Southern Flood Blues The Great Flood of 1927 Lesson Plan by Ashley Ralston Hands On History Coordinator, Historic Arkansas Museum Butler Center for Arkansas Studies 2007-2008 School Year Utilizing 2006 Arkansas Social Studies Frameworks Plus Other Curriculum Frameworks Including 2007 School Library Media Frameworks The February Section from the 2008 Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture Calendar features a 1910 photograph of African-American Music Tradition. Calendars can be ordered annually by emailing info@encyclopeidaofarkansas.net Students will begin the lesson by analyzing primary and secondary information and placing that information into a graphic organizer. Students will then read articles regarding the treatment of African-Americans during the flood and discuss how this treatment led to the founding of the Delta Blues movement across the country. Students will take this information and apply it to their own place and time. Students will use information for a predetermined task. Grades: 9-12 Objectives: 1. Students will be able to analyze local and national ramifications of The Great Flood of 1927 using both primary and secondary sources. 2. Students will be able to understand and discuss the role African- Americans played in the flood and what part this has played in the strengthening of their culture. 3. Students will be able to use this information to reflect on current situations. Arkansas Curriculum Frameworks: Arkansas History Student Learning Expectations: RP.6.AH.9-12.2 Analyze the effects of sharecropping on society in Arkansas GD.8.AH.9-12.1 Investigate the economic and social effects of the 1927 flood on Arkansas using primary and secondary sources Social Students Student Learning Expectations: American History WC.16.AH.3 Civics G.3.C.1 Analyze the domestic policies of Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover Explain the purposes of government School Library Media Student Learning Expectations: I.1.9.9, I.1.10.9, I.1.9.11.10, I.1.12.10 Distinguish between primary and secondary sources
I.2.9.2, I.2.10.2, I.2.11.2, I.2.12.2 Evaluate primary and secondary sources A.4.9.1, A.4.10.1, A.4.11.1, A.4.12.1 Use resources and/or technology tools for a predetermined task Related Encyclopedia of Arkansas Entries: "Big Bill" Broonzy; Blues Music; Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940; Flood of 1927 Introduction: The teacher will select the appropriate student learning expectations for his or her class, review key terms, and make copies of selected worksheets provided with the lesson. Collaboration with the school library media specialist or assistance in utilization of the technology resource tool for Arkansas History is suggested. See above links or visit http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net. Key Terms: Jim Crow Laws Sharecropper Key Terms Defined: Jim Crow Laws - A system of laws used in the southern United States to restrict the rights of African Americans, in both, the private and political sphere. Sharecropper - Farmers who use others land to grow their crops, and are in turn indebted to those individuals. Materials Needed: Writing Utensils Internet Access The Great Flood of Arkansas Analysis Sheet (included) Suggest Timeline: One to Two Fifty Minute Class Periods Background: The Flood of 1927 affected many states throughout the south, one of the hardest hit was Arkansas, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. Will whole towns left destroyed, the government used Jim Crow laws to force many African-American men to live in camps and work on rebuilding the levees. The affect of this was the strengthening of their culture, examples being the creation of the Delta Blues, which relays personal accounts of the disaster, similar to those of contemporary Hurricane Katrina. Procedure: * All discussion questions may be placed in a notebook as a journal entry, if desired. Explain to students that an earthquake has occurred and all of their houses have been destroyed, including all of the local food suppliers. On a sheet of notebook ask the students to create a list of five to ten emotions which reflect their situation. Afterwards, inform the students that the government has decided, because they are the minorities, they will be taken out of school and away from their families and forced to rebuild the town. Have students create a list of five sentences stating why this is unconstitutional. Create a class discussion based on the following:
Discussion Questions How would it feel to become the victim of a national disaster? How would it feel to be further victimized by the government? Activity 1: After placing students in small groups, ask them to visit the Encyclopedia of Arkansas http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net to search for and read information about The Great Flood of 1927. While students are reading, they should analyze the primary source pictures and complete The Great Flood of 1927 Analysis Sheet, to help them answer the following: Discussion Question How did The Great Flood of 1927 effect society on a local and national scale? Activity 2: Ask students to read Use Troops in Flood Area to Imprison Farm Hands http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/filmmore/ps_headlines.html After students have read and discussed the article, have them create a letter home as though they were an African-American sharecropper describing their experience in the segregated flood camps. Discussion Questions How were African-Americans treated after the flood? What does this say about the post-reconstruction South? Activity 3: Ask students to create facial expressions to summarize the feelings of each group involved in the previous activity. The facial expressions should consist of a character of the face, as well as their perspective of the event. Characters should represent an African-American sharecropper, the National Guard and a plantation owner. Activity 4: Have students visit the website http://www.geocities.com/bourbonstreet/delta/2541/blbbroon.htm to listen to an interview by Big Bill Broonzy speak about the creation of the Delta Blues song Back Water Blues. Ask students to read and/or listen to the lyrics of Back Water Blues and Southern Flood Blues, which can also be found on Big Bill Broonzy, Completed Recorded Works Vol. 5. Afterwards, have the class answer the following Discussion Questions How did the Delta Blues relay the pain African-Americans felt during the flood? What emotions did you pick-up from the music? How would this music help heal the wounds they have suffered? What contemporary example do we have of this? Closing: Place students in small groups and have them refer to the list they made during the Opening. Ask students use that list to create a blues song about the earthquake they experienced, which reflects their culture and situation. Afterwards, have students read/sing their song to the class. Discussion Question: How does society grow stronger despite adversity?
For Further Reading: See Race Relations in the Natural State by Grif Stockley. The textbook has been adopted by the ADE as social studies resource. Order information is available at http://www.butlercenter.org/publication/books.html Mr. Stockley has written several articles for the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Students can use the advanced search feature in the online encyclopedia to access these articles. The Taylor Foundation (Little Rock, Arkansas) makes Butler Center lesson plans possible. Contact the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System, 100 Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72201. 501-918-3056 www.butlercenter.org and www.cals.lib.ar.us
Name: The Great Flood of 1927 Online Encyclopedia of Arkansas Analysis Sheet List the causes of the Flood of 1927 under their appropriate heading: Nature Society Describe the effects of the Flood of 1927 on the following groups subjects: Structures: Animals: Farm Land: Disease: Sharecroppers: Race Relations: Analyze the role modern technology played in the aftermath of the flood concerning radios, airplanes, motorboats, trains and automobiles:
Explain how the flood impacted each of the followings political careers: President Coolidge: President Hoover: President Roosevelt: Express the emotions you feel when looking at the pictures from the flood: Compare and Contrast the Flood of 1927 with Hurricane Katrina:
Use Troops in Flood Area to Imprison Farm Hands Chicago Defender, May 7 Primary Source Refugees Herded Like Cattle to Stop Escape from Peonage -- Plantation Owners in Fear of Raids by Labor Agents The ugly specter of Race hate has reared its head above the angry waters in the flood area... Men, women, and children of our group, who were conscripted, forced to leave their homes to top levees and prevent, if possible, a flood in their respective cities, are now refugees in "Jim Crow" relief camps. This vast army of destitute persons, nearly one hundred thousand, the majority of them farmers and laborers from 75 villages and towns of seven flood-torn states of the South, are experiencing worse treatment than our forefathers did before the signing of the emancipation proclamation with a total population of some eighteen thousand persons, has 13,027 flood refugees to shelter, clothe, and feed. Half of this number are members of our Race, who have been placed in separate relief camps and are being guarded daily by national guardsmen who fear they will be kidnapped....this action was taken, it is said, following numerous requests from southern planters... that members of our Race be guarded against a possible influx of labor agents who would seize this opportunity to take the refugees to the North and give them work. At present, the victims of the flood are given very little food and are barred from all visitors....tags bearing the name of the refugee and the owner of the plantation from which he came are being placed on the men and women of our group. This is being done in order that the plantation owners can drive these workers back to the farms and charge these rations to them.