Category: early american literature

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Archive Project: Taking Students Out of the Classroom and Into History

Note: You can view the projects at engl2250.wordpress.com. Over the past year, I have constructed various projects for my literature survey courses. Last fall, I had students define a term related to Early American literature and present what they learned. In the spring, I had students read a novel or play by an author we were looking at in the course and present information … Read More Archive Project: Taking Students Out of the Classroom and Into History

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Unheard Voices and “Truth: Red, White, and Black”

Put a dollar to your ear, you can hear the moaning of a slave America the great was built off the labor that they gave–Sho Baraka “Maybe Both, 1865” Over the past few weeks, I have been reading through various story arcs and volumes in the Marvel Universe. Specifically, I am reading Christopher Priest’s Black Panther (1998-2003), Mike Benson’s Luke Cage: Noir (2009), and … Read More Unheard Voices and “Truth: Red, White, and Black”

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Robert Hayden’s “A Letter From Phillis Wheatley, London 1773”

As I got ready to teach Phillis Wheatley recently, I decided to incorporate Robert Hayden’s “A Letter from Phillis Wheatley London, 1773” which originally appeared in his 1978 collection American Journal. Of course, during our discussions, we related Hayden’s poem to Wheatley, but we also thought about other connections that could be made between “A Letter from Phillis Wheatley” and other texts we have … Read More Robert Hayden’s “A Letter From Phillis Wheatley, London 1773”

Lydia Maria Child’s “Chocorua’s Curse” and the Paintings of Thomas Cole

Back in October, I wrote about Lydia Maria Child’s “Chocorua’s Curse” and America’s literary presence. I’m not going to go back into the discussion from that post, I do want to expand a little on one of the allusion to the English born painter Thomas Cole that Child uses in the story. In the second paragraph, Child comments that Americans need to look for … Read More Lydia Maria Child’s “Chocorua’s Curse” and the Paintings of Thomas Cole

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Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” and How We Need to Think About the Past

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech entitled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Last week, I wrote about a small section of this speech, and today I want to expand that discussion some more, looking at what Douglass says about what we should do, or shouldn’t do, with the past. The entire speech, of course, focuses on America’s … Read More Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” and How We Need to Think About the Past