Audra Casanova

The Constitutional Convention lesson had a huge impact on my students.

Many of my students are not white — Black and Latino, especially. Many of them did not have an understanding of just how biased the Constitution was. With the knowledge that we have gained from this lesson, students were able to then look at other situations that are currently surrounding us in the United States — such as the controversy surrounding Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, and the Black Lives Matter movement — with a more critical eye, understanding the kind of bias and uneven laws that founded this country and our government.

They were then better able to understand the anger and frustration that surrounds many Black communities in regard to both historical and current events.

They can now use the backdrop of the Constitution to better understand their own country, the frustration of others and what they have to do to move this country and the plight of a social justice worker forward. Most importantly, they were able to finally connect just how much history influences current events and our countries sentiments and culture.