“That’s our motto. We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary.”
Malcolm X, Speech at rally of Organization of Afro-American Unity, New York, N.Y., 28 June 1964
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged black history, readings/research, united states history
Thankfully, the literature on the Harlem Renaissance is deep and wide. That said, I highly recommend historian David Levering Lewis’s When Harlem Was in Vogue as one of the standouts of what is generally a distinguished body of literature. For a more general reference book, The Black New Yorkers (as well, presumably, as its companion volume, The Black Washingtonians, with which I am less familiar) is also excellent.
For my part, I offer this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Harlem Renaissance, which is, as these things are, a short introduction to the topic.
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.
“Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Speech, Nashville Tennessee, 27 December 1962
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged black history, readings/research, united states history
“American astronomer, compiler of almanacs, and inventor. He was born a free black in Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland, and owned a farm near Baltimore. He taught himself astronomy and mathematics and began astronomical calculations in 1773. He accurately predicted a solar eclipse in 1789. In 1790 he was appointed to the commission that surveyed the site for Washington, D.C. From 1791 to 1802 he published annual almanacs; he sent an early copy to Thomas Jefferson to counter a contention that blacks were intellectually inferior. He also wrote essays denouncing slavery and war.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged black history, numeracy, readings/research, science literacy, united states history
OK, for the third post of this Tuesday morning, you might find this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Gospel Music useful somewhere in your practice. Because even in this short passage, its authors found room to mention Gospel’s influence on Rock and Roll, a couple of nice complements to this short exercise are this Wikipedia article on the great Sister Rosetta Tharpe as well as this this article from Rolling Stone arguing for her inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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.
“A two-part essay by American writer James Baldwin. Variously employing biblical allusions, the rhapsodic rhetorical style of the black pulpit, as well as his own personal ‘witness’ Baldwin admonishes America to ‘end the racial nightmare.’ The first essay, ‘My Dungeon Shook,’ is a letter to his nephew James, on the one hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. In ‘Down at the Cross,’ Baldwin describes growing up in Harlem, his experiences with the Nation of Islam, and offers a warning and a plea for white and black American to work together.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
American novelist and poet. Reed’s writing reflects his belief that the black American writer should function as a kind of conjurer of what Reed calls ‘neo-hoodoo,’ an attempt to pry the distinct qualities of Afro-American culture loose from Euro-American culture. In a language composed of black dialects, standard English, and hip jargon, he writes angry satires on an American society corrupted by racism and uncontrolled technology. Among his novels are The Free-Lance Pallbearers (1967), Mumbo Jumbo (1972), Flight to Canada (1976), The Terrible Twos (1982), and Japanese by Spring (1993). His verse collections include Conjure (1972) and Secretary to the Spirits (1975). Other works include Shrovetide in Old New Orleans (1978), occasional writings; Hell Hath No Fury (1980), a play; The Terrible Threes (1990), a collection of short stories; and Airing Dirty Laundry (1993), containing memoirs.
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
[Addendum: Ishmael Reed entered my cultural cosmology when I heard the the percussionist and producer Kip Hanrahan’s projects to set Mr. Reed’s poetry to music, the first of which, Conjure (named for one of Mr. Reed’s books of verse) appeared in 1983. I continue to listen to that record regularly, now 35 years later. Two more records from Conjure have appeared, Cab Calloway Stands in for the Moon (1988) and a two-disc set, Bad Mouth, released in 2006.]
Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged black history, fiction/literature, music, poetry, readings/research
Here is a a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Jimi Hendrix for a Wednesday morning. Jimi was an idol of my crowd in high school; not to put too fine a point on it, but we wore out copies of his records, especially Electric Ladyland, a masterpiece. Did you know that at the time of his tragic, seriously untimely death, Jimi was planning to record with Miles Davis? What I didn’t know, but learned in researching these links, is that Jimi and the great drummer Tony Williams, who himself had worked extensively with Miles in his 1960s quintet, had in fact sought the participation of Paul McCartney in this enterprise.
Can you imagine?
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.
The New York Review of Books recently ran a review of two recent biographies of the the great Paul Robeson. I was glad that the article disclosed the fact that Mr. Robeson earned a law degree, and that on his first–and last–day practicing law, he suffered the indignity of dealing with a secretary who refused to take dictation (see the fourth paragraph of the article beneath the hyperlink above) “from a n****r.” That’s the kind of disgraceful fact that I think we need out on display when discussing, say, the Black Lives Matter movement, especially with those who dismiss the movement with rhetorically insipid and factually dubious claim that “all lives matter” in American society.
Anyway, here, on a Monday morning, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Paul Robeson. I still listen to his music, especially the album Ballad For Americans, which includes his great song “Scandalize My Name.”
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.
“We will see that the true miracle was not the birth of the Constitution, but its life, a life nurtured through two turbulent centuries of our own making, and a life embodying much good fortune that was not. Thus, in this bicentennial year, we may not all participate in the festivities with flag-waving fervor. Some may more quietly commemorate the suffering, struggle, and sacrifice that has triumphed over much of what was wrong with the original document, and observe the anniversary with hopes not realized and promises not fulfilled.”
Thurgood Marshall, Speech, Maui, Hawaii, 6 May 1987
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged black history, readings/research, united states history
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