Category: twelve years a slave

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The Spreading Disease and the Creation of Monsters

On my social media feeds over the past year, I have seen individuals post about the fact that the individuals who screamed at students outside schools in Little Rock, Memphis, New Orleans, and elsewhere don’t want history taught because it will illuminate their actions. I understand this argument; however, what I’m more interested in the ways that white supremacy, patriarchy, and other ideoligies get … Read More The Spreading Disease and the Creation of Monsters

Soundtrack Assignment in the Literature Classroom

Every semester I try something new in the classroom. Sometimes this may involve adding activities such as the fish bowl, working in the archives, or having students write on the board to generate ideas. I take these ideas and tweak them as I go along because, as we know, every class is not the same. What works in one class may not necessarily work … Read More Soundtrack Assignment in the Literature Classroom

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The Transmission of Racist Thought in Solomon Northup’s “Twelve Years a Slave”

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post entitled “Why can’t we just move on? The past is the past.” In that post, I examine how Thomas Jefferson, David Walker, and Solomon Northup all argue that it is nurture, not nature, that produces within us thoughts of discrimination. I wrote about Northup’s descriptions of William Ford and Edwin Epps’ son in that post, … Read More The Transmission of Racist Thought in Solomon Northup’s “Twelve Years a Slave”

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Fireworks, hot dogs, music, and inequality on the Fourth of July

Why you ain’t march on Selma? Why you ain’t tell the refugees “please stay with me”? Why when you take communion, it don’t remind you of your union? That you too were once undocumented too Why do you love your guns more than our sons? Why you patriots first? Why you worshipping the flag?–Propaganda Today, we celebrate the Fourth of July, America’s independence. We … Read More Fireworks, hot dogs, music, and inequality on the Fourth of July

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Surveillance and “Dark Sousveillance” in Solomon Northup

In various posts, I ave written about surveillance in African American literature and music in the works of Ernest J. Gaines, Lecrae, and Arna Bontemps. Drawing upon Jeremy Bentham’s “Panopticon,” Michel Foucault argues that individuals, in various settings, experience surveillance whether they know it or not. As well, that surveillance creates within the subject a feeling of policing him or herself, thus becoming both … Read More Surveillance and “Dark Sousveillance” in Solomon Northup