This publicity flyer for William J. Powell’s book Black Wings underscored his vision (“One Million Jobs for Negroes”) for blacks in aviation. William J. Powell, circa 1917 photo Willa Brown, circa 1938 photo Eleanor Roosevelt, C. Alfred Anderson, Tuskegee airplane ride, circa 1940 photo Benjamin O. Davis Jr. receives fourth star, 1998 photo   Overcoming Obstacles— How People Cause Social Change Introduction | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 Step 3—Document Efforts To Cause Social Change in Your Own Community Now it's time to study the efforts of the people in your own community. Over the next 3 weeks you're going to study local media—newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet—in order to discover how activists, politicians, and other citizens in your community are working to overcome obstacles they encounter everyday. Begin by reading your local paper at least 3 days in a row. Find and cut out three articles about people in your community who are trying to cause social change. You might look for headlines like these: Health Officials In 2 Counties Announce Joint Effort To Help Black And Hispanic Residents With Diabetes Bethesda Neighbors Oppose Downtown Expansion Plan Princetown Legislators Oppose A $2 Million Incentive Package for Huge Plant Because Manufacturer Won't Offer Jobs to Local Workers Once you have found a good example of how people in your community are trying to cause social change, listen and watch for this story in other media. For example, once you have found something that interests you in your local newspaper, try to learn more about the story: Watch your local morning or evening TV news program Listen to local radio news programs Visit web sites that include local news Make a presentation to your classmates about what you've learned. Your presentation should explain the following elements: What are your community members trying to overcome? What techniques are they using to cause social change? What actions are planned for the future? What do you predict the situation will be in 6 months time? In 6 years? How are local activists' actions similar to or different from the actions African Americans (and others) you studied in Step 2 of this activity? EXTENSION Design a Campaign for Social Change If you're moved by the examples you've studied in this activity, or if you're troubled by a social wrong in your community, you may want to design a campaign for social change. You may want to design a print campaign in which you use the newspaper, posters, flyers, written petitions, or cartoons to bring people's attention to the social wrong you've identified. Or, you may want to design an online campaign for social change, using the Internet and e-mail to get the message out. Some of the steps in these two kinds of campaigns overlap. Design a Print Campaign for Social Change Develop a slogan for your campaign. Make it short, interesting, and clear; the slogan should emphasize what you want your campaign for social change to accomplish. The "Double V" slogan, "Democracy at Home and Abroad," provides a great model. Create a visual image—symbol, photograph, drawing, icon—to represent your campaign. Get the message out. Create several of these print items to draw attention to your cause: Letter to the editor of the local or school newspaper Article in the local or school newspaper Poster Flyer Campaign button T-shirt Letter to a local politician who can help with your cause Banner Petition for classmates or neighbors to sign Lawn placards Take action; do something to help bring about change. Here are some actions you could take: Stage a peaceful protest outside of school in a community park Organize a rally Ask to meet with the school principal or other official Call your local politician and ask to meet with him or her Organize a community concert to draw attention to the social wrong you would like to solve. Design an Online Campaign for Social Change Develop a slogan for your campaign. Make it short, interesting, and clear; the slogan should emphasize what you want your campaign for social change to accomplish. The "Double V" slogan, "Democracy at Home and Abroad," provides a great model. Create a visual image to represent your campaign. If you have the online graphic design skills, create an original symbol. Otherwise, use suitable clipart for your image. Get the message out online. Use one or more of these techniques to let others know about your campaign: Write an e-mail message explaining your campaign. Send your message to friends and classmates. Be sure you explain what you'd like them to do to help your cause. Create a web page or site about your campaign. Your site should explain the social wrong, explain how to fix the wrong, and explain how site visitors can help. Use a counter to keep track of the number of visitors to your site, so you have an idea of how popular your site or campaign issue is. If you create a web site, you can include an online petition that shows how visitors support your cause. At one page of your site, write a concise statement of what the social wrong is and how you think it should be solved. Be sure your solution is reasonable and identifies who should do what to solve the problem. Then, invite site visitors to send you an e-mail message with their support. With the e-mail writers' permission, post the messages at your site. You can use the support when you convince decision makers to make a change. 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