Born a Crime

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

Exploring Space, Exploring Oppressive Frontiers: A Comparative Analysis of Segregation on Two Continents

In this exercise, building upon what they’ve learned about South African apartheid, students draw connections between the segregated South of the United States and apartheid in South Africa through an exploration of one of Trevor Noah’s interviews with esteemed NASA scientist Gregory Robinson.

In the July 19, 2022 episode of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah interviewed Gregory Robinson, the director of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope program, which is the groundbreaking multi-year effort to launch a $10-billion dollar telescope into outer space, to view never-before-seen footage of our galaxy and beyond. Over the course of their discussion (as seen in this clip), Noah draws attention to Robinson’s early childhood, growing up in the segregated American South in rural Virginia during the Jim Crow era.

In this exercise, you will develop a global perspective on how segregation has affected Black communities by exploring apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow-era segregation in the United States and broadening your understanding of the impact of racist systems of oppression.

• First, split into small groups of 3-4 students each. Each group will begin by creating a T-chart with “South African apartheid” on one side and “United States segregation” on the other. Work out the categories that you’d like to compare: Time period, number of people affected, notable political figures, etc. After you’ve identified your categories, complete each country’s side as a group. 
• Next, create another T-chart, this time with Trevor Noah on one side and Gregory Robinson on the other. The goal of this chart will be to highlight each of these men’s notable achievements in the face of adversity.

Finally, as an entire class, discuss your findings, focusing on the most interesting and/or unusual thing you discovered in your comparative analysis and/or your investigation into Gregory Robinson’s biography. 

Teaching Suggestion: Students will benefit from exploring each country’s experience of oppression/segregation with sensitivity. You may want to remind students to avoid value judgements and reinforce for them that the purpose of this comparison is not to see which country’s experience of oppression was “worse” but rather to get a clearer sense of how oppressive forces against Black people have played out globally.

Differentiation Suggestion: For learners who would benefit from a STEM/STEAM option, particularly those who are energized at the prospect of learning more about science and technology as it relates to Gregory Robinson’s biography, you may opt to have them build upon the theme of Language as a Cultural Tool by offering this article regarding Stanford education professor Bryan A. Brown’s research on the role of language and culture in teaching science and technology. How might Gregory Robinson’s education in the segregated American South, particularly his understanding of space exploration, have been affected by his surroundings?