A Street Named for a King

Transcription

1 A Street Named for a King Dr. Jerry Mitchell University of South Carolina OVERVIEW This lesson adapts the work of Dr. Derek Alderman, a geographer who has used the Martin Luther King, Jr. street-naming process to highlight the politics of space. Herein students investigate how people represent places and how that process can be contentious. The lesson also introduces students to a Geographic Information System (GIS) to explore the relationship between MLK-named streets and the racial/ethnic characteristics of U.S. cities and towns. Students become familiar with GIS technology by adding data to a map and manipulating data to ask and answer spatial questions. CONNECTION TO THE CURRICULUM Geography; United States History SOUTH CAROLINA ACADEMIC STANDARDS Social Studies WG-1.5 Explain how individuals view places and regions on the basis of their particular stage of life, gender, social class, ethnicity, values, and access to technology (e.g., how retirees have changed the cultural landscape and available human services in Florida). WG-7.1 USHC-8.1 Explain how cooperation and/or conflict can lead to the control of Earth s surface (e.g., the establishment of new social, political, or economic divisions). Analyze the African American Civil Rights Movement, including initial strategies, landmark court cases and legislation, the roles of key civil rights advocates and the media, and the influence of the Civil Rights Movement on other groups seeking equality. SOUTH CAROLINA LITERACY SKILLS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES Create maps, mental maps, and geographic models to represent spatial relationships. Identify the locations of places, the conditions at places, and the connections between places. GRADE RANGE 9 th 12 th grade TIME 2 class periods

2 MATERIALS NEEDED 1. Handouts One and Two (attached) 2. Internet access for online GIS ( 3. Computer lab, classroom computer with digital projection, or overhead projector (see display comments at beginning of Procedures) 4. Four data files (MLK1_250, MLK251_500, MLK501_750, MLK751_1000). Available for download at 5. Reading: Naming Streets after Martin Luther King, Jr.: No Easy Road. Available for download at OBJECTIVES 1. The student will identify factors that may make street-naming, or place-making, contentious. 2. The student will import spatial data into an online geographic information system and construct a map. 3. The student will compare the location of MLK-named streets with demographic data for the same area and offer explanations for any resulting patterns. PROCEDURES Different options exist here: 1) the instructor may construct the maps ahead of the lesson and present it via overhead or digital projection; 2) the instructor may complete the investigation step by step during class from the classroom computer; or 3) the students complete the investigation themselves in a computer lab. These procedures are written for the third option. Day One 1. Highlight the life and activities of Martin Luther King, Jr. This may have been done previously as part of a larger unit on Civil Rights (e.g.: Rosa Parks, Brown v. Board of Education, etc.), so a simple review may be appropriate here. 2. Have the students read Naming Streets after Martin Luther King, Jr.: No Easy Road by Derek Alderman (2006) and complete the questions on Handout One. This is a lengthy read, so the teacher may elect to have only certain portions read. A short discussion of the reading and Handout One may close Day One. If extra time was spent on Step 1, the reading and Handout One may be assigned for homework. Suggested answers for Handout One questions are below. a. Question 1: the majority of U.S. streets named for King are in places with a population of fewer than ten thousand people. Small places far outnumber large places. b. Question 2: MLK street-naming campaigns are often conducted by the NAACP, churches, and various other black-led community improvement associations. c. Question 3: In the Brent case, location mattered considerably. As to whether it should matter, student responses will vary. Day Two 1. Download MLK street files to your computer. Visit and save four CSV files to your computer: MLK1_250, MLK251_500, MLK501_750, MLK751_ Via the Internet, open the website ArcGIS Explorer: 3. Click on the tab New Map. A map of the world will appear and you will be able to add data. 4. Using Basemap tab, select either Streets or OpenStreetMap. The Basemap tab is on the toolbar next to the printer icon. 5. Click on the Add Content tab. This button has a small plus sign on it. An Add Content window will appear.

3 6. Click on Import. Three choices appear, CSV, Shapefile, and GPX. Click CSV. 7. An Import Data window appears. Click Browse for File. You will need to find the files that you downloaded to you computer in Step 1. Select file MLK1_250. The data will import. Select Next. 8. The Import Data window will now show the MLK street data by zip code. Click Import. 9. MLK street features will appear on your map. This is a subset of the total dataset as ArcGIS Explorer will only allow you to import 250 features at a time. Repeat steps 5-8 to add the full dataset to your map. Add MLK251_500, MLK501_750, MLK751_1000. The map should look similar to the one shown below. 10. With your first map complete, have the students answer the questions on Handout Two (attached.) Suggested answers are below. a. Question 1: most features are in the Southeast; other features are in Northern cities with sizable African American populations; another interesting pattern is the central California valley (farm workers, progressive politics). b. Question 2: many point features do not line up with a MLK-named street. This is an important point regarding the MLK dataset. The MLK street features are represented by a point inside a zip code area that contains the street. If a student zooms in to a specific point, they may not readily see a named MLK street nearby. The street data was collected at the zip code scale, not street level, and the point feature is simply at the center of the zip code area. A good example to illustrate this issue is Columbia, South Carolina. If one zooms in to that feature, it appears to be on Lower Richland Boulevard. A quick glance to the east shows where Martin Luther King Boulevard is located. Another example is Cheyenne, Wyoming. Just to the southwest of the point is MLK park and MLK Court. c. Question 3: MLK-named streets are frequently located in sections of cities that have higher numbers of African American residents. This naming, often a street re-naming, process can be politically contentious. The second part of this question is answered by adding a new dataset, 2010 Census race data (see step 11).

4 d. Question 4: this question is used to close the lesson. Answers may vary. Clearly most Americans would be repulsed by a Bin Laden Boulevard, but others would also express distaste for a street named for Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton depending on their political leanings. Street naming is a political act that defines who controls a particular space. Many people believe that how their place is represented also has an impact on things such as property values. 11. Click on the Add Content tab. This button has a small plus sign on it. An Add Content window will appear. 12. Click on Search and type Census 2010 Black. A series of datasets will appear. Select USA Census Black Population by clicking add. 13. The new data has been added on top of your existing data. Open the Layers window and select Organize. Drag the USA Census Black Population layer to the bottom. The MLK street data is now shown on top. 14. Zoom in to any location. As scale becomes larger, county lines will appear, and then Census tracts, then Census block groups. If you zoom in to far, the Census data will disappear. 15. Click on an feature county, tract, block group and a pie chart will appear that shows you the racial/ethnic make-up of that spatial unit. An example for Horry County, South Carolina is shown below. 16. Have the student investigate the racial/ethnic make-up for several places. Suggested places outside of the Southeast include Buffalo, New York and Bakersfield, California. Buffalo shows a high African American concentration; for Bakersfield it is Hispanic (there is a sizable African American population near the actual road location and a MLK-named park). 17. After investigating various places and their MLK street relationships, close the lesson by discussing Question 4 from Handout Two. EVALUATION The teacher may assess Handout One and Two for completeness or the level of participation in class discussion. Students may also print their maps for review.

5 LESSON EXTENSIONS Additional demographic and other data is available for use in ArcGIS Explorer. For example, students may include USA Median Household Income and investigate the relationship between that variable and MLK-named streets. MATERIALS PROVIDED 1. Handout One: Reading Questions 2. Handout Two: Map Analysis Questions RESOURCES Alderman, D Naming Streets after Martin Luther King, Jr.: No Easy Road. In Landscape and Race in the United States. R. Schein (ed.). London: Routledge. Pp MLK Lesson Website: (data files, reading, digital copy of lesson, GIS software link) BACKGROUND INFORMATION About the MLK dataset: The datasets provided have been compiled by Derek Alderman and colleagues over the past decade. The dataset is a conservative, yet confirmed, listing of MLK-named streets. New streets are named/renamed, and not all instances may have been uncovered. The varied naming also complicates identification (street, blvd., MLK, MLK, Jr., Martin Luther King, etc.). The dataset is made available in four separate files since the free online GIS ArcGIS Explorer only allows data uploads of 250 features or less. CSV files are comma-separated values where tabular data is in plain-text form. These files are readable and can be modified in Microsoft s Excel spreadsheet software. As mentioned in the lesson, the data points are not line features. The MLK street features are represented by a point inside a zip code area that contains the street.

6 Handout One Student Name Reading Questions Alderman, D Naming Streets after Martin Luther King, Jr.: No Easy Road. In Landscape and Race in the United States. R. Schein (ed.). London: Routledge. Pp Investigate Figure 11.2 (p. 218). What size community hosts the majority of MLK-named streets? Why? 2. What type of groups typically initiate MLK street naming campaigns? Why? 3. Consider the Brent, Alabama example (p. 225). Should it matter where the named street is located so long as MLK is commemorated?

7 Handout Two Map Analysis Questions Student Name 1. Is there are pattern for MLK-named streets? If so, what reason(s) account for that pattern? 2. Choose an MLK point feature and zoom in to it. Can you find the MLK-named street? If not, why not? 3. Do you think that MLK-named streets are randomly located or are they purposefully located in specific neighborhoods? What data would you need to investigate this question? 4. Why do you think re-naming a street after MLK is sometimes difficult? Can you think of any other historic or contemporary person that should be honored with a street name? Would other people agree with your choice?