Activity #2: Prepare an Imaginary News Story with yourself as the Reporter
For the second activity, I ask that you imagine you are a news reporter covering an historic moment in Civil Rights history, such as the day the Supreme Court announced its' 9-0 decision in the Brown v Board of Topeka, Kansas case which mandated that separate but equal public educational facilities
were Unconstitutional, thus mandating desegregation. Or, you can choose the option of imagining yourself as a news reporter covering President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the landmark Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act. You can also opt to cover Malcolm X announcing upon his return from his Hajj Pilgrimage to Mecca that he was abandoning his separatist positions and embracing a conciliatory stance with respect to Civil Rights. Thus, your assignment is to prepare a mock television, radio or internet based news story covering this event, or even compose a newspaper story with yourself as the reporting journalist, along with a retro-style newspaper masthead and headline for your project. All students will be asked to present these projects in class, and we will discuss all of them in a question and answer session with your classmates.