‘I Am Omar’: Exploring Identity and Representation

Warm-up:

• Make a list of five words that describe your identity 
• Discussion: 
  1. How did you decide on these words? Are these words you’ve used to describe yourself, words others have used to describe you, or both?
  2. What influences our identities?

Analyzing the Reporting: Reading “I Am Omar” published by the Post and Courier and responding to comprehension and discussion questions.

Extension Activities:

1. Create Identity Charts

2. Think like a Photojournalist

3. Mapping Omar’s Journey
4. Reflective Writing

Objectives:

Students will be able to…

• Expand on their knowledge of Muslim Africans who were enslaved in the United States by analyzing the news story, “I Am Omar” from Post and Courier
• Use text, photographs, and details from the story to examine how a person’s identity can be misrepresented, distorted, or taken for granted 
• Use writing, photography, and mapping to connect the story to their own lives

Warm-Up:

Take a moment to answer the following questions:

• What five words would you use to describe your identity? Make a list.
• What factors shape your identity?
• What aspects of your identity do you choose for yourself?
• What aspects of your identity are chosen by society? 
• Have any aspects of your identity been misrepresented, distorted, or taken for granted in the past? How?

Introducing the Lesson:

In this lesson, students will read, analyze, and discuss the story “I Am Omar'' by reporter Jennifer Berry Hawes and photojournalist Gavin McIntyre. This story, which was published in Post and Courier, explores and retraces the life of Omar Ibn Said. Said is a Muslim scholar from Senegal, who wrote the only surviving autobiography in Arabic by a person who was enslaved in the United States. By analyzing this story, students will expand on their understanding of the experiences of Africans who were enslaved in the United States, and specifically the unique experiences of  African Muslims who were enslaved in the U.S. Students will also consider questions surrounding identity and representation.  

Some useful vocabulary for this lesson:

• Quran
• Imam
• Transatlantic slave trade
• Allah
• Antebellum
• Middle Passage
• Underground Railroad
• Ramadan
• Emancipated
• Evangelize
• (African) Diaspora

Introducing the Reporting: 

In 1831, Omar Ibn Said, a Muslim scholar from Senegal, wrote the only surviving autobiography in Arabic by a person who was enslaved in the United States. Omar, at age 37, was captured in the Futa Toro region of Senegal and forced onto a slave ship en route for Charleston, once an epicenter of the slave trade. During his life, Said wrote at least 15 surviving texts in Arabic. With the support of the Pulitzer Center, the Post and Courier sent reporter Jennifer Berry Hawes and photographer Gavin McIntyre to Senegal on a journey to uncover the true identity of Omar. His life offers a rare look into the lives of the estimated 30 percent of enslaved Muslim Africans brought to America.

The article, which also includes extensive original photography and images of primary source documents, is broken up into 19 sections.

As students read the full story or sections of the story, they can answer the following comprehension questions:

Comprehension Questions:

Discussion Questions:

Use details from the story, and your own reflections and experiences, to respond to the following questions. These questions can be explored as part of whole-class discussions, small-group discussions, or individual reflections.

1. What parts of the story most interested and/or surprised you, and why?

2. How does Omar’s story compare to other stories you have heard about Africans who were enslaved in the U.S.? Why is Omar’s story important?

3. Reflect on some of the ways in which Omar’s identity was misrepresented and distorted. How did Omar deal with this, and why do you think he made those choices? 

4. Have you faced any similar challenges relating to an aspect of your identity? 

5. Do you identify with Omar’s story? Why or why not?

6. How do you feel about how this story ended?

Extension Activities:

1. Create Identity Charts: An identity chart is a diagram that allows folks to visualize what words and phrases make up their identity. Return to the words you choose to describe your identity from earlier. With these words in mind, create an identity chart made up of words and phrases that describe your identity. It might be useful to consider religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, place of birth, social and economic class. Below you will find an example of an identity chart.

• Begin by writing your name in the middle of a piece of paper
• Circle your name
• Brainstorm words and phrases that describe your identity
• Draw arrows or lines pointing out from the center/name 
• At the end of the arrows write the words and phrases
• Share identity charts with class

Alternative Activity: Use details from the story to create an identity chart for Omar Ibn Said.

• Begin by writing Omar’s name in the middle of a piece of paper
• Circle his name
• Brainstorm words and phrases that describe Omar’s identity
• Draw arrows or lines pointing out from the center/name 
• At the end of the arrows write the words and phrases
• Share identity charts with class

2. Think like a photojournalist: This story uses text and photography to explore and retrace the life of Omar Ibn Said. Throughout the story, photographs are used to guide readers along the travels that the Post and Courier team made from the United States to Senegal in search of Omar’s true identity and home. Review the photos below and notice which images capture your attention, and why.

Consider: How did the photographer compose this image?

Take 3-5 photos to create a photo story. Choose one of the following options as your focus:

• Photograph an important figure in your community
• Photograph an important community space in your neighborhood
• Photograph your journey from two places in your neighborhood that are important to you
• Photograph your favorite place in your neighborhood to spend time in

These photographs should guide viewers along a visual journey. Using these photos create a presentation and share it with the class.

3. Mapping Omar’s Journey: This story uses text and photography to explore and retrace the life of Omar Ibn Said. Throughout the story, photographs are used to guide readers along the travels that the Post and Courier team made from the United States to Senegal in search of Omar’s true identity and home. Create a map that shows Omar’s forced voyage from Senegal to the United States using details, photographs, and quotes. Students may choose to draw maps or create digital maps. Students can then share maps with the class. Here is an example of a unit from Spring 2021 Teacher Fellow Ken Hung that models some ways that students created maps using google earth to communicate migration stories.

4. Reflective Writing: Recall your response to the warm-up question, and consider: Have any aspects of your identity been misrepresented, distorted, or taken for granted in the past? How? Why or why not? In the form of a brief reflective writing activity, expand on your warm-up response. Address the following question in your paper:

• How have you been impacted by this?
• How did/do you deal with this?
• What is the value of storytelling/journalism towards accurate representation of folks' identities?

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 

Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.