Since childhood, I’d been fed the constant patriotic narrative of World War II, imbibing the events in which the United States had direct involvement from Pearl Harbor to D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge and more. I never really veered from those stories until I started looking deeper into World War II a few years ago, specifically the connections between Jim Crow and the … Read More The Reverberations of World War II Syllabus
+ alice walker, banned books, carmen maria machado, ernest j gaines, martin luther king, jr, syllabus, toni morrison
Book bans and challenges are nothing new; however, over the past few years, with the rise of anti-LGBTQ legislation and “anti-woke” rhetoric that has led to various bills against the teaching of “divisive concepts,” these bans and challenges have increased dramatically. Of course, as PEN American points out, “Black and LGBTQ+ authors and books about race, racism, and LGBTQ identities have been disproportionately affected … Read More Banned Books Syllabus
+ african american art, african american literature, african americans, france, marseille, Pedagogy, study travel
We’re fully immersed in the “Black Expatriate Writers in France” course in the South of France. As I prepared for this course, I read all of the texts I’m teaching , and I also started to dive into other texts in preparation for the trip. Specifically, I reread Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, and I finally read, even though it takes place … Read More The Pan-Mediterranean Marseille
+ african american art, african american literature, african americans, claude mckay, france, james baldwin, Pedagogy, syllabus, william gardner smith
I’m not sure when I started thinking about leading a study travel trip to France; I only know that I really started thinking about when I was on the job market following my graduation in 2014. In some of my cover letters, if I discussed study travel trips, I would always mention my desire construct a course on African American expatriate writers in France. … Read More Why Did I Want to Teach a Black Expatriate Writers Study Travel Course in France?
With the new year comes new courses, and that means new syllabi. This semester, I am teaching two courses, an English course and a Lillian E. Smith Studies course. I have taught these course numerous times, and you can find various iterations of the syllabi on my blog. Today, I want to share the syllabus for my English course, which I am entitling “Liberté, … Read More Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité Syllabus
Interminable Rambling 