Important: If students have not previously viewed the entire film, be sure to share with them a general summary and how the clip(s) they are about to see fit into the film’s narrative.

Materials

• Film clips from Minding the Gap and a way to screen them
• Copy of Paul Dunbar's poem “We Wear the Mask” (either projected so all students can see, or one copy distributed to each student)

Activity 1: Don’t Label Me

Learning Goal: Students will gain a deeper understanding of stereotypes by using the film to examine common stereotypes and consider their impact.

As context, ask students if they can identify any examples in our distant and not-so-distant history in which stereotypes have been used to define a person’s race, class, culture, to keep people trapped into an identity. Fill in gaps or connect to curriculum as needed.

[Optional]: Explain that the people in the film are all avid skateboarders. Ask students to identify common stereotypes about skaters. As they view the film clips, invite them think about whether the people on screen affirm or contradict their image of typical skaters.

Instructions:

Use the moments in each film clip to explore the ways that stereotypes can be dangerous because they have the power to constrict people’s identities:

• View each clip and identify the stereotype it contains.
• Pair and share: Who benefits and who is harmed by the perpetuation of the stereotype?

Activity 2: Masks

Learning Goal: Students will consider how people adopt masks as a coping mechanism when self-identity is perceived as – or is actually – unacceptable to the dominant culture.

Instructions:

Show the clip (1:25:11 – 1:25:58) and note the comments about identity shared by Zack and Nina:

I’ve never been able to deal with myself…I feel like a clown—you paint up your face and you put on your act for everybody, and you let that act become you.

Zack

I’ve always been something to someone, you know, someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s significant other and then someone’s mom…I never got that chance to just figure myself out.

Nina

Then introduce the poem "We Wear the Mask" by African-American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar. To provide context, note that Dunbar was born in 1872 to formerly enslaved parents from Kentucky. The poem, written during the Jim Crow Era, appeared in a collection of his poems from 1896 called Lyrics of Lowly Life. After students have had time to read the poem, discuss and/or ask them to write responses to these prompts:

• What connections do you see between Dunbar’s poem and the film clips?
• Why do people wear masks?
• Under what circumstances to people wear masks as a choice and when is it a matter of survival? Can it be both?
• What is the role of masks in perpetuating and/or surviving racism or other forms of oppression?
• Do you ever wear a mask? Why? What does it feel like?