Tag: civil rights

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The Heart or the Pen?

During the LES Studies course this semester, we have started talking about whether or not Lillian Smith deals with class in her examinations of the psychological effects of racism. We have talked about Smith’s commentary on the wedges that wealthy whites, those in power, drive between individuals beneath them and the ways that these wedges, coupled with the rhetoric of demagogues, serves to sustain … Read More The Heart or the Pen?

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Spring 2022 LES Studies Course

I always enjoy teaching the Lillian E. Smith Studies Course. This semester will be my third time teaching it, and each time I try and connect Smith’s work with the present moment. Typically, I try to work in connection with student interests, since the class is relatively small, when choosing texts. Last year, we did Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and NPR’s podcast … Read More Spring 2022 LES Studies Course

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History as “an open book, up under the sky”: Part I

Speaking with Clint Smith, Dr. Ibrahima Seck, the director of research at the Whitney Plantation, talks about the importance of education and of sites such as the Whitney. Seck told Smith, “The problem with [this] country–and also all around the world—is . . . miseducation. The miseducation of the mind and hidden history.” The role of education in the dissemination of information and in … Read More History as “an open book, up under the sky”: Part I