Last year I decided it was high time to use other sources in addition to the Declaration of Independence to explore what the Declaration has meant to different people at different periods of time. I juxtaposed “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” and the Declaration of Sentiments against the Declaration of Independence, and it was an eye-opening experience for students to see that there were numerous, varied responses to the Declaration over time. They knew that “all men are created equal” didn’t apply to everyone, but reading real people’s responses and starting to empathize with their hurt and frustration helps them see this concept in a new way.

This year, I also included a Declaration of Independence written by the Freedom School students of St. John’s Methodist Church in Palmer’s Crossing Mississippi in 1964. Tying in the Civil Rights Movement and the relevance this declaration has to the present day is an opportunity that I’m glad I have for my students. Teaching U.S. I doesn’t mean we have to stay in years prior to 1865. Our job is to teach historical relevance and connection- and here’s one more way.

To assess students’ understanding, they write a black out poem using one page from one of the documents. The instructions for that will be included in a future post.

Free access to the lesson (in Google Slides) can be found here. All I ask is that if you use this or share it, please give me credit.