Grade 7-8 Census Analysis
Students will examine the primary source and a transcription of each document.
Students will determine the design and purpose for collecting and using census data.
Direct students to look for the same family names on several census reports to recognize trends over several decades. Students will examine category headings to determine the social and economic values of a place over several decades. Students can compare results and analyze the definitions of racial identity, occupation, economic status, movement, and citizenship. Also, determine the benefits or consequences for members of a category, as well as the power of census data to determine taxation, representation, and the existence, disappearance, or identity of a people by the definition a category.
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Thanks for posting this Rosemary. I think that this would go a long way in helping students to begin to understand the implications of the idea of "race". I think in many cases middle school aged students are more apt to accept things as fact without looking deeply into it. By examining the ways in which a family could change race in a matter of years may show students the importance of looking deeper into information passed off as fact.
ReplyDeleteRosemarie, have you had a chance to do something like this in class? It would be interesting to ask students not only to identify themselves by race but ask them to identify themselves by someone else's criteria--for instance the Dominican student may say he/she is Dominican/Hispanic but may think that someone else may regard him/her as "black" or "Puerto Rican". What does it feel like when someone else gets to determine your identity?
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