summer_reading_2018.docx | |
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USE THE BLOG! YOU SHOULD BE COMMENTING ON THE BLOG SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE SCHOOL BEGINS!!! I will check often to see who is using the blog, and students who ask questions, comment, and share ideas earn points for first quarter. easthighaplit.blogspot.com
Look for these editions!
Due the first day of school:
1. Formal essay-Their Eyes Were Watching God
2. One informal essay
3. Annotated copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God
4. 11th edition of Perrine’s Sound and Sense An Introduction to Poetry (This is an older edition, so online is the best source for finding these. Since it may take a few weeks to arrive, make sure you order this early in the summer to complete those first four chapters.
5. 50+ page Spiral bound notebook (8*11, college ruled)
1. Formal essay-Their Eyes Were Watching God
2. One informal essay
3. Annotated copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God
4. 11th edition of Perrine’s Sound and Sense An Introduction to Poetry (This is an older edition, so online is the best source for finding these. Since it may take a few weeks to arrive, make sure you order this early in the summer to complete those first four chapters.
5. 50+ page Spiral bound notebook (8*11, college ruled)
Here is a link to Encyclopedia Britannica Guide to Black History, an outstanding resource for pretty much anything linked to African and African American history. I strongly urge you to browse this website and read several biographies and historical documents, view the images, listen to the music, and to gain more background knowledge for the text-and life. http://academic.eb.com/blackhistory
Zora Neale Hurston reading: https://soundcloud.com/pbsnewshour/halimuhfack-performed-by-zora-neale-hurston
One of Billie Holiday's
most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the
inhumanity of racism. Many people know that the man who wrote the song was inspired by
a photograph of a lynching. But they might not realize that he's
also tied to another watershed moment in America's history.
In the late 1930s, Pellison says, Meeropol "was very disturbed at the continuation of racism in America, and seeing a photograph of a lynching sort of put him over the edge." Meeropol once said the photograph "haunted" him "for days." So he wrote a poem about it, which was then printed in a teachers union publication. An amateur composer, Meeropol also set his words to music. He played it for a New York club owner — who ultimately gave it to Billie Holiday. LYNCHING POWER POINT
JIM CROW
"The Jim Crow laws were racial segregation state and local laws enacted after the Reconstruction period in Southern United States that continued in force until 1965 mandating de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern U.S. states" (Wikipedia.com). Many of the conflicts and consequent perceptions of society and self in Invisible Man result from this body of oppressive laws.
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AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC AND CULTURE AND THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
HARLEM RENAISSANCE POWER POINT-HERE IS A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE, IMAGES OF THE ART, MUSIC, AND MAIN PLAYERS OF THIS AMAZING PERIOD OF HISTORY. MUCH OF INVISIBLE MAN'S EXPERIENCE STEMS FROM THIS INCREDIBLE MOVEMENT.
African American music is the genesis of much of the popular music today, such as hip hop, holy hip hop (yep!), techno, funk, rap, jazz, and the blues. In fact, "The history of black music is diverse and engaging, and provides a compelling soundtrack to U.S. history in general" (academia.edu). To gain a context of the segregated South, Harlem, racism, and Invisible Man's experience, you should be as well acquainted with these genres as possible. I also believe you may gain an appreciation for not only the music you already love, but also those genres which gave birth to those less familiar to you. Use these links to study some of these incredible forms!
http://www.carnegiehall.org/honor/history/index.aspx |
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Caged Bird
BY MAYA ANGELOU A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn and he names the sky his own But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. During the early part of the 2oth century, the tenets of communism appealed to those who felt marginalized and disenfranchised by capitalism and the social structure of modern America. One of the groups targeted by Marxist and communist organizations was the African American community because of the oppressive nature of the Jim Crow laws and continued racism and segregation. Consequently, many of the former Harlem Renaissance artists, writers, and activists eagerly joined the communist and socialist parties, hoping for a chance at equality. Langston Hughes was one of these poets and essayists. His poem captures the sentiment and agenda which may have motivated IM to participate in the Brotherhood of the novel.
Good morning Revolution: You are the best friend I ever had. We gonna pal around together from now on. Say, listen, Revolution: You know the boss where I used to work, The guy that gimme the air to cut expenses, He wrote a long letter to the papers about you: Said you was a trouble maker, a alien-enemy, In other words a son-of-a-bitch. He called up the police And told’em to watch out for a guy Named Revolution You see, The boss knows you are my friend. He sees us hanging out together He knows we’re hungry and ragged, And ain’t got a damn thing in this world – And are gonna to do something about it. The boss got all his needs, certainly, Eats swell, Owns a lotta houses, Goes vacationin’, Breaks strikes, Runs politics, bribes police Pays off congress And struts all over earth – But me, I ain’t never had enough to eat. Me, I ain’t never been warm in winter. Me, I ain’t never known security – All my life, been livin’ hand to mouth Hand to mouth. Listen, Revolution, We’re buddies, see – Together, We can take everything: Factories, arsenals, houses, ships, Railroads, forests, fields, orchards, Bus lines, telegraphs, radios, (Jesus! Raise hell with radios!) Steel mills, coal mines, oil wells, gas, All the tools of production. (Great day in the morning!) Everything – And turn’em over to the people who work. Rule and run’em for us people who work. Boy! Them radios! Broadcasting that very first morning to USSR: Another member of the International Soviet’s done come Greetings to the Socialist Soviet Republics Hey you rising workers everywhere greetings – And we’ll sign it: Germany Sign it: China Sign it: Africa Sign it: Italy Sign it: America Sign it with my one name: Worker On that day when no one will be hungry, cold oppressed, Anywhere in the world again. That’s our job! I been starvin’ too long Ain’t you? Let’s go, Revolution! |
How communism
brought racial equality to the south-an npr interview
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