Harlem Renaissance & Black Culture: Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker

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🎬 Recommended Media

• Watch: The Harlem Renaissance: Crash Course US History #37

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📖 Source Text Excerpt

From Leaders, Legends, Legacies: Timelines from Black History (Harlem Renaissance & Black Culture: Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker)

ending the truth At the age of 26, Zora goes back to high school in Baltimore, Maryland. To gain admission, she fakes her age, pretending to be
10 years younger than she is. She keeps to this deception
for the rest of her life. 1917

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🎯 Specific Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, the student will be able to:

1. Analyze primary source passages from Harlem Renaissance & Black Culture: Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker to identify author perspective and bias
2. Identify and explain the significance of 12 key figures from Harlem Renaissance & Black Culture: Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker
3. Sequence and analyze 8 key events with dates and causation
4. Define and use 10 vocabulary terms in historical context
5. Compare primary source evidence with textbook narrative to evaluate historical interpretation

🗝️ Key Vocabulary

• Siren: Siren - key term from the text (definition needed from context)
• South: South - key term from the text (definition needed from context)
• Destiny: Destiny - key term from the text (definition needed from context)
• Tragedy: Tragedy - key term from the text (definition needed from context)
• Vusumzi Make: Vusumzi Make - key term from the text (definition needed from context)
• In Arkansas: In Arkansas - key term from the text (definition needed from context)
• Black South: Black South - key term from the text (definition needed from context)
• Achievement: Achievement - key term from the text (definition needed from context)

👤 Key Figures

• Marguerite Annie
• Vusumzi Make
• In Arkansas
• Black South
• King Menelik
• The Italians
• French Resistance
• Wolf Book
• World War
• Addis Ababa

📅 Key Events & Dates

• 1891: Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) was one of the most significant African American writers of the 20th century
• 1904: 1904 1891 Bending the truth At the age of 26, Zora goes back to high school in Baltimore, Maryland
• 1917: 1917

47 “Mama [told us] to ‘jump at de sun’

• 1942: ” Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road (1942) University studies Zora continues her studies at Howard University, Washington, D
• 1921: 1921 Harlem Renaissance Zora earns a scholarship to study at Barnard College, New York City
• 1925: 1925 Southern travels Zora travels through the southern US states recording African American folk tales
• 1932: 1932 1927 Travels to
  the Caribbean Zora is given an award to research the rituals of voodoo (a West African religion) in Haiti, and obeah (sp
• 1937: 1937 1936 Autobiography Zora’s autobiography,
  Dust Tracks on a Road,
  is published
• 1942: 1950s 1942 Death When Zora dies, she is buried in an unmarked grave because there is no money for a headstone
• 1973: Much later, in 1973, the novelist Alice Walker locates Zora’s grave and adds a headstone with the words “Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the Sout

👩‍🏫 Parent/Teacher Instruction Script & Guide

Lesson At A Glance

• Subject: History (Grade 10) | Target Duration: 90 minutes (1.5 credit hours)
• State Standard: Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (OK.H.10.1, OK.H.10.2, OK.ELA.10.1)
• Required Materials: Student history notebook, copy of primary source excerpt, world map/historical atlas, blue and red pen/highlighter.

Step-by-Step Teaching Sequence

Phase 1: Hook & Inquiry Question (15 min)

Pose the inquiry question: “Imagine you are financing a venture that costs millions. If you return empty-handed, you lose everything; if you bring back gold, you become nobility. How will that pressure change the way you view the people and land you meet?” Have student record a 2-sentence prediction in journal.

Vocabulary Focus: Siren, South, Destiny

• Question: “What motivates Columbus before he even sets sail?”

  • Listen for: Student identifies royal contract, profit mandate, personal ambition

• Question: “How does financial pressure alter perception?”

  • Listen for: Student connects profit motive to dehumanization of Indigenous people

Phase 2: Directed Reading & Primary Source Parsing (40 min)

Read Harlem Renaissance & Black Culture: Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker excerpt aloud together. Direct student to highlight IN BLUE every phrase describing Indigenous culture/values. Highlight IN RED every phrase describing European objectives/motivations.

• Question: “Why did Columbus interpret Arawak hospitality as an invitation to subjugation?”

  • Listen for: European worldview: technological/military superiority = right to dominate

• Question: “What financial contract bound Columbus to the Spanish Crown?”

  • Listen for: 10% profit clause, governorship title, massive investor debt from Ferdinand/Isabella

• Question: “How does Columbus’s actual log complicate the “heroic explorer” narrative?”

  • Listen for: Primary doc shows explicit intent to conquer/exploit; not discovery but extraction

Phase 3: Data & Perspectives (25 min)

Create timeline/graph from key events. Analyze cause-effect relationships. Compare historian perspectives.

• Question: “What caused the biggest changes in this period?”

  • Listen for: Multiple factors with evidence

• Question: “How do different historians interpret the same events?”

  • Listen for: Different emphases/conclusions from same facts

Phase 4: Synthesis & Assessment (10 min)

Complete written assessment. Review timeline. Self-check against objectives.

• Question: “How has your understanding of Harlem Renaissance & Black Culture: Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker changed?”

  • Listen for: Specific shift with text evidence

• Question: “What questions remain unanswered?”

  • Listen for: Genuine inquiry, not “none”

⚠️ Common Student Misconceptions (Watch For)

• Misconception: Harlem Renaissance & Black Culture: Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker has a single clear cause

  • Teacher Correction: Multiple interconnected factors

• Misconception: Textbook narrative is objective fact

  • Teacher Correction: Every history is a perspective; primary sources reveal complexity

• Misconception: Key figures acted alone

  • Teacher Correction: Individuals operate within social/economic/political forces

Differentiation

• Struggling: Sentence frames for narration; oral responses allowed; pre-teach 10 key vocab
• Advanced: Add counter-perspective research; write rebuttal essay; primary source deep-dive
• Ell: Bilingual glossary; visual aids; sentence frames for discussion

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📝 Student Portfolio Artifact (ESA & Audit-Ready Record)

To receive full instructional credit and maintain an audit-proof portfolio, the student must complete and archive the following assignment:

Assignment: Perspective & Motivation Analysis

1. Narration notes (dated, with key vocab highlighted)

2. Timeline with events, dates, and student-drawn connections

3. Map with labeled locations and student annotations

4. Primary source comparison chart (3-column)

5. Population/data graph with student analysis

6. Focus question essay (300-500 words, 2+ citations)

7. Vocabulary journal (term, definition, original sentence, illustration for 5+ terms)

Assessment Rubric

Criteria	Proficient (Full Credit)	Developing (Partial Credit)	Incomplete (Revision Needed)
Primary Source Evidence	Cites 2+ direct quotes from primary source and contextualizes them accurately.	Mentions source content generally without direct citation or textual support.	No textual evidence cited.
Historical Causation	Clearly explains economic/political pressure and its direct tie to policy outcomes.	Mentions key factors but does not link them to structural causes.	Fails to identify structural motivations.
Critical Voice & Clarity	Clear 10th-grade academic prose, accurate vocabulary terms used.	Understandable narrative, but lacks historical vocabulary or precision.	Fragmented thoughts or off-topic response.

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📌 Lesson Completion Record

• Date Completed: ____________________
• Time Spent: 90 Minutes (1.5 Academic Hours)
• Student Signature: ____________________
• Parent/Teacher Evaluator Signature: ____________________
• Artifact Destination: Portfolio/History/Grade10/05-harlem-renaissance-black-culture_Artifact.pdf

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Source: Leaders, Legends, Legacies: Timelines from Black History

Module curated: 2026-09-26 | Video verified: {date} | Source text: leaders-legends-black-history | Standards: OK.H.10.1, OK.H.10.2, OK.ELA.10.1