The

Official Teachers Companion Guide for Oliver Stones Untold History of the
United States

designed by

The Untold History Education Project
Eric S. Singer M.Ed., Ph.D.


Lesson Plan for Episode 2

This lesson plan is designed to address, in part or in full, the following California
History-Social Studies Content Standard(s):

11.6 Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the

New Deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government.


4.
Analyze the effects of and the controversies arising from New Deal


economic policies and the expanded role of the federal government in


society and the economy since the 1930s (e.g., Works Progress


Administration, Social Security, National Labor Relations Board, farm


programs, regional development policies, and energy development


projects such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, California Central


Valley Project, and Bonneville Dam).



11.7 Students analyze Americas participation in World War II.


5.
Discuss the constitutional issues and impact of events on the U.S. home


front, including the internment of Japanese Americans (e.g., Fred


Korematsu v. United States of America) and the restrictions on German


and Italian resident aliens; the response of the administration to Hitlers


atrocities against Jews and other groups; the roles of women in military


production; and the roles and growing political demands of African-


Americans.


11.10 Students analyze the development of federal civil rights and voting rights.

1.
Explain how demands of African-Americans helped produce a stimulus
for civil rights, including President Roosevelts ban on racial
discrimination in defense industries in 1941, and how African
Americans service in World War II produced a stimulus for President
Trumans decision to end segregation in the armed forces in 1948.


11.11 Students analyze the major social problems and domestic policy issues in

contemporary American society.


6.
Analyze the persistence of poverty and how different analyses of this


issue influence welfare reform, health insurance reform, and other


social policies.


7.
Explain how the federal, state, and local governments have responded to


demographic and social changes such as population shifts to the


suburbs, racial concentration in the cities, Frostbelt-to-Sunbelt



migration, international migration, decline of family farms, increases in


out-of-wedlock births, and drug abuse.


Class Time: 90 minutes, or 2 traditional class periods (This lesson is designed to
immediately follow the screening of episode 2 of Oliver Stones Untold History of the
United States. The episode is 58 minutes in length. Assuming 45 minute class
periods, teachers should, for example, plan to screen the episode on Monday,
complete it during the first twenty minutes of Tuesdays class, begin this lesson on
Tuesday after the screening and complete it on Thursday.)


Objectives:

Students will be able to trace the origins of the 1943 urban race riots by
analyzing Detroit as a case study.

Students will be able to contemplate and comprehend the international
implications of race riots at home during the war.

Students will be able to identify the major forces that resulted in increased
residential segregation and the pent-up demand for urban housing as large
numbers of African-Americans migrated to industrial cities during World War
II.


Materials:

Supplement 2-A: Life magazine photographs of the 1943 Detroit riots, Hatred on

the Home Front: The Detroit Race Riots, June 1943:


Accessed 9/20/2013 at:

http://life.time.com/history/detroit-race-riots-1943-photos-from-a-city-in-
turmoil-during-wwii/#1


Supplement 2-B: Residential Security Map of Detroit (redlining map), prepared by
the Division of Research and Statistics Federal Home Loan Bank Board and
the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), June 1, 1939:


Accessed 9/20/2013 at:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3961868/HOLC%20Maps/HOLC/Det
roitHOLC-MED.jpg

Supplement 2-C: Henry A. Wallaces America Tomorrow speech, delivered in

Detroit on July 25, 1943:


Accessed 9/20/2013 at:

http://newdeal.feri.org/wallace/haw20.htm


Supplement 2-D: University of Washingtons Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History
Project, Restrictive Covenants Database:


Accessed 9/20/2013 at:

http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/covenants_database.htm



Possible Interdisciplinary Connection:

This lesson plan is taught in History class while Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in
the Sun is taught in English class.

This lesson plan is taught in History class while Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man is
taught in English class.


Focusing Questions:

What factors led to the Detriot race riots of 1943?

World War II is often seen as a time of unity, cooperation and collective sacrifice in
the United States. How does the study of the Detroit race riots complicate that
narrative?

What arguments about race and class did Henry Wallace make in his America
Tomorrow speech on July 25, 1943 in the immediate wake of the Detroit riots?
What connection did he make with U.S. foreign policy during World War II?


The Action:

Teacher divides students into four groups on paper before class, so that assignments
are already made before the lesson begins. Assuming a class of 30, 12 students should
be assigned to group 1, 8 students to group 2, 5 students to group 3 and 5
students to group 4.

The day before the lesson begins, teacher places masking tape on the floor to delineate
four grossly unequal sectors. One sector is so small that barely four people can stand

in it, the next sector is slightly bigger, the third sector is roomy and the fourth is
luxuriously large. After the screening of episode 2, teacher asks members of group 1 to
stand in the smallest sector, members of group 2 to stand in the next smallest sector
and the 2 remaining groups to stand in the largest sectors.

Attention shifts to the plight of group 1, whose 12 members can barely fit into a
space only large enough for 4. After a few minutes of observing the plight of group 1,
teacher explains that the demographics of Detroit and other northern industrial cities
looked similar to the ones that were visible in the classroom. (15 minutes)

Teacher explains that as many African-Americans and poor whites migrated to these
cities for wartime industrial jobs, various economic, social and political forces confined
where they could live to only a few sectors of the city, while more affluent whites did
not have those restrictions.

Teacher spotlights two of the forces that reinforced residential racial and class
segregation:

-redlining

-racial covenants

Teacher explains that during the New Deal, the Home Owners Loan Corporation, a
subsidiary of the Federal Housing Authority, developed residential security maps to
determine what parts of the city represented high-risk areas for home loans and what
parts of the city represented lower risks. Teacher projects Supplement 2-B on the
screen so students can see the residential security map of Detroit. For more
background on redlining, please visit:

http://cml.upenn.edu/redlining/

http://www.bostonfairhousing.org/timeline/1934-1968-FHA-Redlining.html


Teacher explains that the red areas of the map were the parts of the city that
contained the highest concentration of African-Americans and poor whites. Teacher
explains that since financial constraints and restrictive covenants prevented most
African-Americans, Jews and some Catholics from living in non-redlined parts of the
city, it effectively meant that many African-Americans could not secure home loans at
all. Teacher shows pre-selected examples of restrictive covenants from Supplement 2-
D, the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Projects Restrictive Covenants
Database. (20 minutes)

Teacher explains that as more and more African-Americans moved into Detroit during
World War II, white landlords who owned the majority of properties within the
redlined areas subdivided the already tightly-constructed homes into apartments and
charged African-Americans high rents. As a result, Detroits roughly 200,000 residents
were crammed into a ghetto on Detroits East Side named Paradise Valley.


Teacher explains that in addition to the cramped housing conditions, the increasing
presence of the Ku Klux Klan ratcheted up racial tensions city as blacks continued to
migrate into the city. These tensions exploded on June 20, 1943 when a fight erupted
between African-Americans and whites on a bridge between Belle Isle, a popular
amusement area, and mainland Detroit. It quickly escalated. Ultimately, 25 blacks
were killed in the rioting, 17 by white policemen. 9 whites were also killed. Teacher
describes the riot in vivid detail. (20 minutes) For essential details on the riot, please
visit:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/eleanor-
riots/

Teacher explains that on July 25, 1943, Vice President Henry Wallace traveled to
Detroit and gave a speech titled America Tomorrow. Teacher hands out copies of the
speech to students and asks them to read it silently. (20 minutes)

After students finish reading, teacher draws attention to paragraphs 14-17 and asks
students to respond, specifically to paragraph 14:

We cannot fight to crush Nazi brutality abroad and condone race riots at home.
Those who fan the fires of racial clashes for the purpose of making political capital
here at home are taking the first step toward Nazism.

Discussion ensues. Teacher asks students what solutions Henry Wallace is posing to
Americas social ills and makes a list on the whiteboard.