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Lesson 4

We will study data displays for American cities that indicate continuing patterns of racial segregation in US communities. We will develop claims about the patterns we see and consider those claims in relation to a recent op-ed essay by former Vice President Walter Mondale, one of the original framers of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and an advocate for its provision that communities take active measures to reduce segregation. We will use what we have learned to inform a class debate.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I interpret data maps indicating patterns of segregated housing in American cities?

  • Can I delineate the argument in an op-ed written by one of the Fair Housing Act’s authors about the history of the implementation of the act?

  • Can I use what I have learned about the Fair Housing Act to participate in a civil debate about the pros and cons of federal intervention as a method of supporting greater integration of communities?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “Mapping Segregation,” Matthew Bloch, Amanda Cox, and Tom Giratikanon, The New York Times Company, 2015
  • Unit Reader
    • “The Civil Rights Law We Ignored,” Walter Mondale, The New York Times Company, 2018

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss – Write

We will share and compare observations about the data represented in the New York Times “Mapping Segregation” census-based displays for various us cities.

Step 1

Form a group with students who examined the same city as you did for the previous lesson’s homework. Re-examine the "Mapping Segregation" webpage for the city you selected.

Share and compare your data-based observations about segregated living patterns in your selected city, as well as the analytical claims you formed in response to the following questions:

  1. To what extent has the city you examined been able to respond to the Fair Housing Act’s expectation that communities will move toward desegregation?

  2. What might be the challenges in doing so for this city?

Develop a short, claim-based summary for your selected city and share it with the class.

Step 2

Compare the patterns you have observed and the claims other students have formed for various US cities.

Thinking about the US as a whole, discuss the following variations on the above questions as a class:

  1. To what extent have US cities in general been able to respond to the Fair Housing Act’s expectation that communities will move toward desegregation?

  2. What might be the challenges in doing so for the United States as a whole?

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read, analyze, and delineate the argument in a recent op-ed essay by Walter Mondale about the failure to fully implement the 1968 fair housing act.

Step 1

Join a reading team to read, analyze, and delineate the argument in Vice President Mondale’s 2018 op-ed essay "The Civil Rights Law We Ignored."

Use a copy of the Delineating Arguments Tool to write down your thinking, considering the following questions:

  1. What are the specific aspects of the issue that this essay addresses?

  2. Given his background and the ideas he presents, what seems to be Vice President Mondale’s perspective in this essay?

  3. Though this op-ed essay is not an overt or blatant argument, it does establish a position about implementation of the Fair Housing Act. What does that position seem to be, and where is it most clearly expressed?

  4. What information and claims about the past and recent history of the Fair Housing Act are presented by Mondale in support of his claim that it has been ignored?

  5. Which of the patterns in the Reasoning and Organization section of the Delineating Arguments Tool seems closest to the structure of Mondale’s op-ed piece?

As a team, develop a claim about the essay based on your delineation of its argument.

Step 2

  1. Thinking about the major claims Walter Mondale makes, the expertise he provides as a co-author of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, and the fact that this op-ed was published in the New York Times newspaper, who might his intended audience be? Is the information targeted more specifically to particular audiences?

With your partner, discuss the possible intended audience(s), justifying your inference, and identifying particular pieces of information or claims that may appeal to the various audience(s).

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will use our analysis of Walter Mondale’s op-ed essay and our delineation of its argument to practice the process of evaluating an argument, using the Evaluating Arguments Tool.

Step 1

Follow along while your teacher reviews the Evaluating Arguments Tool and explains how the Elements and Guiding Evaluating Questions sections are to be used to evaluate an argument.

Based on your delineation of Mondale’s argument about the Fair Housing Act, write down text-based observations and your own strength-rating for the issue, perspective, position, claims, and evidence in the argument—all of which you have previously examined.

As a class, discuss Mondale’s credibility as an expert on the act as well as his potential bias.

Write down your own strength-rating for these two elements. Discuss the reasoning and logic of Mondale’s argument and his conclusions. Individually, rate the strength of these final two elements. Make a judgment about whether you feel Mondale has presented a convincing argument.

With a partner, compare your evaluations of the argument and your final judgments about whether and why it is convincing to you.

Step 2

Now that your evaluation of the argument is complete, consider one more aspect of Mondale’s argument: the accuracy of his information. Based on Mondale’s experience, how does the reader know that the information provided in the argument is accurate? What connections can you make between Mondale’s professional career and the accuracy of the information he includes?

Activity 4: Discuss

We will use our evaluations of Walter Mondale’s op-ed essay and our delineations of his argument to inform a full-class discussion of the history and current implementation of the fair housing act of 1968.

As a class, discuss the analytical claims developed by reading teams regarding Mondale’s argument in "The Civil Rights Law We Ignored."

Individually, take a position in response to the following broad questions:

  1. Should US communities be required by the government to take active steps to combat segregated housing and promote social integration?

  2. In what ways can this expectation be seen as either an "attempt to remedy a great historical evil" (Mondale) or "an aggressive intrusion by the federal government" into community decision-making and "mandated social engineering" (Carson)?

Participate in a civil debate and discussion on the pros and cons of applying federal intervention to support greater integration of communities, citing information you have gained from your reading in this unit.

Activity 5: Write

For homework, we will each take a position about the implementation of fair housing and the desegregation of communities in the us. we will explain our positions and perspectives in our Learning Logs.

For homework, determine your own perspective and position regarding fair housing and desegregation based on your readings, class discussions, and our debate about fair housing and federal intervention.

In your Learning Log, write a paragraph that presents and explains your perspective and position. Include references to texts or websites we have examined.