead Kennedys (Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death, Alternative Tentacles, 1987.)
Suggested Poems:
“God to Hungry Child” by Langston Hughes, Good Morning Revolution, 1938.
“Palestinian” by Harun Hashin Raskid, An Anthology of Modern Arabic Poetry, 1974.
“Ain’t I A Woman” by Sojourer Truth, The Liberator 22 March 16, 1855.
“I Am Only One Person” author unknown, Open Minds to Equality, 1983.
Poem by Pastor Martin Niemoeller
First they came for the Jews,
but I wasn’t a Jew, so I didn’t react.
Then they came for the communists,
but I wasn’t a communist, so I didn’t object.
Then they came for the homosexuals,
but I wasn’t a homosexual, so I didn’t stand up.
Then they came for the political activists,
but I wasn’t a political activist, so I didn’t protest.
Then they came for me…
and by that time no one was left to stand up.
