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LUCILLE
BALL, THE 1950'S
AND THE CULT OF DOMESTICITY
I.
OVERVIEW:
We teach Advanced
Placement U.S. History in the
Oakland Unified School District.
During the 2004-2005 school
year we met six times to design
a lesson that used biography
to deepen student understanding
of U.S. history. The lesson
focused on the historiographical
question of how women were portrayed
in the 1950s media and whether
this portrayal reinforced or
challenged the “cult of
domesticity.” To focus
on this issue we used episodes
of I Love Lucy as primary source
evidence, along with samples
from the mass media, to help
students explore the question,
“Was Lucille Ball a protofeminist
or did she reinforce the cult
of domesticity?” To assess
their knowledge and understanding
students were asked to write,
using primary source evidence,
a paper in response to this
question.
Elizabeth Haugen,
a teacher at Oakland Technical
High School, demonstrated the
lesson, which we all observed.
The other group members piloted
the lesson, assigned essays,
and evaluated the student writing.
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