Lesson Plan 4

Title: Champion for People Living in Poverty

Grade: 11

Time Requirement: 80 minutes

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Compare the issue of poverty in eastern Kentucky in 1968 to those living in poverty in 2008.
• Contrast how the federal government assisted the rural poor in 1968 - and today.
• Understand how one person can make a change in a community.

New York State Learning Standards

• Social Studies Standard 1: History of the United States and New York KI 2, PI 2-3; KI 3, PI 1-2, 4
• Social Studies Standard 4: Economics KI 1, PI 3, 6-7
• Social Studies Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship and Government KI 2, PI 2, KI 3, PI 1-4; KI 4, PI 2, 6
• English Language Arts Standard 1 Grade 11 - information and understanding Reading PI 1-5, Writing PI 1-4, Listening PI 1, 3, Speaking PI 3, 5
• English Language Arts Standard 3 Grade 11 - critical analysis and evaluation Reading PI 1-3. Writing PI 2, Listening PI 2-3, Speaking PI 1-3
• English Language Arts Standard 4 Grade 11 - social interaction Reading PI 4, Writing PI 1-2, Listening PI 1-3, 5 Speaking PI 1-4

SOCIAL STUDIES CORE CURRICULUM

• United States History and Government
• Unit 7: World in Uncertain Times: 1950 - Present
• III. Decade of Change: 1960s; IV The Limits of Power: Turmoil At Home and Abroad, 1965-1972; V The Trend Toward Conservatism, 1972-1985; VI Approaching the Next Century, 1986-1999

SKILLS

• Thinking skills - Comparing and contrasting ideas, identifying cause and effect, drawing inferences and making conclusions, evaluating, handling diversity of interpretations
• Research and writing skills - Getting information, analyzing information, synthesizing information
• Interpersonal and group relations skills - Defining terms, identifying basic assumptions, recognizing and avoiding stereotypes, participating in group planning and discussion, assuming responsibility for carrying out tasks
• Sequencing and chronology skills - Understanding the concepts of time, continuity and change
• Graph and image analysis skills - Interpreting graphs and other images, drawing conclusions, making predictions

CONCEPTS

• Change
• Civic values
• Decision-making
• Diversity
• Justice
• Needs and wants
• Scarcity

Technology Requirement

No special technology is required for this lesson.

Background:

The purpose of this lesson is twofold: to examine poverty in the United States in two time frames, 1968 and 2008, and to examine actions taken by Robert F. Kennedy, who brought the issue to the forefront of American politics in 1968. In 1968, the United States was addressing the question of poverty through President Johnson's War on Poverty program. This was the largest expenditure of monies by any administration up to that time. Many of the programs have been discontinued; some have survived today. Robert F. Kennedy was a champion for the poor during his tenure as attorney general and later as the junior senator from New York. The poor were the displaced and powerless groups of the 1960s - blacks, American Indians, migrant workers, people from Appalachia and especially the children of America. Cesar Chavez remarked that, "Kennedy could see things through the eyes of the poor." In his three-and-a-half years as a senator, he would seek out America's disadvantaged, moving from ghetto to barrio, from shantytown to work camp.

Relevance to Current Issues:

Poverty is still a major social and economic problem in the United States. One out of four children lives in poverty. Poverty statistics are based on family income, which varies depending on family size and composition. Family income is defined as the wages, salaries, rent from property, interest, dividends, profits and fees from businesses, pensions and help from relatives. There is an inequality in the United States between those at the poverty level and those at the upper-income levels.

Student Activities

Anticipatory Set:

The teacher asks students to listen to an NPR clip of Dee Davis recalling Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 visit to Hazard, Ky. at www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12017456.

Students could also view stills taken of the visit at http://hazardkentucky.com/more/kennedy.htm.

After listening to Dee Davis and viewing the stills, the teacher initiates a class discussion focusing on the following questions:

• What realization did Dee Davis have when he looked into the home of his friends?
• What factors influenced changes in Hazard after Robert F. Kennedy's visit?
• Can you identify any similar activities in our community or state?

Activity 1 - Family Income

The teacher provides students a chart (See student handout below.) that depicts family income in 1968, 1978, 1988, 1998 and 2008.

• DOWNLOAD: Student Worksheet Family Income (PDF)

The chart shows the distribution of income for the United States for each of these years. The teacher divides the class into small groups and asks the students to respond in writing to the following questions. Students should remain in small groups as they complete the three quotes that follow.

• What was the difference in the income received by the bottom 20 percent and the top 20 percent?
• Did the difference between the bottom and top percentiles for each year change at the same rate during the past 40 years?
• Explain why you think these changes occurred.
• What are the implications of the uneven distributions of wealth in the United States?

Activity 2 - The Great Society

Quote 1 - The teacher asks students to read the following quote from a description of The Great Society.

"Perhaps driven by his own humble beginnings, (President) Johnson declared a "War on Poverty" as central to building the Great Society. In 1960, despite the prosperity of the times, almost one-quarter of all American families were living below the poverty line, and entire regions of the country, like central Appalachia, were bypassed by the economic growth of the postwar years. Moreover, technological advances in industry were also changing job requirements for American workers. The good-paying, unskilled jobs of the past were disappearing, and those without education and skills were being left behind."

Have students read the entire explanation: www.pbs.org/johngardner/chapters/4c.html

After reading this quote, students should respond in writing to the following question:

• What was President Johnson's primary purpose for engaging in "The War on Poverty"?

Quote 2:

"He saw the predicament that black people, that poor people were faced with. And he made a commitment to do something about it, not just as the attorney general. Not just as Senator Kennedy for the presidency. But as a human being. He went to the Mississippi Delta, where blacks were literally going hungry; to eastern Kentucky, where white people had been without jobs for years; and to the migrant labor camps of California. He was always about empowering people at the bottom and building from the bottom up; that was the key to it," said Peter Edelman. "It was about hope. It was about people having a ticket to belonging in American society." – From CBS News Web site

Have students read the article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/01/sunday/main4142910.shtml

After reading this quote, students should respond in writing to the following question:

• Given the information in the reading and your knowledge of social studies and governmental action, do you agree that change should come from the bottom up?

CHART: The Aggregate Income Received by the Bottom and Top 5 Percent of Families: 1968-2008

Quote 3:

Read the article from the New York Times – "In Kentucky's Teeth a Toll of Poverty and Neglect" at www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/us/24kentucky.html .

After reading this quote, the student should respond in writing to the following question:

• Based on the article and your knowledge of social studies, create a list of reasons why poverty is still a problem in eastern Kentucky.

The teacher facilitates a large group discussion focusing on the small group responses to the questions. Based on the time available, the teacher could assign a separate activity to each small group.

Culminating Activity

The teacher should assign the following activity to be completed as homework within a five-day time frame.

Create a chart comparing the following economic program initiatives designed to fight poverty:

War on Poverty, Robert F. Kennedy's actions in the Senate and current programs to fight poverty.

Extending the lesson

Research the positions of the current president or candidates for president on the issue of poverty and other economic problems facing the United States today, such as gasoline prices, rising food prices and unemployment. Create a chart comparing John McCain's and Barack Obama's solutions to current economic problems with Robert F. Kennedy's positions and actions.

Robert Kennedy believed that everyone had the power to make a difference in the world. Photo by Bill Eppridge//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.