It’s Been Ages, Girl

Oral History Clip:

A soundscape of former West Elmwood residents, Mike Freeman, William Guy, Alan Maynard, Dennis Maynard, and Bessie Snead, remembering their childhood neighborhood when it thrived and when it disappeared.

Related Activities:

Language Arts:

Related Topics: Simile, Memoir, Nostalgia

Discussion Questions/Suggested Activities:

Related Resources: 

• Ballad of the Landlord (Poem)
• Excerpts 1 and 2 from August Wilson’s Radio Golf (Play)
• James Baldwin says “Urban Renewal is Negro Removal” and reflects on racism

Social Studies:

Related Topics: Gentrification, Urban Renewal, Neighborhood Change, Racism, Eminent Domain, Sense of Community, Class

Related Resources: 

• Baltimore Syllabus (Dealing with racial inequality in housing)
• This Land Isn’t Your Land (New York Times Lesson Plan)
• A Brief History of Urban Renewal in West Elmwood
• Historical Images from West Elmwood Redevelopment
• Historical Maps Showing How the Landscape Changed
• James Baldwin says “Urban Renewal is Negro Removal” and reflects on racism

POP CULTURE CONNECTIONS:

Superman

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STANDARDS:

Language Arts

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.9: Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.

Social Studies

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6: Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.9: Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9: Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

Speaking and Listening

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.2: Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.2: Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.2: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.