Readings

The essays that we're reading this week and also Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah's essay for next week and the documentary we'll be watching are all exploring what it means to be African American in the 20th and 21st century. I'd like to see us make connections between these texts. Also, I think it wouldn't hurt to try and connect these texts to our writings. How does education impact the authors of these texts?

Other questions:

"The City that Bleeds": What did you know about the murder of Freddie Gray before you read this essay? Have you been to Baltimore? What role does the city play in this essay? What does it mean when Jackson writes "...race and the future seem so intertwined as to be the same thing" (45)? Do you know about "broken windows" (53) policing? (An outgrowth of this is "stop and frisk" in NYC.) What does this theory of law enforcement have to do w/ Jackson's essay? What does Jackson's h.s. experience that he describes on pp. 53-54 have to do w/ the death of Freddie Gray?

"Sparrow Needy": What role did Lynwood have in the young McClane's life? McClane refers to African American writer James Baldwin at the end of his essay (126). Both the essay we're reading next week and the film we're watching are about Baldwin. Check out the Wikipedia page about him so that you know his significance in literary and African American history.