VISUAL ART
As you read the stories we have shared, you may have thoughts of how you have experienced racism in your own life. Consider...
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•What is your earliest experience dealing with race and/or racism?
•How did you feel while this was happening or watching?
•What was your response and what was the response of others around you?
•What impact did it have on you? What did you learn from the experience?
•Did the encounter change you in some way, and if so, how?
For this project, you may choose a someone else's story or your own.
You might...
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• Record the stories on video
• Create an illustration of the encounter
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• Create comic or storyboards that tell the story
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• Illustrate the story with five or more selfies that convey your thoughts and feelings
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• Create a Snapchat story that illustrates what happened
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• Perform part of the story with spoken word, song, or performance art
MUSIC
PROJECTONE
Original Composition
Write your own song inspired by your own perspective on racial equality.
Your piece can be instrumental or vocal, a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment.
If you’d like, you may make a short video or slideshow to add to your composition.
For inspiration, refer to the list below, featuring a chronological list of just such songs.
Here are recent compositions to serve as inspiration.
Click here for songwriting guide.
“I’m a Young Black Man” (Keedron Bryant, 2020)
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“I Can’t Breathe” (Chloe Nixon, 2020)
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“Mama, Now I Can Breathe” (Edward W. Hardy, 2020)
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PROJECTTWO
Reinvent a Song
Choose an existing recorded song that deals with racial issues from the list below. Listen to at least three renditions of it. Create your own version of the song using your inherent musicality to communicate the feeling and meaning of the lyrics.
Here are some examples:
The Revolution Will Be Digitized by Halim Flowers - a reimagining of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil-Scott Heron
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We Shall Overcome - a violinist performs this famous civil rights anthem
Change is Gonna Come - Adam Lambert (now Queen’s lead singer) performs his own version
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PROJECTTHREE
Create a Vocal or Spoken Word Performance
a. Write a song, poem or rap and add background music.
You will find “music/poetry”tracks or “unfinished songs”
on YouTube as a resource.
I am Not Black, You are Not White (Prince Ea, 2015)
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Here are some examples of such background tracks:
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b. Choose to use a poem that already exists, recite it with a music soundtrack and create a slide show or video to go using a multi dimensional project.
This may serve as an inspiration:
READ
SUMMER READING
In an effort to delve deeper into our country’s history and to create unity within our community, I hope that you will join faculty and Mt Everett HS students in reading the timely and National Book Award-winning book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi or the teen version co-authored by Jason Reynolds this summer.
Here is a link to the full description