“Too Many Names” focuses on the names of people whose names we know all too well, and those we do not. They died from police brutality, gang violence or racially motivated attacks, and they have been forgotten through erasure. We recognize that this list contains "too many names". But Brooklynites continue to organize so that one day, this list will cease to grow and becomes obsolete. "Whose streets? Our streets" When Brooklynites resist, democracy and freedom exist.
Note: Lesson 2 has graphic descriptions of the brutal killings during the Draft Riots and 1960s.
Lesson 1: The Erasure of Names from African Burial Grounds
Essential Questions: Why are African Burial Grounds important?
Focus: Through two case studies, this section explores the lives of those who died in bondage and later, through police brutality. The first case study is of Catherine, enslaved in the 1700s.
Activity: African Burial Grounds
Step 1: Watch the African Burial Ground Video with the Video Worksheet.
Step 2: Go over students answers and ask the class the following questions:
- Why were the graves of Black people forgotten?
- What is AAGPRA, and why is it important?
- What do we know about the lives of those buried here?
- What don't we know?
- What happened to African burial grounds?
Step 3: Have students read the New Lots Cemetery Article with the Articles and Ads Worksheet.
Step 4: Now have them look at the New Lots Headstone (Catherine) with the Image Worksheet. Ask students why it is uncommon to see the marked grave of enslaved people.
Step 5: Lead a discussion about both sources and the video. Ask:
- What information did you learn from these sources?
- What do you think they have in common?
- Why are these names lost in historical narratives?
Step 6: Using the information from all these sources, have students write a blog, article, tableau, performance, etc., discussing the effect of erasing African burial grounds.
Lesson 2: Lives Lost
Note: This section deals with the extremely sensitive content. Please be advised.
This lesson is broken into multiple parts and may need more than one class to complete. strong>
Essential Question: Who were the Black Brooklynites killed during the Draft Riots?strong>
Online version: If teaching online, we suggest using Jamboard or Padlet to answer the questions.
Focus: During the Draft Riots, many Black New Yorkers lost their lives to mob violence. Who were they and how do we discover their stories? This lesson will introduce a few stories from the Draft Riots, as well as, 1960s Brooklyn, and the summer of 2020, and discuss how these people were killed, and why their names were lost to history until recently.
Activity: Too Many Names
Part A
Step 1: Review the video The Lyons and the Draft Riots using the Video Worksheet.
Step 2: Discuss The Draft Riots and the story of Abraham Franklin in the video.
Step 3: Give students Abraham Franklin's Obituary with the Articles and Ads Worksheet. Discuss their answers and ask:
- Who murdered Abraham Franklin?
- Who assisted Abraham Franklin?
- How do you think his mother felt?
- How do you feel reading about him?
Step 4: Now, either:
Step 4a: Give students Augustus Stuart and Joseph Reed’s obituaries with the Venn Diagram. Note: Joseph Reed was a child who was murdered during the Draft Riots.
or
Step 4b: Give students Augustus Stuart and Abraham Franklin’s obituaries with the Venn Diagram.
Step 5: Have students discuss their stories. Ask, what led to their untimely and tragic deaths?
Part B
Step 6: Watch the Arthur Miller video using the Video Worksheet. Then, discuss Arthur's story.
Step 7: Now, listen to Arthur Miller's wifes oral history clip, Florence Miller’s Oral History Clip #1, with the Oral History Worksheet.
- What is an oral history?
- What did you learn from listening to the oral history?
- How did listening to the oral history make you feel?
- What is the difference between written history and oral history?
- Did you change your answers to any of your questions? Why or why not?
Step 8: Listen to Florence Miller’s Oral History Clip #2 with the Oral History Worksheet.
Teacher Note: Give the class the opportunity to listen to the oral history at least twice with the transcript.
Step 9: Reconvene as a class and work through the following questions:
- What are these oral histories about?
- Who was being interviewed?
- What was the event that they are talking about?
- When do you think this took place? (Have them cite a specific detail by prompting, “What makes you say that?)
- Where did this event take place?
Step 10: Have students revisit their original answers and add additional details.
Part C
Step 11: Review information about Breonna Taylor on this link.
Step 12: Have students research Breonna Taylor and the protests that took place during the summer of 2020 in Brooklyn, NY.
Step 13: Using the Venn Diagram, students should compare what happened during the summer of 2020 protests, with the Draft Riots. Ask:
- How are both of these incidents similar and/or different?
- What do you think about both incidents?
- Did anything change as a result of each? How?
- How did we move forward after both incidents?
Step 14: Using the stories from this section, have students design ways to commemorate these names. (Examples: Mural, play, tableau, blog posts, stories, etc.)
