Reflective Essay About African American History

Part A Originally, literacy was simply defined as a way to describe the skills of reading and writing that are shaped through various mediums such as language and text. Now, I view literacy as a means of communication consisting of speech, reading, writing, and non-verbal delivery methods including media. Through this semester I have come to the understanding that literacy can be applied to many ideas, such as music, culture and graphic novels. In our final presentations, my content group combined music education and multicultural education. The exercise was designed so that students were exposed to multiple forms of literacy, including visual, audio, and text, and to use interpretive skills to gain a deeper understanding behind songs. Multiple literacies were combined at different times so that students could understand how literacies work together to provide more information or direct a specific view. In example, “Nothin’ on You” could have been a song
I would provide an example of 4 pages showing the separation of Black and White people dressed in ‘60s and ‘70s style clothing to help show the time period. All of the characters in the story would have Afros, fitted t-shirts or collared button up shirts, bell bottoms, and hoop earrings for women. Then I’d add a page with a large Black fist symbolizing the “Power to the People” theme. Next I would have a page that showed Black people gathering in a rally-like setting with their fists in the air, some with black panthers on the back of jackets to represent the Black Panthers. Afterward I would draw an image of Black professionals discussing at a conference table with a small detail of the word NAACP. The following image would show young Black people in a similar meeting setting with a SNCC