Introduction
"Through two award-winning National Public Radio documentaries, and now this powerful book, LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman have made it their mission to be loud voices from one of this country's darkest places, Chicago's Ida B. Wells housing project. Set against the stunning photographs of a talented young photographer from the projects, Our America evokes the unforgiving world of these two amazing young men, and their struggle to survive unrelenting tragedy. With a gift for clear-eyed journalism, they tell their own stories and others, including that of the death of Eric Morse, a five-year-old who was dropped to his death from the fourteenth floor of an Ida B. Wells apartment building by two other little boys." ( Jones, Newman, 1998).
Task
After viewing each link, write two notes about: what you learned, what stands out to you, what surprises you, what interests you, what connections you make, and so forth from each site in the WebQuest.
Process
Click on the following links to learn background information that is pertinent for our novel study.
Oral History
* Say It Loud: African America Spoken Word: (text) http://www.folkways.si.edu/say-loud-african-american-spoken-word/struggle-protest/article/smithsonian
'Our America' Overview
* Our America Overview (text):http://www.learner.org/workshops/tml/workshop8/authors3b.html
Where it All Began (Optional)
* NPR- Ghetto Life 101 (audio): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYuC_3lJCFE
- This is the NPR recording from May 1993 on WBEZ, a Chicago radio station. This is the series that started the book. This NPR recording is over 30 minutes long and contains some suggestive language and content. ** Only listen to this audio after you have read/ listened to the other information on this Webquesst.**
Background Knowledge
* The History of Segregation in Chicago (text): http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/african-american-percentage-poverty-unemployment-schools-segregation/Content?oid=10703562
* History of Chicago Crime Rates (text): http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/18/us/chicago-murder-problem.html?_r=0
* History of Federal Public Housing (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGRjW-bsCIA
* History of Chicago's Public Housing (text):http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/253.html
*The Public Housing Experiment (text): https://bostonreview.net/blog/fischer-public-housing-experiment ** Read only Building Up, Coming Down**
* Who Was Ida B. Wells? (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBuGT3FvMuc
* Ida B. Wells Housing Projects today (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IecYC1vk2C8
* Rodney King and the race riots of the 1990s- (video):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap6kNWFYZgU
*Timeline of Important Word Events in the 1990s (text): http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1990timeline.htm
PTSD
* Effects of PTSD on children (text): http://www.ascentchs.com/mental-health/ptsd/symptoms-signs-effects/ **Begin reading at Statistics**
* Children and PTSD (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBbSncsWa7E
After the Book
* CSPAN Interview with the authors (OPTIONAL) (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQGkXApPaIo
* LeAlan Jones & Lloyd Newman - Remorse - 1996 Peabody Award Acceptance Speech (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DhyXp6ignc
LeAlan Today
* LeAlan documentary (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G729b6XL4M
Conclusion
While we read "Our America", please keep in mind all of the information that you learned through this Webquest and the in-class activities and discussions.