2. Tell the students that the transcendentalists were not only all about being yourself and doing what you feel is right, but they were also all about standing up for what was right and doing something about perceived wrongs and injustices.
3. Ask Students:
a. Have you ever spoken out or taken action against something you believed was unjust? It could be something that occurred at school, at home, or something you read about or saw on the news.
b. Why did you feel the way you did?
c. How did this law/policy/rule affect you and your peers/friends?
d. What course of action, if any, did you take?
e. Did anyone help you or did you act alone. What kind of help did you receive?
f. What are the benefits of acting as part of a team? Acting alone?
4. Put up the MLK quote and have students share their reactions to it:
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
5. Have students brainstorm about the meaning of citizenship. Compare and contrast the strict definition—the status of being a native or naturalized inhabitant of a country—with the broader sense of membership in a community. What are the rights of citizenship? What are the responsibilities of citizenship? Do you have to obey all laws to practice good citizenship? Why or why not? Can non-citizens (such as international students or new immigrants) practice good citizenship? Explain.
6. Brainstorm words that come to mind when you think of the term activist. Write class responses on the board. Are the responses positive, negative, or both? Who are some famous activists? What causes did they champion? Did they practice “good citizenship”? Why or why not?
7. Have students listen and respond to “Get Up Stand Up” by Bob Marley.
8. Have students read and respond to Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” on page 369 in the yellow literature book.
Homework Collected: None
Homework Given: 7th Period Writer's Notebooks A - M due Today
Handouts given out: None
To Read: Civil Disobedience on page 369 in the yellow book
