Each year my freshmen read the literature of the Civil Rights movement. They are challenged to discover how words can inspire change and analyze the works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Margaret Walker, and Natasha Trethewey.
While my students engage in critical analysis of the texts, they struggle with connecting literature of the past with the social justice movements of today.
Help my students make connections to today's world through Just Mercy, a book by Bryan Stevenson, the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and winner of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.
Just Mercy is a collection of memoirs that follow Stevenson as he graduates Harvard Law and moves to Alabama as a young lawyer. He soon becomes an advocate for prisoners, including Walter MacMillian, a man who spends six years falsely convicted on death row until Stevenson successfully argues his case on appeal.
Stevenson says, "I am persuaded that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. I've come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the respected, and the privileged among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned."
His use of ethos, pathos, and logos work to build his argument. Students will engage in critical analysis of the elements of argumentation in order to determine to what degree he is successful in making his case.
About my class
Each year my freshmen read the literature of the Civil Rights movement. They are challenged to discover how words can inspire change and analyze the works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Margaret Walker, and Natasha Trethewey.
While my students engage in critical analysis of the texts, they struggle with connecting literature of the past with the social justice movements of today.
Help my students make connections to today's world through Just Mercy, a book by Bryan Stevenson, the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and winner of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.
Just Mercy is a collection of memoirs that follow Stevenson as he graduates Harvard Law and moves to Alabama as a young lawyer. He soon becomes an advocate for prisoners, including Walter MacMillian, a man who spends six years falsely convicted on death row until Stevenson successfully argues his case on appeal.
Stevenson says, "I am persuaded that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. I've come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the respected, and the privileged among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned."
His use of ethos, pathos, and logos work to build his argument. Students will engage in critical analysis of the elements of argumentation in order to determine to what degree he is successful in making his case.
Read more