A
Living Document, Evolving Based on Suggestions:
In the summer of 2013,
social media shattered any pretense that Americans were living in a post-racial
era. George Zimmerman was acquitted of
the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an injustice that closely followed media
attention on the allegations against Paula Deen. After Zimmerman’s acquittal, in cities across
America, protestors dressed in hoodies marched and carried signs, while
President Obama called for a national conversation on racial relations. For a short time it seemed like such a
discussion might happen. Then we
blinked. The media moved on to other
stories, other outrages. It was summer
after all, and we went to the beach, to the lake, to our places of rest. We went on and nothing changed.
Nothing changed except
this. That conversation is still waiting
to happen. It’s not that social media
exposed us to any new idea this summer.
All sites like publicshaming.tumbrl.com did was drag the ugliness of
racism out into plain sight where we couldn’t ignore it anymore. If we are honest, we’ve been hearing such racist
comments out in public or in the privacy of our homes, from strangers and from our
own friends and family. All social media
helped us realize was how tangible and destructive racism continues to be in
America in 2013.
Along with so many others, I
felt angry and helpless, but then I had an idea I posted on Facebook.
One afternoon I was
imagining a literature class in which the only two students were George
Zimmerman and Paula Deen, and I started daydreaming about what I would put on
the syllabus. I immediately realized that every semester I do have a student or
two like Zimmerman or Deen pass through one course or another. I thought about
the Supreme Court’s dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, how now more than
ever we need open and honest discussions about race. What better place for this to happen than the
classroom, and what better subject, since reading fiction has been shown to
increase empathy?
I asked this question to my
friends, many of whom are teachers: if George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are
students in our classroom, then what stories, essays, poems, novels, or plays
should we put on the syllabus of life? Here now, I would like to share the best
responses and suggestions, along with links connecting to the work. I’m more hopeful, now than ever, that at
least through literature we might achieve both dialogue and progress on the
subject of race in America. I’m calling
this a “living document” because I plan to keep updating it with new writing
and suggestions and links.
One thing most commenters
agreed on is that while such discussions are necessary, they are still going to
be difficult. Professor Aimee Viera
noted that: “the
hard part is designing an evaluation regime that encourages bravery and
engagement on the part of the students, with honesty of expression being
supported (even when those honest expressions are shocking in their ignorance).
I struggle with this challenge regularly.”
As this document continues to evolve, I also hope to include
questions and writing prompts that will help encourage discussion in the
classroom. For instance, in the note
below on Anna Deavere Smith's one
woman play, Fires in the Mirror, Professor
Diana Joseph included three questions that may be useful as a touchstone for discussion. (See below)
Here are some literary resources to consider, broken down by genre—Short Story, Short Story Collection, Essay,
Discussion or Video Link, Essay Collection, Classic Novel and Young Adult,
Graphic Novel, and Play—with links to full texts or video where available.
than ever we need
honest, open discussions about race. What better place for this to happen than
in the classroom, and what better subject, since reading fiction has been to
shown to increase empathy? So, if George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are students
in our classroom, then what essays, stories, poems, novels or plays should we
put on the syllabus of life?Short Story:
"The End of FIRPO in the World" by George
Saunders: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1998/05/18/1998_05_18_076_TNY_LIBRY_000015572we need honest,
open discussions about race. What better place for this to happen than in the
classroom, and what better subject, since reading fiction has been to shown to
increase empathy? So, if George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are students in our
classroom, then what essays, stories, poems, novels or plays should we put on
the syllabus of life?than ever we need honest,
open discussions about race. What better place for this to happen than in the
classroom, and what better subject, since reading fiction has been to shown to
increase empathy? So, if George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are students in our
classroom, then what essays, stories, poems, novels or plays should we put on
the syllabus of life? than ever we need honest, open
discussions about race. What better place for this to happen than in the
classroom, and what better subject, since reading fiction has been to shown to
increase empathy? So, if George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are students in our
classroom, then what essays, stories, poems, novels or plays should we put on
the syllabus of life? than ever we
need honest, open discussions about race. What better place for this to happen
than in the classroom, and what better subject, since reading fiction has been
to shown to increase empathy? So, if George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are
students in our classroom, then what essays, stories, poems, novels or plays
should we put on the syllabus of life? than ever we need honest, open
discussions about race. What better place for this to happen than in the
classroom, and what better subject, since reading fiction has been to shown to
increase empathy? So, if George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are students in our
classroom, then what essays, stories, poems, novels or plays should we put on
the syllabus of life? than ever we need honest, open discussions about race.
What better place for this to happen than in the classroom, and what better
subject, since reading fiction has been to shown to increase empathy? So, if
George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are students in our classroom, then what
essays, stories, poems, novels or plays should we put on the syllabus of life?
than ever we need honest, open discussions about race. What better place for
this to happen than in the classroom, and what better subject, since reading
fiction has been to shown to increase empathy? So, if George Zimmerman and
Paula Deen are students in our classroom, then what essays, stories, poems,
novels or plays should we put on the syllabus of life? than ever we need
honest, open discussions about race. What better place for this to happen than
in the classroom, and what better subject, since reading fiction has been to
shown to increase empathy? So, if George Zimmerman and Paula Deen are students
in our classroom, then what essays, stories, poems, novels or plays should we
put on the syllabus of life?
Short
Story Collection:
Essay:
"Black Men and Public Spaces” by Brent Staples. This widely anthologized essay, a staple in
composition texts, was first published
in Harpers in 1986 but remains fully relevant and compelling. http://facstaff.uww.edu/carlberj/Journal3.htm
“The Death of a Boy:
Trayvon Martin” by Kao Kalia Yang.
Discussion
or Video Link:
Essay
Collection or Nonfiction Work:
The
Women by Hilton Als. Part
memoir and part sociopolitical examination, Hilton Als explores the story of
his own mother and the mother of Malcolm X in this book about race and
identity. http://us.macmillan.com/thewomen/HiltonAls
The
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: I’ve taught this book before as part
Normandale’s Common Book program and it’s a student favorite. For instructors out there, one serious
advantage is the extensive resources found on this book: http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/teaching/
"Looking at Emmitt Till" by John Edgar Wideman. A
portion of this essay collection, “The Killing of Black Boys,” first published
in Essence magainze, is also
available online: http://www.emmetttillmurder.com/Wideman.htm
Novel:
The
Round House by Louise Erdrich. This novel is Normandale’s Common Book for
the academic year of 2013-2014 and I look forward to teaching it. The
Roundhouse, which deals with issues of violence against women and tribal
justice, has been compared to Harper Lee’s To
Kill a Mockingbird and won the National Book Award in 2012. PBS has a solid interview with the author up,
and here’s a guide that includes discussion questions: http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/8956-round-house-erdrich-?start=1
The
Book of Night Women by Marlon James. Marlon James teaches at Macalester in the
Twin Cities. His second novel is written
in the patois of a Jamaican slave and it was a finalist for the National Book
Critic’s Circle Award. Here on his blog,
he debates whether or not to get rid of his Flannery O’Connor books after
discovering she was a racist: http://marlon-james.blogspot.com/
Pym by Mat
Johnson. Here is a deeply American
novel, about what it means white or black in this country, a wildly inventive
story that features an out of work professor on a “crazy adventure to find
Poe’s only novel, The Narrative of Arthur
Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Satiric and
inventive, the novel also features fascinating discussions about race in
America. At the author’s website you can
find links to the Poe novel, along with other works it inspired: http://matjohnson.info/sequels/
The
Healing by Jonathan O’Dell.
Twin Cities writer Jonathan O’Dell grew up in Mississippi, where he was
involved in the Civil Rights movement.
He consults on issues of diversity for corporations and has published a
guide called Work Skills for Teams and
Courageous Conversations. I hope to
find out more about how he engages in such conversations. His website can be found here: http://jon-odell.com/blog/about-jon-2/
Classic
Novel and Young Adult*:
*These are novels are sometimes taught in high school, but
many people may not have read them and they deserve a space on every shelf.
To Kill
a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
Some go as far as crediting this novel with helping to spark the Civil
Rights movement by telling the truth about racial injustice in the South. More
about the link between the two can be found here: http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/mockingbird/civil.htm
Cry the
Beloved Country by Alex Paton.
Stacie Michelle Williams pointed out that it may help students to see
racial relations and troubling histories in other countries and she remembered
this classic novel set in Apartheid South Africa as being “mind-opening.” Many unit plans for teaching this novel exist
online: http://www.careerhighschool.org/uploads/1/5/9/7/15971030/cry_beloved_.pdf
Graphic
Novel:
American
Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. Complex, multi-layered story of growing up
Chinese in America in the 1980’s.
Resources for teaching this and other graphic novels can be found
here: http://teachingwithgraphicnovels.com/2011/08/09/american-born-chinese/
The
Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Graphic memoir about growing up in Iran
during the revolution. Satrapi’s story
is taught in classes nationwide, though it is sometimes censored: http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/03/18/1735481/chicago-public-schools-take-marjane-satrapis-persepolis-out-of-seventh-grade-classrooms/
Play:
Fires
in the Mirror by Anna Deveare Smith. Professor Diana Joseph relates her reading experience
here and I love the three questions she includes: “I read it in one of Melanie
Rae Thon's classes when I was in grad school and it blew my mind. It's about
the riots that happened in Crown Heights, Brooklyn back in the early 90's after
a Hasidic rabbi was acquitted for the death of a black child--the rabbi and his
driver killed the kid in a hit and run. Anna Deveare Smith interviewed many
people from both communities--everyone from a Hasidic Jewish housewife to Al
Sharpton--and turned those interviews into the dramatic monologues that make up
her play. What I think is especially amazing is that Smith plays all the parts.
The stuff she says about writing in her introduction is good, too. (One thing
has always stayed with me. She says there are three questions that will you can
ask anyone and their answers will be poetry: 1. have you ever been close to
death; 2. what were the circumstances of your birth; and 3. have you ever been
accused of something you did not do?)