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Inquiry 6: How should modern societies responsibly confront their painful legacies of colonialism?
C3 Framework Indicator D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives. D2.His.7.9-12. Explain how the perspectives of people in the present shape interpretations of the past. Staging the Compelling Question Students will examine the long-term impact of German colonialism. They will also learn about the efforts that Germany is currently making to properly address and learn from this era of their history.
Supporting Question 1 Supporting Question 2 Supporting Question 3
What was the long-term impact of German colonialism? How is the legacy of colonialism being confronted in Germany today? How should the legacy of colonialism be memorialized?
Formative Performance Task Formative Performance Task Formative Performance Task
Students watch a video about the history of German colonialism and discuss the long-term impacts. Students analyze a primary source and news article about a street in Berlin that was renamed from a problematic word to the name of an African scholar. Students read an article and categorize efforts in Germany to create remembrance culture for colonial history.
Featured Sources
Source A: Video Response Questions (Handout 1) Source B: Post-Video Research Guide (Handout 2) Source C: The German Colonial Empire: How Does Germany Deal with Its Colonial History? Meet the Germans (7:09 minutes) Source D: National Endowment for the Humanities Source A: Twitter Primary Source Analysis (Handout 3) Source B: Statements (Handout 4) Source C: “Street Name Change Major Step in Struggle to Decolonize Berlin.” Source D: @Ghanaspotlight Twitter Source A: Examples of Remembrance Culture in Germany (Handout 5) Source B: “How Dekoloniale Is Interrogating Berlin’s Colonial Past.” Source C: Project Zero
Summative Performance Task Argument: Students will construct a written argument that answers the question, “How should modern societies responsibly confront their painful legacies of colonialism?” Instruct students to use specific claims and relevant examples from Germany as the basis of their argument. Students should address challenges and conflicting viewpoints in their response. Extension: Using the “Circles of Action” strategy from Harvard’s Project Zero, students will construct a written argument or presentation in response to the compelling question.
Featured Sources Featured Sources
Taking Informed Action
Understand: Which people or events in U.S. history are currently being debated in regards to how we should memorialize them? Assess: Examine the arguments both for and against memorializing a specific individual or event in U.S. history. Act: Write a letter to an elected official (a member of city council, a state representative, or a U.S. representative or senator) to advocate for an official commemoration of a person or event in U.S. history that you feel deserves to be acknowledged through remembrance culture.
COMPELLING QUESTION
How should modern societies responsibly confront their painful legacies of colonialism?
Target Grade Level: Grades 9–12 Target Courses: World History, AP World History
INQUIRY OVERVIEW
Students will examine the long-term impact of German colonialism. They will also learn about the efforts that Germany is currently making to properly address and learn from this era of their history. On a larger scale, students will reflect on these German practices and create an argument for how societies should respectfully remember, teach about, and commemorate painful eras of their own histories.
TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In the late 1800s, several European countries, including Germany, sought to grow their empires through the subjugation of colonies around the world. These colonies would help fuel the continued industrial progress of European nations, providing both raw materials needed for industrial production and markets in which to sell manufactured goods.
In the face of fierce competition over resource-rich land in the African continent, Germany hosted the Berlin Conference in 1884. Here, European leaders met to set rules for the colonization of Africa. No representatives from Africa were invited to attend the conference. Shortly after the conference, almost all of the African continent came under direct control of European powers. Germany controlled several colonies, including Togo, Cameroon, German South-West Africa (present-day Namibia), and German East Africa (present-day Tanzania).
During this time of colonial rule, German forces used brutal and often deadly tactics to subjugate people in the colonies. For example, the Schutztruppe (Germany military forces) led a genocide against indigenous peoples in present-day Namibia, killing as many as 80 percent of the Herero people. Many historians point to the race-based brutalities recorded during the time of colonialism as the prelude to the methods used by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Currently, many in former colonies such as Namibia are calling for economic reparations from Germany, pointing out the severe economic distress and generational trauma inflicted by colonial rule. Much like in the generations following World War II and the Holocaust, Germany is faced with the challenge of confronting the atrocities of its collective past. This conversation has grown even more in the context of Black Lives Matter and the global movement for racial justice and equality. In this inquiry, students will learn about several ways that Germany is addressing the painful legacy of its colonial past. They will examine Germany as a case study in “remembrance culture,” which is how a society intentionally interacts with the memory of its past events.
SUGGESTED TIME FRAME
Three 50-minute class periods (150 minutes total)
CONCEPT LIST
• Berlin Conference • Colonialism • Herero genocide • Namibia • Holocaust • Black Lives Matter • Remembrance culture
INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES
• Video Response Questions (Handout 1) • Post-Video Research Guide (Handout 2) • Twitter Primary Source Analysis (Handout 3) • Statements (Handout 4) • Examples of Remembrance Culture in Germany (Handout 5) • (Scan QR Code for Handouts) • Braun, Stuart. (August 28, 2020). “Street Name Change Major Step in Struggle to Decolonize Berlin.” Deutsche Welle. https:// www.dw.com/en/street-name-change-major-step-in-struggle-to-decolonize-berlin/a-54712751. • DW Euromaxx. (August 03, 2022). The German Colonial Empire: How Does Germany Deal with Its Colonial History? Meet the
Germans. YouTube, https://youtu.be/4YBVI9dwF3I. (7:09 minutes) • Fischer, Hilke. (February 25, 2015). “130 Years Ago: Carving up Africa in Berlin.” Deutsche Welle. https://www.dw.com/en/130years-ago-carving-up-africa-in-berlin/a-18278894. • @Ghanaspotlight. (August 25, 2020). “Berlin authorities have announced they are to rename Mohrenstraße (“Moor Street”) in the city’s Mitte district after the country’s first black philosopher, Anton Wilhelm Amo. Amo was brought to Berlin as a child slave from what is now Ghana in 1707.” Twitter, https://twitter.com/Ghanaspotlight/status/1298308022620610560. • Haynes, Suyin. (October 25, 2021). “How Dekoloniale Is Interrogating Berlin’s Colonial Past.” Time, https://time.com/6075827/ berlin-colonial-history-dekoloniale/. • National Endowment for the Humanities. “The Tacoma Times. [Volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, March 02, 1904,
Page 2, Image 2.” News about Chronicling America RSS, Tacoma Times Pub. Co., https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/ sn88085187/1904-03-02/ed-1/seq-2/. • Project Zero. (n.d.). A Thinking Routine from Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/ sites/default/files/Think%20Pair%20Share_1.pdf. • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://www.ushmm.org/ collections/bibliography/herero-and-nama-genocide.
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY/HOOK/DISCUSSION
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” —Maya Angelou
Ask students to reflect on this quote by Maya Angelou. What does it mean to you to face history with courage? What does that look like?
SUPPORTING QUESTION 1
➤ Formative Performance Task 1 Show the video “The German Colonial Empire: How Does Germany Deal With Its Colonial History?” Have students complete the Video Response Questions (Handout 1) as they watch.
Discuss the following questions as a whole class:
• What connections did you see between German colonialism and the Nazi ideology that led to the Holocaust? • How much did you know about the Herero genocide before this video? • Why do you think some genocides are more widely discussed than others? • What do you think should happen to artifacts that were obtained by force or coercion, like the ones they talked about in the video? • How is colonialism still affecting countries like Namibia today? Why do you think we are still seeing the effects of colonialism today?
For further extension, have students complete the Post-Video Research on Handout 2.
➤ Featured Sources 1 • Video Response Questions (Handout 1) • Post-Video Research Guide (Handout 2) • DW Euromaxx. (August 03, 2022). The German Colonial Empire: How Does Germany Deal with Its
Colonial History? Meet the Germans. YouTube. https://youtu.be/4YBVI9dwF3I. (7:09 minutes) • National Endowment for the Humanities. “The Tacoma Times. [Volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, March 02, 1904, Page 2, Image 2.” News about Chronicling America RSS, Tacoma Times Pub. Co., https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085187/1904-03-02/ed-1/seq-2/.
SUPPORTING QUESTION 2
➤ Formative Performance Task 2 Show students this tweet about the renaming of a street in Berlin in 2020, and use Handout 3 to analyze the tweet as a primary source. Walk the class through a discussion analyzing the tweet as a primary source. Students can also work through the primary source analysis independently or in small groups using the handout.
• What is the main idea of this document? • Who is the author/creator of this document? What can we infer about them based on what information is given here? • When was this document created? What other historical context do we know about this time period? • What do you think was the purpose of the author in creating this document? • Who do you think was the intended audience of this document? • What questions do you have after seeing this document?
After discussing the tweet, have students read the article, “Street Name Change Major Step in Struggle to Decolonize Berlin.” After students read the article, ask them to choose the statement posted around the room that they agree with the MOST. Remind students that this is purely an opinion-based response and that all students are entitled to their own ideas.
Have the statements below posted before class, or post while students are reading the article. (You can also find the statements on Handout 4).
1. Streets named after problematic historical figures or terms should be considered for renaming as historical views and societal values evolve.
2. Renaming streets is a nice gesture, but it does not actually change anything. Energy and resources should be devoted to bettering people’s lives in more tangible ways.
3. Renaming streets is a slippery slope, and there will never be full agreement on which historical figures or events should be honored.
4. Erasing history can do more harm than good. We should use symbols from our painful past and learn from them.
Ask students to share to the class about why they chose the statement they did.
➤ Featured Sources 2 • Twitter Primary Source Analysis (Handout 3) • Statements (Handout 4) • Braun, Stuart. (August 28, 2020). “Street Name Change Major Step in Struggle to Decolonize Berlin.”
Deutsche Welle. https://www.dw.com/en/ street-name-change-major-step-in-struggle-to-decolonize-berlin/a-54712751. • @Ghanaspotlight. (August 25, 2020). “Berlin authorities have announced they are to rename Mohrenstraße (“Moor Street”) in the city’s Mitte district after the country’s first black philosopher, Anton Wilhelm Amo. Amo was brought to Berlin as a child slave from what is now Ghana in 1707.” Twitter, https://twitter.com/
Ghanaspotlight/status/1298308022620610560.
SUPPORTING QUESTION 3
➤ Formative Performance Task 3 Before reading the article, ask the class what they think the term “remembrance culture” means. Have them brainstorm examples of ways that we commemorate important people and events from our past in the United States. (Possible responses include holidays such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, monuments such as the Vietnam War memorial in Washington, DC, and museums like ones they may have visited before.)
Distribute the Time article and the notes chart on Handout 5 (Examples of Remembrance Culture in Germany). As students read, they will look for examples of German efforts of remembrance culture in regard to their colonial history. They will sort these into three categories: Monuments and Physical Memorials, Museums and Educational Programs, and Political Statements and Acknowledgments.
After students have completed the chart, use the think-pair-share strategy to lead students in discussing the following questions.
• Of the three categories you focused on in your reading, which do you think is most important in building remembrance culture? Physical monuments, museums and education, or political statements? Why? • What are some ways to build remembrance culture that you did NOT see in the article? • How successful do you think these efforts have been in Germany so far? • What challenges are there in developing a respectful remembrance culture about colonialism? • Do you think it’s more challenging to develop remembrance culture about colonialism compared to other events like the
Holocaust? Why or why not? • Can you think of examples of topics in United States history that present similar challenges? • What lessons can other countries learn from Germany about remembrance culture?
➤ Featured Sources 3 • Examples of remembrance culture in Germany (Handout 5) • Haynes, Suyin. (October 25, 2021). “How Dekoloniale Is Interrogating Berlin’s Colonial Past.” Time, https://time.com/6075827/berlin-colonial-history-dekoloniale/. • Project Zero. (n.d.). A Thinking Routine from Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Think%20Pair%20Share_1.pdf.
SUMMATIVE PERFORMANCE TASK—ARGUMENT OPTION (ESSAY OR PRESENTATION):
Students will construct a written argument that answers the question, “How should modern societies responsibly confront their painful legacies of colonialism?” Instruct students to use specific claims and relevant examples from Germany as the basis of your argument. Students should address challenges and conflicting viewpoints in their response.
Extension Option (Choice of Creative Format instead of Argument)
Using the “Circles of Action” strategy from Harvard’s Project Zero, students will construct a written argument or presentation in response to the compelling question for this inquiry: “How should modern societies responsibly confront their painful legacies of colonialism?”
What can I do to contribute to building a responsible remembrance culture of the legacies of colonialism...
1. In my inner circle (of friends, family, the people I know)?
2. In my community (my school, my neighborhood)?
3. In the world (beyond my immediate environment)
Students should use specific examples from the readings and video about German remembrance culture. They should also address challenges and conflicting viewpoints as they relate to the topic.
Taking Informed Action
Understand: Identify a current issue related to remembrance culture in the United States. Which people or events in U.S. history are currently being debated in regard to how we should memorialize them?
Assess: Examine the arguments both for and against memorializing a specific individual or event in U.S. history.
Act: Write a letter to an elected official (a member of city council, a state representative, or a U.S. representative or senator) to advocate for an official commemoration of a person or event in U.S. history that you feel deserves to be acknowledged through remembrance culture. Include the reasons why you think this person should be commemorated and the specific ways in which they should be memorialized (e.g., a national holiday, a postage stamp with their image, a physical monument, etc.).
MODIFICATIONS FOR DIFFERENTIATION
Readings and discussions can be done in mixed ability groups or be based on reading ability.
Use closed captions on YouTube videos or print the available transcript for students who may have language barriers or may have auditory processing problems.
To assist special education students or English language learners, provide sentence stems for answering prompts.
Marci Ward (TOP 2, 2022) teaches AP US History and Advanced World History at iUniversity Prep in Grapevine, Texas.