EXTENSION ACTIVITIES & SCAFFOLDING

ENGAGING FILM CLIPS:

CLIP ONE: MY NAME IS EDEM

Optional Activity (Use for extension or scaffolding):

Comparative Analysis:

For younger students, or students working towards strengthening literacy skills, have them read The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton after viewing Clip 1: “My name is Edem;” and/or have them watch Frederick Douglass The Last Day of Slavery by William Miller. Ask them to consider the following questions as they read/view:

• What different ideas of slavery are expressed between texts?
• Is modern-day slavery described differently than chattel slavery?
• In what ways are they described similarly?
• Do any specific words, themes, or motifs occur across texts?

CLIP TWO: THOSE WE LEFT BEHIND

Optional Activity (Use for extension or scaffolding):

Gallery Walk:

Using stills from The Rescue List, print and tape those images on your classroom wall. Using images from the national archives, find images appropriate for your student community and for visual comparison (if any) and tape those images to your classroom wall alongside the stills from The Rescue List.

Ask students to note what strikes them visually. What is different? What is shared? What is included in the frame? What is not included in the frame? Why does that matter?

Use these visual images to spark a classroom dialogue about framing stories, historical narratives, and the power of images.

ENGAGING THROUGH REFLECTION AND WRITING:

Before viewing the film clips, pass out notecards to students and write some prompts on the board.

Suggestions for prompts:

The Rescue List opened my mind by:
While watching The Rescue List I felt connected to the characters because:

Something I admire about the characters in The Rescue List is: __________, because __________.

Immediately after viewing, give students time to sit quietly and reflect as they respond to one prompt on their notecards.

Digital engagement: Take photos of notecards and post them using the hashtag: #RescueListPBS

GLOBAL STUDIES / HUMAN RIGHTS ENGAGEMENT:

Before Viewing:

Post or pass out a copy of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and share information on what this declaration is, when it was established, and for what reasons it came into existence.

Review each Article in the Declaration.

After viewing:

Following each lesson plan clip or after a screening, have students respond to the following prompt:

1. “According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adhered to by members of the United Nations, the human rights I observed being violated in The Rescue List are: