*********ALREADY ASSIGNED******How Important is Diversity?
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1-6_weekly_reading.docx1ST WEEK READING
We will begin by exploring and studying race questions in America. We will discuss African American writer, W.E.B. DuBois and challenge his assertion that the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line. You will think about this tough issue Americans faced and explore what specific voices rose up during these times and events and dared to cast into words what they were experiencing as seen in African American writer, Frederick Douglass.
W.E.B. DuBois
W.E.B. DuBois, the first black Harvard Ph.D. graduate, and the first black member of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as the first to cite education as the best avenue for economic advancement, lead African American thinkers, all thinkers - American and beyond, of the early 20th Century to truly explore the color-line as the biggest problem in America for years to come and urge them to take immediate action to address this issue.
In exploring his writings, you should first consider what it like was to make such a strong statement with the lynching, slavery, and violence that infused life for African Americans. Then, we must read and consider DuBois's words as gifts placed before us, as words preserved that will give us a deeper glimpse at what it meant to exist in a time that is now gone.
Finally, we must recognize times passage and consider where our minds, hearts, and lives meet up with the color-line issue and ask ourselves: Is the color-line still relevant today? As we read his address before the Chicago Conference of the National Association of Colored People in 1926: "Criteria of Negro Art," these are the facts and questions that will inform our reading.
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an outspoken and instrumental leader in the antislavery movement. His conviction was that "people want to do what is best," but that "they must be shown that to do right is best" (Bryant, 2010, p. 3).
Following this, Douglass writes, "What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages...to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to knock out their teeth" (p. 17). He goes on to say, "There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him" (p. 17).
In this speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July, Douglass ties his concerns to all humanity and what it means to enjoy the freedom that the Fourth of July represents. He gifts us words that we can consider, discuss, and fully explore from our own vantage point: today, but we cannot soon forget the turmoil slaves faced in this period of history. Please listen and learn more on YouTube.
Put Yourself in the Author's Shoes
Size ten, eleven, thirteen, it doesn't matter, but you will want to place your feet in the shoes of those you read throughout this course. As you read, you will want to think about the historical and cultural contexts in which the authors lived and wrote. Placing yourself in their shoes means, for example, that when we think about Douglass, can we even imagine giving a speech in front of our enemies, facing a multitude of individuals who may not believe in you, and making a bold statement: for the slave, there is no independence, freedom, or Fourth of July. When we do this, the words we read cascade over us and infuse and inform our thoughts. It becomes exciting to feel the power and bravery of a man who was willing to stand, alone, during a tumultuous time and speak his mind. You may even ask yourself: would I have such daring?
Reference Terms in Historical Context
Remember, also, that the terms have changed over time. Before the civil rights movement, Black Americans were referred to as negroes. Through the 1980s, the terms were Black, African, or Afro-American were used. Today, the politically correct term is African American and Of African Descent. Similarly, there are labels in place now that were not common then such as sexual minorities and people who are differently able. Please keep this in mind as your read.
Reference
Bryant, J. (2010). The Pearson Custom Library of American Literature. Rasmussen College English Department. New York, NY: Pearson Learning Solutions.
2ND WEEK READING
What is true of art is that when suppressed it rises up and the Harlem Renaissance is a perfect example of that movement. When we think about the suppression and the beat down ways we discussed before, we will now experience writing that moves toward a rising passion in America It's a passion that grew out of the pavement of the backstreets of the USA, and it was a movement that soaked into the soul of a nation, through words and music.
Think about how this period was made possible thanks to the efforts of writers who came before them. Think about this as the achievement of these writers and how they carved a path for those to follow. Really hear these writers. Read them aloud when they share a poem. Think about shifts in tone, style, theme, and rhythm, and its exciting change.
Celebrating an Explosion of African American Literature
The Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance marked an explosion of African American arts: writing, visual art, music, theater, and critical-theoretical production. Some of the most influential artists rose up from poverty to enjoy notoriety. The movement geographical center was Chicago and Harlem, New York in the 1920s. This was a time when Broadway was booming and modernist art had great currency, both in the United States and elsewhere. The Blues and Jazz were big influences during this period and we hear this influence in the work we will read.
Zora Neale Hurston
Born to a Reverend father, Hurston lost her mother at the age of nine, attended school very little, and petitioned her way through prestigious schools until she won a scholarship to Barnard College, a division of Columbia College. The story we will read "The Gilded Six-Bits" was published in Story magazine. This publication caught the eye of an editor that urged her to write a novel, and her career was launched.
Pay attention to the repetition, rhythm, and exciting word choices Hurston uses. "It was a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement that looked to the payroll of the G. and G. Fertilizer works for its support" is an example of repetition. "The front yard was parted in the middle by a sidewalk from gate to door-step, a sidewalk edged..." is an example of great word choice with a repetitive beat as "sidewalk" serves up a nice visual for her reader.
Consider how authentic the dialogue in this piece is as well: "Whew! dat play-fight got me all worked up," Joe exclaimed. "Got me some water in de kittle" (Bryant, 2010, p.64)? Think about why Hurston chose to do this over simply saying, "Got water in the kettle?"
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes, a prolific and important artist of the Harlem Renaissance, shaped literary modernism. He wrote poems, plays, novels, short, stories, articles, and essays, and made a passionate effort to further the views about humanity and equality. Hughes, seen as both an acclaimed novelist and gifted poet, "believed that if poetry was to be an agent of social change it must appeal to blacks of all classes, not simply the upper reaches of the black intelligentsia. The art the movement generated should draw on black vernacular materials-jazz and folk tales and spirituals-in order to grant African Americans a sense of racial identity and shared experience that would prove a powerful political tool" (Bryant, 2010, p. 85). His poem, The Weary Blues is shared with music on YouTube.com.
Claude McKay
Claude McKay , son of a Jamaican farmer, was an invited speaker abroad and poet/writer who "contributed to literature and politics helped to change American and international conceptions of race, class, and colonialism" (Bryant, 2010, p. 92). His first novel, Home to Harlem, featured rare glimpse of African-American life, World War I realities, and a picturesque journey through the United States. Listen to Claude McKay's America set to music and images on YouTube.com.
Alice Walker
Alice Walker , best known for her novel and Steven Spielberg's film adaptation, The Color Purple, brought many issues to the forefront: "race and gender oppression, physical and emotional abuse, relationships between individuals and among families and communities" (Bryant, 2010, p. 105). After losing sight in one eye from a childhood BB gun accident, she feared losing her sight in the other eye and began "storing up images against the fading light" (p. 105). In this YouTube.com video, she talks about the freedom rides to Gaza.
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison , Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-Winning author, is known for her characterization, creative genius, thought-provoking storytelling, and rhythmic prose. She is seen here speaking about her "Society Bench by the Road Dedication" project, which dedicates benches along the road to commemorate the history of African American people. She may be best known for her novel, The Bluest Eye. Listen to an excerpt from a play based on the story on YouTube.com, which reminds us that we universally want to be loved.
3RD WEEK READING
he Mestiza, Borderlands, and What it means to Live Cross Culturally
Notice the terms used in many of our readings: Mestiza, the Borderlands, and cross cultures. Listen to changes in tone and feel the intensity rise up off the page of these writings. Notice how Cofer uses details to connect us to her world: "Not many years later that area too would be mainly Puerto Rican. It was as if the heart of the city map were being gradually colored in brown-cafe-con-leche brown. Our Color" (Bryant, 2010, p. 232). Ask yourself what deeper meaning the description.
Look for use of repetition in your readings. What is this alerting us as readers? What do the authors want us to learn? Again, read for meaning, but also read for the experience: the sound of the words, the images, and the rhythm of the words.
As you read, you will want to think about the historical and cultural contexts in which the authors lived and wrote. Placing yourself in their shoes means, for example, what is it like to not understand the language where you are living, to not understand and join in, or to not be free to communicate your thoughts and ideas? How many different languages do we know and how does this influence how we live? Think about how it must have felt living between the traditions you grew up with and the culture you currently face. You may even ask yourself: how well would I have done in this environment?
Judith Ortiz Cofer
Judith Ortiz Cofer often credits her grandmother's avid storytelling to her love of language and writing. In her writing, she "shows the tension that is an integral part of a life lived within and between two cultures" (Bryant, 2010, p. 230). Listen to reading of her work, The Line of the Sun.
Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros writes with a provocative, pointed satirical, renegade style using poignant imagery while exploring the changes Mexicans face immigrating to the United States: steadfast commitments, the resilient woman who endures hardships, heartbreaks, love, alienation, poverty, and renewals (Bryant, 2010, p. 202). In this video, Cisneros talks about writing and those who inspired her.
4TH WEEK READING
he Native American has a deep underlying connection to the Earth, land, and all living things. They have a troubled, sordid past, and have struggled long and hard to maintain their rights among people. We are familiar with this from history books, but now we will closely examine and carefully study the Native American culture from these writers perspective. If you have not read writers like Eastman, Silko, and Alexie, you are in for a treat. Please consider how the care and tending to the land and their heritages translates to the care of choosing words to write across the printed page.
You will want to ask what it is each author is doing to add his/her version, or vision, to what is the Native American identity. Is the writer actively writing against commonly held beliefs, questioning the persistent images popular culture has inundates us with, or is it fueled by a different passion or concern?
Charles Alexander Eastman
Eastman , one of a long line of chiefs, one of the first Native American authors to publish, and one of the first Native doctors, wrote about the Sioux life and customs with brilliant descriptions and influence. The opening lines of Winona, The Child Woman from Old Indian Days, shows this: "The sky is blue overhead, peeping through a window-like openings in a roof of green leaves" (Bryant, 2010, p 244). Eastman was also known to write collaboratively with his wife, Goodale Eastman.
Helen Hunt Jackson
Jackson, a highly successful poet, was a neighbor of poet Emily Dickinson's neighbor, shared the same mentor, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and, later, friendship. While Jackson used her poetry as a means to grieve for the deaths of her infant son and first husband, she also wrote to assert her opinions and views as seen in our reading, A Century of Dishonor.
Sherman J. Alexie, Jr.
Alexie, a truly gifted storyteller, writes, "I sing with everything I have inside of me: pain, happiness, anger, depression, heart, soul, small intestine. I sing and am rewarded with people who listen. That is why I am a poet" (Bryant, 2010, p. 268). Emotions, humor, and the truth are hallmark of his work as Alexie raises awareness and redefines what it means to be Native American. His is a place of honor. If you have not read his book, The Absolute Diary of a Part-Time Indian, you might want to after reading his story, "What Your Pawn I Will Redeem."
N. Scott Momaday
"Momaday, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, poet, painter, and printmaker, grew up listening to his father tells stories from the Kiowa oral tradition" (Bryant, 2010, p. 304). Momaday was equally influenced by his mother, who became an author of children's books and went on to be quite a successful novelist, educator, and mover for the Native American people. Here's an introductory video that shares his background in his own words.
Joy Harjoy
Harjoy is a "writer, musician, photographer, university professor, and feminist/activist," that is hailed as "one of the real poets of our mixed, fermenting, end-of-century north American imagination" (Bryant, 2010, p. 317). Here Harjoy, a rich storyteller, shares her power, poetry and personality.
Simon J. Ortiz
Many bios claim while Ortiz did not speak until the age of four, his fascination with language and literature started early on (Byrant p. 331). "Ortiz's experiences at various boarding schools for Native-American children, where punishment was meted out to those who spoke in their own tongue, no doubt also reinforced his passion for words and for understanding their power" (p. 331). He often speaks about the importance of listening: Listening, "not really to find any secrets or sudden enlightenment, but to be improved with that whole process and experience the whole process and experience of language. That's the way we'll come to know how we are, who we are, what we know, what we'll come to know" (p.331).
5TH WEEK READING
n this module, you will explore the literature of two Asian American writers, Li-Young Lee and Cathy Song. In addition, you will gain understanding of other Asian American writers through links to their biographies. Do you think Lee and Song's writings will be similar, given their strong and similar cultural roots? When we think about the Asian culture, the words respect and obedience come to mind. The culture places an importance on elders, on respect, and on traditions, and in these stories, we will see how these concepts impact the main characters.
What we have experienced throughout this course are writers whose words have connected people to people, feelings and understanding. Kingston continues her missions, helping veterans in hopes to continuing that understanding. Might, at times, the veteran even been seen as minority? Writing and community, and writing from a place of generosity. She tells about their mission of sharing, and how writing connects passion to bridge to understanding to further our understanding of diversity.
What a worthy life mission, right?
Li-Young Lee
Lee experienced Indonesian's 1950s landscape first-hand as his father found himself in conflict with then President Suharto, imprisoned, and tortured, and he fled to the United States. As we read his works this week, let's consider how this may or may not have influenced his writing.
Cathy Song
Song is known for poems rich in visual imagery, which often "depict the immigrant experience, especially themes of freedom and alienation" (Bryant, 2010, p. 418). Her words create "Colorful, sensual, and quiet" images (p. 419). Let's experience this for ourselves.
6TH WEEK READING
Have you ever tried to write, holding a pen by your toes? Have you ever thought about how it might feel to live without a limb? Consider how disability fits into the concept of diversity.
In a symposium on "Disability Studies and the University," Professor Simi Linton sat in a wheelchair before the audience and talked about the disability project. "Disability studies' project is to weave disabled people back into the fabric of society, thread-by-thread, and theory-by-theory. It aims to expose the ways that disability has been made exceptional and to work to naturalize disabled people-remake us as full citizens whose rights and privileges are intact, whose history and contributions are recorded, and whose often distorted representations in art, literature, film, theater, and other forms of artistic expression are fully analyzed."
Consider where we started and where we are now.
We have discussed minority and majority, and now we come full circle to review our own understanding of the field that is minority literature. Once again ask yourself: what do I think? How has our journey impacted or stretched my own understanding?
We know that our study on this type of minority is small and there are others:
Scholars, like DuBois, question the changing of the color-line.
Gay studies programs at major universities question clear-cut readings of gender and sexuality.
Deaf and Dis/ability studies question the notion of which bodies and realities we consider normal, or able, and which we marginalize as not quite whole or fully able.
Studies of mixed raced and multi-cultured lives and experiences challenge the earlier notions of race and ethnicity.
