1/13: We are going to follow up yesterday’s work by watching an extended section of Many Rivers to Cross (start at 21:30 through the end) – one that deals with Reconstruction and its dismantling in the South. Pay attention to the promise and the obstacles facing blacks in America, and THINK about how those still affect us today (and in your outside reading books).
THINK about economic promise and obstacles
about leadership
about threats and how they are handled
about autonomy and the American Dream
After we’ve watched, I’ll ask you to write for a while so you can get your thoughts together for discussion.
1/11: Book groups today. You can listen to a terrific hour about W.E.B. Dubois and his legacy here.
1/7: We looked at Booker T and W.E.B. DuBois (see attachments below.)
1/6: Book club group meetings (see "independent reading" below). HOMEWORK: Read the excerpt from Roxane Gay's "The Price of Black Ambition" (attached below) and come ready to talk about her ideas.
1/4: We are going to watch several segments of Eyes on the Prize, a comprehensive documentary about important events in the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Many of these events figure into your book group books* either directly or as important background to understanding the events. These events also matter for the course because, as you will see, ordinary people took extraordinary risks in order to effect change. Today, we’ll look at Emmitt Till’s life and death and the trial, and school integration.On the front of the notecard: bullet notes – facts that will help you to understand/remember the events, people’s actions that stand out to you as important, ideas that connect to what we’ve been talking about and studying. By the end of the viewing, the front should be full.On the back of the notecard (after we’ve watched): React and reflect about what you saw. What struck you as important? What was memorable/disturbing? What connections can you make to your book, to what we have been discussing in class, to our world. etc.? Be specific and clear and fill the back of the card.*Please remember that book groups are meeting on Wednesday. You need to have at least two pages of a blue book reflection (in addition to any notes that you take) for class on Wednesday. After the book group meeting, you need to write an additional two pages about what you discovered as a result of the discussion. I’ll be collecting the journals on the day of the exam. One of the required essays on the exam will ask you to write about the book as well, so take good notes.
12/18: We are watching an extended clip today from Henry Louis Gates’ documentary series Many Rivers toCross about African- American history in the United States. Today’s section deals with slavery (watch from about18:00 - 30:00 and then 33:00 to then end). We are watching this for a few reasons – first, on some of your race notecards, people wrote that things to the effect of: slavery was along time ago, we need to get over the past. Slavery ended on paper 150 years ago (the span of two 75 year old women’s lives) after having been a force in America for more than 200 years. Second – this documentary illustrates the experiences and costs of slavery through the live (‘voices”) of real people. It also shows that from the very beginning, black men and women have fought for their own lives, for their freedoms and for their humanity. That’s important for our class. Third - many of these ideas/issues have far-reaching effects in our day and especially in the independent reading books. As you watch, jot down notes and ideas about the costs of slavery on the people involved and on society. THINK in terms of how slavery stripped people of humanity, of their individuality (naming) and of families and of their histories.
Here's Jabari Asim on The Colbert Report talking about the history of the N word.
Here's the StoryCorps interview between Alex Landry and his adoptive mom Patsy Hathaway.
Here's Aamer Rahman's comedy piece that highlights the power structure inherent in racism.
Here's Mellody Hobson's TED talk.