Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Welcome!

Welcome to the Art, Politics and Protest Blog for the Fall of 2010. Soon you'll see topics for your weekly short responses, announcement, links and more. Once you've set up your blog, leave its address in the comments. Soon, you'll be linked through this page. Once our blogs are linked you'll also be able to read and comment on one another's writing.

Each week you'll find here the topic for your short response to post on your own blog. Your response should be about 300-500 words (that would be about a page or two in a double-spaced word file).

Here are topics for our first week. We don't meet again until Thursday, but post by next Tuesday so your colleagues and I can respond. Post a response to ONE topic of your choice on your blog. You don't have to respond to each part of the question in order: go with what gets you interested and writing. Respond in any format or organization you wish but be specific, make direct reference to the text(s), and be sure to make sense! Along with your post, read the selection of Harlem Renassaince poems and Richard Wright's "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" from your packet for next Thursday. Bring both the packet and Reed's book to class.

1) In his essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," poet Langston Hughes talks about the challenges faced by Black artists. What does he see as the main challenges? Then look at the selection of poems from the Harlem Renassaince from your packet. What connections do you see between Hughes' essays and these poems?

2) In his essay "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow," Richard Wright describes his experiences as a young man learning about the power system of the South. How would you describe this system: who has the power? How do they hold on to it? How do people without power respond and resist? What forms of resistance do you think would be effective in this system?

3) On Thursday we watched the first hour of the documentary Eyes on the Prize, a history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Describe the main factors that lead to the emergence of this movement at this time. What have you learned about the Civil Rights movement - in school or outside? What more would you like to learn?

24 comments:

  1. Raisa Wilson's Blog: http://raisawilson.blogspot.com/

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  2. Got it, my blog address is http://dCastro82.blogspot.com/

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. my blog? http://ska-janota.blogspot.com/

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  5. http://gutierrezkevin.blogspot.com/

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  6. http://jeremiahwernerenn191.blogspot.com/

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  7. yesenia marte,Blog;
    http://yeseniamarte.blogspot.com/

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  8. http://baldwinenn191.blogspot.com/

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  9. This my new blog for this class:
    http://enn191chrisbloggin.blogspot.com/
    Christopher Santiago

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  10. This is my blog
    http://phyliciasimonfelix.blogspot.com/

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  11. Mario

    this is my blog
    http://theguardia.blogspot.com/

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  12. Hi Emon - Can you post the address for your blog?

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  13. this is my blog


    http://gperezenn191.blogspot.com/

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  14. This is my blog:
    http://martaw23.blogspot.com
    Marta

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  15. hi prof. here's my blog

    http://caraballojose.blogspot.com

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  16. JORGE C = jorgeblogger2010@blogspot.com

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  17. My blog.

    http://karlosoldevilla.blogspot.com/

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  18. Sharon Persaud, my blog address:

    http://sharondamani.blogspot.com/

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  19. I think the author here is showing that blacks in the early south were almost immune to this type of racism. " I believe the author finds the part about being equal very ironic with his title and when he mentions his "Jim Crow lessons. Throughout this article Wright talks about learning his "Jim Crow lessons. I think that in telling Wright this, his mother is teaching him that blacks are not as good as whites and that he should be thankful that they allow blacks to exist in the same world as the whites. It is so commonplace that the blacks hardly blink when it happens. The author points out that caution must be used when talking with whites on subjects like the Ku Klux Klan, Abraham Lincoln, the civil war, and "any topic calling for positive knowledge or manly self-assertion on the part of the Negro" (610), should be avoided. With this, I believe, the author has come to the realization that when it comes to racism, the blacks in the south knew about it, received it frequently, and came to accept it and the atrocities that come with it. In one section the author talks about watching his white boss drag and kick a black woman into the store where he worked. The author explains what happened with some of his black co-workers. She goes on to say that he should be thankful that the white kids didn't kill him. ot understand why the two were different. The author explains that the whites there were a little more accepting, and would actually hold conversations with the blacks. His mother tells him that he is "never, never, under any conditions, to fight white folks again" (601). Wright later talks about moving to a larger city and the interactions he had with the white people there.

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  20. Hi Mariam - This is a great overview of Wright's essay. I don't know if I'd agree that Blacks were immune, exactly, but certainly the ideology of racism was everywhere around them and inseparable from everyday life.

    Can you set up your blog and do your future posts there? Thanks!

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  21. Gregory Harvey my blog address finally lol http://thoureveryhour.blogspot.com/

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