Name: ____________________________
Period: ___________________________
Social Inequality Lecture Guided Notes
1. What is your definition of “social inequality”? Please write 1-2 sentences of how you would define social
inequality if it were looked up in the dictionary:
Social Inequality:
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Common Themes/ Words Shared:
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2. Social Inequality can be defined as the existence of ___________________ and ________________ for
different social positions or statuses within __________________.
3. Brainstorm 2-3 examples for each category:
Political Wealth Treatment & Opportunity Membership
Responsibility
4. Maya Angelou, American Poet
- Born: ______________
- Died: ______________
- Explored themes of: __________________________
Still, I Rise
You may write me down in history 1
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt Does my sexiness upset you? 25
But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
Does my sassiness upset you? 5 At the meeting of my thighs?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Out of the huts of history’s shame
Pumping in my living room. I rise 30
Just like moods and like suns, Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
With the certainty of tides, 10 I rise
Just like hopes springing high, I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Still I’ll rise. Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Did you want to see me broken? Leaving behind nights of terror and fear 35
Bowed head and lowered eyes? I rise
Shoulders falling down like teardrops, 15 Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
Weakened by my soulful cries? I rise
Brining the gifts that my ancestors gave,
Does my haughtiness offend you? I am the dream and the hope of the slave. 40
Don’t you take it awful hard I rise
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines I rise
Diggin’ in my own back yard. 20 I rise.
Poem Themes Highlight & List:
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes, Defiance In The Face of Oppression:
You may kill me with your hatefulness, Lines: ____________________________
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Power & Beauty of Blackness:
Lines: ____________________________
5. Let’s Try!
a. Identify a line/lines from the poem that show how the author illustrates the inequality between
the speaker and oppressor being addressed
b. What type of social justice is being exemplified? : _________________________________
6. Jamilla Lyiscott, Community Engaged Scholar & Speaker
- Work focuses on: ____________________________________
3 Ways To Speak English
Note the poem themes:
7. Let’s Try!
a. What evidence does Lyiscott give for why all 3 languages should be treated as equal?
b. What type of social justice is being exemplified? :
_________________________________
8. Langston Hughes, Poet & Writer
- Born: ______________
- Died: ______________
- Main Subject of Writing: ________________________
- Important Figure in: ____________________________
I, Too
I, too, sing America. 1
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh, 5
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow
I’ll be at the table
When company comes. 10
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides, 15
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed —
Poem Theme Highlight & List:
I, too, am America.
American Identity & Racism:
Lines: ____________________________
9. Let’s Try!
a. Compare and contrast lines from I Still Rise & I, Too.
b. Pick a line from each poem to compare & contrast:
What themes or ideas are similar in each poem? What themes or ideas are different?
Similar Different
Themes/Ideas: Theme/Idea:
Lines: Lines:
Still, I Rise: Still, I Rise:
I, Too: I, Too:
10. Let’s Look Deeper!
a. Write a 4 – 6 line poem of an experience you have had with social inequality, or a way you have
seen social inequality present today
b. Use a simple A/B rhyme scheme
c. How the world would be different if that type of social inequality did not exist? Include a 1-2
sentence explanation.
