Primary Source Exemplar: Human Rights, Conflict and Social Change

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to evaluate the argument and structure of Nelson Mandela’s speech entitled “Speech to the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid.”

Students will be able to determine how Mandela used the UDHR as support for his views.

Students will be able to analyze literary and rhetorical strategies used by Mandela and the impact of these strategies on the tone and meaning of the text

Standards Addressed

(CCSS Math Content Standards, CCSS Math Practice Standards, CCSS ELA Reading or Writing Anchor Standards, CCSS ELA Standards (other), Next Generation Science Standard, History / Social Science Standards)

(RI.9-10.2) Students will be able to determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it is shaped and refined by specific details.

(RI.9-10.4) Students will be able to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings, analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.

(RI.9-10.6) Students will be able to determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

(RI.9-10.8) Students will be able to delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient.

(SL.9-10.3) Students will be able to evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

(W.9-10.1) Students will be able to write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Instructional Approach

Introduce the lesson

The teacher will review the UDHR and provide historical context for students by showing “The Story of Human Rights,” a YouTube video presented by Human Rights Video Education. The end of the video, which shows Human Rights conflicts and violations in recent history, will lead into the final lesson of the unit.

After watching the video, the teacher should ask students to create a list of human rights violations they know of either in the past or currently. Additionally, they should list people they know who fought against these human rights violations. The teacher might also ask how these people fought against human rights violations and guide students to an understanding of the significance of argument and speech in fighting human rights violations. Using their ideas and filling in as necessary, the teacher should tell students that they are going to look at an apartheid speech given by Nelson Mandela. Students should read the text first for an understanding of its overall argument. Then the teacher should guide the class in a discussion of the connection between the speech and the UDHR. In other words, how did Mandela use the UDHR to support his overall argument?

If desired, the teacher can next use this text to review structure of argument and argument analysis/evaluation, and students can be asked to analyze Mandela’s speech just as they analyzed Roosevelt’s speech. Additionally, the teacher can ask students to write and submit an overall evaluation of Mandela’s speech.

Model and demonstrate desired learning

The teacher should ask students what makes a speech different than other forms of texts, such as declarations. Students should be encouraged to compare/contrast the structure of a speech as compared to the structure of the UDHR.

The teacher should introduce the idea of literary non-fiction and ask students what makes a speech memorable.

The teacher should choose a small portion of Mandela’s speech (2- 3 paragraphs) and ask students to look for elements that make the text literary non-fiction. The teacher should be sure to emphasize the use of literary devices, the use of repetition and other rhetorical strategies, and the connotation of significant words.

The teacher should guide students in a discussion of literary and rhetorical elements used in the speech and the impact they have on the meaning and tone of the speech. This discussion should be driven first by what the students noticed on their own. After exhausting those elements the students discovered for themselves, the teacher should guide students to discover more through questioning. For example, if the teacher chooses to model this type of literary analysis as it is applied to non-fiction using paragraphs 3 and 4, the teacher might ask questions such as the following: 

What is the significance of the word “crime” in the 3rd paragraph? 

How is a crime different than a violation? 

Why might Mandela choose to use the word crime and how does this particular word impact his meaning? 

What is the impact of the hyphens and the shift in tense in the 3rd paragraph? 

How would you describe the structure of the following quotation: “a victory in hand, a dream fulfilled, the triumph of justice”? What is the impact of this structure? 

Where do you see personification in the 3rd paragraph? What is the impact of this personification? 

What is the meaning of the word “blight”? What connotations are associated with this word? What is the impact of this word on the 4th paragraph? 

Why does Mandela choose to use questions in the 4th paragraph? How do these questions impact his tone?

Provide guided practice

After the teacher has modeled analysis of literary and rhetorical strategies, students should re-read the Mandela speech and annotate the rest of the text (excluding the part modeled by the teacher). Students should mark any area of the text that uses a literary or rhetorical device as well as any vocabulary with specific and significant connotations and punctuation with specific and significant impact. Students should be encouraged to look up definitions of unfamiliar words as well.

Students should be given the opportunity to compare their annotations in partners or small groups and to use their partners or small groups to find additional literary and rhetorical strategies before the class discusses their findings as a whole.

The teacher should guide students in a discussion of their findings. If necessary, the teacher should use guiding questions to help students discover additional strategies and additional significance.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher should ask students to make a claim regarding the importance of literary non-fiction, specifically literary and rhetorical strategies, on arguments about human rights violations (and arguments in general). Students should write a paragraph or paragraphs in defense of their position, using specific and detailed evidence from Mandela’s speech and/or Roosevelt’s speech to support their reasoning. Students should understand that strategies authors use make their arguments more impactful and more memorable by impacting tone.

Integrate formative checks

The teacher may choose to use the first part of this lesson to check for understanding of argument through a guided discussion and/or an argument analysis evaluation paragraph.

Teacher should check for understanding of the impact of literary and rhetorical choices as well as the effect of connotation through:

Student annotations

Guided discussion regarding the identification and impact of literary and rhetorical strategies

Argumentative paragraph(s) about the importance of literary non-fiction to conflicts about human rights violations

Student Tasks

Outline student tasks in the areas below:

Literacy knowledge tasks

Reading task

Indicate how students will approach the text, i.e. independent silent reading, read aloud; how students will question the text; how students will analyze details.

Students will read the text individually first. Then, they will re-read a portion of the text with the teacher before rereading the rest of the text individually. During rereading, students will focus on identifying and analyzing the significance of literary and rhetorical strategies.

Vocabulary task

Indicate how student vocabulary and academic language will be developed.

Students will be encouraged to define unfamiliar words individually as they read the text. In addition, the emphasis on the literary aspects of this non-fiction selection will highlight the importance of word choice and will lead students to analyze and discuss the connotation of key words in the text.

Sentence syntax task

Indicate how students will learn to speak thoughtfully and with precision.

Students will be asked to work in partners or small groups to share their findings regarding the identification of and analysis of literary and rhetorical strategies. In addition, they will be asked to share their findings with the class in a whole group discussion.

Inquiry and analysis task

Indicate how students will build attention to detail, and grow in analyzing, selecting and connecting detail.

Students will be asked to search for literary and rhetorical strategies in the text and then will be given the opportunity to compare/contrast their findings with a partner or small group. Students will also be encouraged to use their partners or small groups to return to the text to identify more literary and rhetorical strategies. Finally, students will be asked to examine the impact of specific literary and rhetorical choices on the text.

Writing (or other production)

Indicate how this task will help students learn to write.Indicate other forms of production in this task.

Students will be given an additional opportunity to write an argument evaluation paragraph or paragraphs in this lesson (optional). Students will also be given the opportunity to write an argumentative paragraph or paragraphs regarding the significance of literary non-fiction to conflicts regarding human rights violations.

(Refer to the EQuIP rubric for additional elements to consider)

Checking for Understanding

Note: a performance task will be included at the end of this series of lessons. Determine and outline how you will check for student understanding within this lesson, using some of the suggestions provided here.

• Argument Evaluation paragraph (optional)
• Student Annotations
• Guided Questions and Discussions
• Final Argument paragraph(s) 

Differentiation/Adaptations/Modifications

Outline adaptations that can be made for English Language Learners, Special Education students, or other learning contexts.

For ELL students or students with a low Lexile score, a portion of the Mandela speech can be used instead of the entire selection.

For advanced students, the teacher might consider adding logos, pathos, and ethos to students’ understanding of argument. Students might have an additional task to identify examples of each in Mandela’s speech.

Additional Supports

The students might watch a video recording of the speech at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/nelsonmandelaunapartheidcommitteespeech2.htm

To provide further support to students as they read and paraphrase Mandela’s speech, the teacher might provide a set of Guiding Questions to point students to significant details of the text and to support their understanding of what the text says explicitly.

To provide further support to students as they analyze Mandela’s speech, the teacher might use the same Primary Source Document Analysis worksheet used in the initial analysis of the Preamble to the UDHR.

The teacher might provide students with a graphic organizer to guide their identification and analysis of literary and rhetorical strategies. The graphic organizer might ask students to list significant choices made by the author and to explain the impact of these choices on the text.

If this unit is taught as a stand-alone ELA unit instead of in collaboration with a history teacher, the ELA teacher might want to provide background history and context regarding Nelson Mandela and apartheid.