Portraits of Americans Dreaming

In this task students will read, analyze, and write about a range of documentary texts from American art and literature that portray the American dream and how people pursue, secure, or are disappointed in their quest for it. Students will then research the life of a person they know who has pursued his or her dreams in America, using a range of strategies (e.g., interviewing, analyzing photos and objects, using the internet to research the time period in which their subject lived, etc.) and write a short expository portrait of that person that examines the complex idea of the American dream, drawing on the evidence they collected about their subject’s life and times.