Biographies of Important Americans

The purpose of the course is double. Partly I want to give you a chance to  get to know about  some people who have contributed to American culture and society in various ways and who for some reason tend to be overlooked, partly I  want to introduce you to the genre the biographical essay.

By way of introduction you are to read a biographical essay about Rachel Carson. The essay is  well written and it will give us a chance to discuss  what constitutes a good biographical essay.  What is the information to be included and how is it to be presented  and organized? How to strike a balance between the subjective assessment of  the person and the objective facts?

After this initial task  you are to work individually or in pairs gathering information about the people on the list below and prepare

a) an oral presentation of the person for the rest of the class and

b) write a biographical essay about him/her

The names on the list are names which are probably unknown to you.  This is on purpose.  I want the research to be a journey of discovery where you have no way of knowing what you are going to encounter.

Benjamin Spock (1903-1998)

William Levitt (1907-1994)

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)

Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)

Harvey Milk (1930-1978)

John Brown (1800-1855)

Ray Kroc (1902-1984)

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

Joe Hill (1879-1915)

Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)

Jane Addams (1860-1935)

Jackie Robinson (1919-1972)

Paul Robeson (1898-1976)

Willis Carrier (1875-1950)

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

Research

When you research  the person you have chosen, make sure that your sources and reliable. Good places to look are PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and Time 100 Se iøvrigt kvalitetsvurdering af websites

Oral Presentation

Your presentation should include the following points:

• a biography of the person in question
• a presentation of the cause(s ) he/she was engaged in
• an assessment of the importance of this person and of his/her contribution to American society/culture.

When you prepare your oral presentation for the class, you should take the following points into consideration:

• those of you who work in pairs make sure you divide the oral presentation between you and that it is perfectly clear who deals with what and in what order. 
• speak loudly and clearly.  Do not read aloud from a manuscript (e.g. the written paper).  It makes the presentation dull and difficult to follow.
• remember your classmates have no prior knowledge of the person you are going to talk about.  You must therefore  provide all the necessary background information.
• use the blackboard, the overhead projector or power point for key information.
• if possible provide pictures  as illustrations and where relevant sound and video recordings.     

Return