6+Key+Elements

1. **Biographical information** – Students identify at **least five important facts** about their biography subject’s life which illustrate how the course of their life led them to stand up to power. **This must include a clear description of the injustice against which their biography subjects fought, including WHEN and WHERE.**

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, best known as W.E.B Du Bois, had a successful but difficult life. He went through a tough time period to become a founder of an orginazition the exists today. Du Bois was boprn in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Du Bois was a lot more than others expected. He wa a poet. He was a news reporter. He was also a freedom rights protest leader who stood up against more than just injustices and racial slurs. He stood up to society in which was created hate toward the african americans.

2. **Opponents** – A.) Students identify the opponents of their biography subject. B.) Students explain why they opposed the actions and goals of their biography subjects.

One of W.E.B Du Bois' opponents was a african american named Booker T. Washington. Booker was one who also did not like discrimination and racial slurs made by the white man. Du Bois did not like the fact that Washington was a man who let things happen. Who just kept to himself even if whites would say racial things to him. He told his people just to work hard and to work there way up in society and take the offensive blows. Du Bois, a protest leader, knew that turning the other cheek would'nt stop the hits from coming. He said that only turning the cheek would help the whites purpose in discriminating the blacks.

During DuBois' life whites in America continued to discriminate against and exploit black Americans. In the South this took the form of unfair sharecropping practices and Jim Crow laws, which systematically segregated blacks and white in many settings. In the North discrimination took the form of segregated neighborhoods and limited economic opportunities. Many white Americans opposed change, because they wished to keep the advantages that the system provided them.

3. **Legacy -** A.) Students report the action or actions of their biography subject for which they will be remembered most. B) Students clearly explain the significance of this action or actions.

W.E.B Du Bois was remembered the most by what he helped found. He was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP), that was founded in 1909, and served as director of special research there from 1944 to 1948. Thats what people will remember him the most for. Because he helped found a group that later helped schools integrate blacks and whites. An orginization that still exists today.

4. **Connection to the present –** A.) Students identify a conflict from current events related to the life and work of their biography subjects. B.) Students clearly describe the goals of the people from both sides of this conflict.

Even today the NAACP still fight for colored peoples rights. Wether if its here in the Illinois or in New York City. One of the fights that the NAACP is up against is in Pennsylvania and its been going on for almost a month. They are proposing that instead of making budget cuts that in the process terminate programs that let students and people advance their skills academically. There is a march that is currently by the capitol. So as you can see, the NAACP is always fighting something that has to do with colored people and resources that they need to advance in life.

5. **Inspirational Words** – Students identify a quote from a speech or written material of their biography subjects. A.) Students include the quote in their voicethread slideshows (both in print and read out loud). B.) Students explain why they find that particular quote powerful in today’s world.

"One ever feels his twoness—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self."

The words mean to me exactly what they say. We think of ourselves, most of us, as two different people. We ask ourselves if we are one person or the other even if it seems as if we are both. Not only that, but its because of how others look at people and determine how their lifestyle is or where they live. Things like these make people wonder if they are like the rest or if they are a different person in the sense of what they look at. And this speaks to those who have been critized for what they look like or how they like to dress.

\6. **Artwork/Photography –** A.) Students include an image (e.g. photograph, work of visual art, etc.) that is symbolic of the life and work of their biography subject. B.) Students provide analysis of the image (e.g. artist information, medium, year created, artist commentary). If the image is the work of an IAMS art student, commentary about the artwork by the student artist is included.