Unit 12 5: What We Want to Learn

See the Letter from the Birmingham Jail for Your Reference.

Big Ideas

• Learning about philosophy (big ideas about life) helps us understand the world today.
• In the past, some people treated others like objects instead of people.
• Segregation (separating people by race) takes away a person’s equal rights and respect.

Important Understandings

• There was a time when some white Americans didn’t treat Black Americans with respect or dignity.
• Some people acted like others were things, not real people.

Questions to Think About

• Why does treating someone like an object take away their dignity?
• Did President Lyndon Johnson treat Black people with dignity and respect?

Objectives: What You Will Be Able to Do

• Show the difference between treating someone as a person (I-You) and treating someone like an object (I-It).
• Explain why it’s important to always treat people with dignity.

Key Words

• Dignity: Everyone has the right to be respected and valued as a person.
• Existentialism: A way of thinking that focuses on each person’s life and choices.
• Philosophy: The study of big ideas like truth, life, and fairness.