Places in Black History: St. Nicholas Avenue, Harlem, New York, New York

Posted on January 30, 2026 | Leave a comment

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Frederick Douglass on Slave Songs

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

“[Of slave songs:] Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.”

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ch. 2 (1845)

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

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Cultural Literacy: Chuck Berry

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Chuck Berry. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. The sparest of introductions to this musical innovator, but one nonetheless that notes his influence on The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review

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Wayne Shorter

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Wayne Shorter: (1933-2023) U.S. saxophonist and composer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he studied at New York University, He played with Art Blakey’s group 1959-64, acting as its musical director, then joined Miles Davis’s remarkable mid-1960s group, including Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams. In 1970, he and Joe Zawinul formed Weather Report, the most significant jazz-rock ‘fusion’ band of the 1970s, with bassist Jaco Pastorius. He has written many distinctive jazz standards.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Cultural Literacy: Tanzania

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on Tanzania. This is full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and seven comprehension questions.

The second sentence in the reading, I must warn users, is a slog. It is actually four clauses separated by semicolons. This sentence outlines the geography of Tanzania and its neighbors–the kind of thing I want to try to use with students who are a bit higher on the scaffold of literacy. If you are dealing with emergent readers or users of English as a second language, I think you will perceive the necessity of breaking up that second sentence, the verbal equivalent of the Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston.

Fortunately, the task is relatively easy. You really only need to remove the semicolons and turn the clauses they separate into complete sentences and terminate them with periods. For example, the second clause, “to the east by the Indian ocean,” you can rewrite as “The eastern border of Tanzania is the Indian Ocean.”

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review

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Alice Walker

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Alice (Malsenior) Walker: (b.1944) U.S. writer. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, Walker moved to Mississippi after attending Spelman and Sarah Lawrence colleges and became involved with the civil-rights movement. Her works are noted for their insightful treatment of African-American culture. Her third and most popular novel, The Color Purple (1982; Pulitzer Prize; film, 1985), depicts a black woman’s struggle for racial and sexual equality. Her later novels include The Temple of My Familiar (1989) and Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992). She has also written essays, some collected in In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983); several books of poetry; short stories; and children’s books.

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

[Addendum: The Color Purple was filmed a second time, in 2023; this second film adaptation was based on the Broadway musical of The Color Purple.]

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The Weekly Text, 20 February 2026, Black History Month Week III: A Reading on Arturo Schomburg

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

Sometime not long after I returned to New York in 2021, I attended a lecture a the New York Public Library (the main on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, with the lions Patience and Fortitude at the front) on Arturo Schomburg. When I lived in Harlem, I walked by his namesake, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, every morning on my way to work. I also regularly stopped in to view exhibits there as well.

Therefore, Arturo Schomburg has been something of a presence in my intellectual life since 2004.

There are two biographies of Arturo Schomburg: Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Schomburg,  by Vanessa Valdes or Arturo Schomburg: Black Bibliophile and Collector by Elinor Des Verney Sinette. I read the latter

One thing that I did pick up on at the lecture and in Ms Sinette’s book, however, was the existence of this article from the man himself. This is a PDF of an article “Arthur” (one thing I learned about Schomburg is that very little is known about him, including which given version of his given name he was using at any time) Schomburg wrote on Black History, “The Negro Digs Up His History.” Nota bene, please, that I have only posted the reading; next year at this time (I already have the basic structure assembled) you’ll find a fully realized lesson plan to accompany this article.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, New York City, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Muhammad Ali on Joe Frazier

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.”

Muhammad Ali

Excerpted from: Sherrin, Ned, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations. New York: Oxford University Press. 1996.

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Cultural Literacy: Tiger Woods

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

OK, for the final documents post on this Friday morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Tiger Woods. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions. The first sentence is a complex-compound that might be best broken up, especially if you re dealing with emergent readers or users of English as a second language.

But even for kids reading at grade level, depending on what grade you’re teaching, that first sentence might be a bit much.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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C(yril) L(ionel) (R)obert James

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

“C(yril) L(ionel) R(obert) James: (1901-1989) Trinidadian writer and political activist. As a young man he moved to Britain, where his first work, The Life of Captain Cipriani, was published in 1929. His study of Toussaint-Louverture, The Black Jacobins (1938) was a seminal work. During his first stay in the U.S. (1938-53), he became friends with Paul Robeson. Eventually deported to Britain because of his Marxism and labor activism, James wrote on cricket for the Guardian. His Beyond the Boundary (1963) mixes autobiography with commentary on politics and sports. He returned the to the U.S. in 1970 but eventually settled permanently in Britain.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Cultural Literacy: South Africa

Posted on February 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on South Africa. This one is a doozy: the reading is a full paragraph of 14 sentences, and the comprehension questions number 15. This document might be best broken up into pieces for struggling and emergent readers.

In any case, you may be aware of a relatively recent federal government program in the United States granting refugee status to a group of white South Africans of Dutch descent. Known as Afrikaners, they evidently believe themselves oppressed; they have found a sympathetic ear in President Donald Trump. Anyone who knows anything about the history of South Africa, and especially the Afrikaners, may be forgiven for their skepticism about all of this.

Because the Afrikaners were oppressors, not oppressed. It really is that simple.

I am interested to see that the first bunch of these immigrants ended up in Alabama–you know, the state with a long history of white supremacy, and which led the way in bringing cases before the Supreme Court to weaken the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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