Category: African-American Studies

You could choose parents, teachers, students, school board, or state legislature, among others, on either side of the issue. Discuss how you would/could impact the group of your choice.

The Problem We All Live With

You are to listen to the podcast (see link below). As you hear the story, you will hear that the podcast discusses several groups related to the issue. Imagine that you are asked to intervene or help one of the groups.
Think about and then choose the group you think you would/could have the biggest impact with.

You could choose parents, teachers, students, school board, or state legislature, among others, on either side of the issue. Discuss how you would/could impact the group of your choice.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-one

What were some of the solutions and methods in addressing/alleviating these concerns and injustices? Are these solutions plausible given the conditions?

Critical Reading Assignment #2

What were some of the solutions and methods in addressing/alleviating these concerns and injustices? Are these solutions plausible given the conditions? For context, be sure to review the previous lecture notes on the Black Power movement, for instance.

Now, given the intentions of the Black Panther Party as revealed in Peeble’s film, what does Coogler’s, Black Panther teach us (see commentaries in readings for the week)? Does it add to our understanding of societal injustice in the lives of Africana people? Does the film teach us about liberation for Africana people or is this film just entertainment? Think about the end of the film in particular when solutions are proposed to “help” African Americans.

In other words, what ideas for liberation are revealed within the new Black Panther film and are they plausibe? In responding to this question, think about if you agree or disagree with Lebron and Burrough’s critiques and why or why not? And how is this interation of Black Panther different from or similiar to Hudlin’s Black Panther animation (2011)? What is his work about? Are his intentions similiar to or distinct from the message(s) in Coogler’s work?

In thinking about our contemporary Black Lives Matter Movement (see reading) and The Hate U Give, what is the purpose of this novel and film and does it speak to the contemporary discussion of police death of Africana/Black and brown bodies? Is it important to document these experiences? Why or why not? What solutions do the novel and film propose, if at all? How does this film, then, compare to messages within varying interations of Black Panther?

What do you see as the two or three major recurrent thematic concerns in African American literature? How do these concerns evolve over time, and to what extent do other works of American literature share them?

Exam Essay

Essay Prompt:

What do you see as the two or three major recurrent thematic concerns in African American literature? How do these concerns evolve over time, and to what extent do other works of American literature share them? Based on your reading list, in what directions would you expect future American writers to take their literature?

Specifically this paper needs to discuss the following recurrent thematic concerns:

>The Dehumanizing Effects of Slavery
> Memory and the Past
>Christianity vs. The Evils of Slavery

Source material will be provided via PDF. These are the ONLY sources to be used.

-Beloved by Toni Morrison
-Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
-Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
-Animate Literacies: Literature, Affect, and the Politics of Humanism
-Race,” Writing, and Difference by Henry Louis Gates

Discuss the distinctions between commemoration and education.

Consider the articles linked below as well as other academic or public sources in your response.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/20/ut-austin-removing-confederate-statues-middle-night/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/education/university-of-texas/ut-austin-removed-confederate-statues-group-takes-case-to-court/269-d96e4a4c-2d02-40d5-8fff-6fba80193eee (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/jefferson-davis-back-ut/ (Links to an external site.)

For a refresher on definitions and ethical frameworks, review your lecture notes and visit:

https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

A complete essay will:

Consider the ethical dilemmas the University, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the courts, and other stakeholders may have faced.
Discuss the distinctions between commemoration and education.

Explain how the experience of enslaved women as discussed in this book differ from that of slaves in general or of enslaved men as you have learned elsewhere? Make sure to also compare and contrast what you have learned here and elsewhere about the experiences of enslaved women and white women during the Antebellum Period (1789-1860).

Prompt:

Use from book ‘Ar’n’t  A Woman?’

Explain how the experience of enslaved women as discussed in this book differ from that of slaves in general or of enslaved men as you have learned elsewhere? Make sure to also compare and contrast what you have learned here and elsewhere about the experiences of enslaved women and white women during the Antebellum Period (1789-1860).

Are complex concepts, ideas, arguments, and theories explained clearly and succinctly without oversimplifying or overcomplicating them?

TEXTBOOK USED WAS “Blacks” Gwendolyn Brooks -MLA style 7th-8th edition_

Here are questions to ask yourself about the structural aspects of your paper:

Does the introduction present and describe the materials under analysis?

Does the introduction point to the specific elements or approach to that analysis?

Is there a clearly articulated that states precisely what the essay’s argument is?

Is the paper structured along the lines of that argument, taking the reader through each aspect of the ?

Does the paper introduce and contextualize outside sources that are appealed to in order to support the argument (and this can be by agreement or disagreement, by connection, expansion, or departure)?

Are complex concepts, ideas, arguments, and theories explained clearly and succinctly without oversimplifying or overcomplicating them?

Are textual passages introduced and contextualized?

Are textual passages analyzed forcefully and clearly with careful close readings that support some aspect of the?

Is there a careful conclusion that brings us back through the essay’s overall line of reasoning now that the case has been made?