Syllabus—Reading and Writing Across Forms

introduction to honors, fall 2021 @ suny brockport.

Jeff Wall, *After “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue*, 1999-2000.

Overview

How do we more effectively and compellingly read, interpret, and analyze different forms of expression? What is “form,” anyway? A slave narrative, a speech, an essay, a court ruling, a novel, a poem, a music album, a film, visual art, the built environment, journalism, online social media, computational data: the world is filled with different kinds and types of material, information, styles, genres, expectations, and modes of communication. Beginning with this year’s common reading, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, we shall explore how to analyze these different forms, probing what it means to receive, describe, interpret, critique, and write about each one clearly and convincingly. We will also experiment with different forms of expression ourselves, from short analytic essay responses to social media documentation to oral presentation and discussion to a longer, comparative final essay that includes an option for digital, multimedia, or data-driven component.

Course Material

Materials are available for purchase at Brockport Bookstore or on reserve at Drake Library Reserve Desk. Some materials also available on course website.

Required

John Stauffer and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., eds., The Portable Frederick Douglass (New York: Penguin, 2016)
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (New York: Random House, 1952)
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, ed., How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2012)
Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric (Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2014)
Plessy v. Ferguson Opinion of the Supreme Court and Dissent (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Opinion of the Supreme Court (1954), available online
Freedom’s Ring website, available online at https://freedomsring.stanford.edu/
Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America website, available online at https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/
Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On (Detroit: Motown Tamla, 1971), available online
Do The Right Thing, dir. Spike Lee (Forty Acres and a Mule/Universal Pictures, 1989), available online

Learning Goals

Use effective critical thinking and writing skills to express complex ideas clearly
produce, revise, and improve coherent texts within common college-level written forms, including an analytical essay requiring independent research
analyze social conflicts, prejudices, and/or intolerance relevant to a contemporary setting, and arising from such issues as racism, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, class, etc.
demonstrate relevant knowledge of scholarship on women
develop proficiency in oral discourse and evaluated an oral presentation according to established criteria

Evaluation

Student info and course contract – 5%
Douglass response – 10%
Ellison and Supreme Court rulings response – 10%
National Council for Public History Instagram takeover – 10%
Taylor or Rankine response – 10%
Marvin Gaye, Spike Lee, Freedom’s Ring, or Mapping Inequality response – 10%
Final essay – 25%
In-class presentations and participation – 20%

Schedule

The instructor may adjust the schedule as needed during the semester, but will give clear instructions about any changes.

Week 01

08/30: Introductions — Collect summer assignment
09/01: Gates, Jr., “What is An African American Classic?” and Stauffer and Gates, Jr., “Introduction,” in Portable Frederick Douglass
09/03: Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Ch I-IV, pp. 1-31

Week 02

09/06: No class, Labor Day
09/08: Douglass, Narrative, Ch V-X, 32-82
Due 09/08: Student info and course contract
09/10: Douglass, Narrative, Ch XI-Appendix, 82-100

Week 03

09/13: Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
09/15: Ellison, Invisible Man, Prologue, Chapters 1 and 2
09/17: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 3 and 4; Douglass, “The Color Line (1881), 501-512
Due 09/19: Douglass response (see assignments for prompt)

Week 04

09/20: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 5 and 6
09/22: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 7 and 8
09/24: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 9 and 10; Douglass, “Letter From the Editor (On the Burning Down of His Rochester House) (1872),” 495-497

Week 05

09/27: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 11 and 12
09/29: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 13 and 14
10/01: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 15 and 16

Week 06

10/04: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 17 and 18; Douglass, “Toussaint L’Ouverture (ca. 1891),” 527-537
10/06: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 19 and 20
10/08: Ellison, Invisible Man, Chapters 21 and 22; Douglass, “The Future of the Colored Race (1886),” 513-516

Week 07

10/11: Ellison, Invisible Man, Section 23 and 24
10/13: Ellison, Invisible Man, Section 25
10/15: Ellison, Invisible Man, Section 26

Week 08

10/18: No class, fall break
10/20: Taylor, How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, Introduction, The Combahee River Collective statement
10/22: Taylor, How We Get Free, Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith
Due 10/24: Ellison and Supreme Court rulings response (see assignments for prompt)

Week 09

10/25: Taylor, Demita Frazier, Alicia Garza, Comments by Barbara Ransby and Douglass, “Woman Suffrage Movement (1870)”
10/27: Rankine, Citizen, Ch. 1 and 2
10/29: Rankine, Citizen, Ch. 3 and 4

Week 10

11/01: Rankine, Citizen, Ch. 5 and 6
11/03: Rankine, Citizen, Ch. 7
11/05: Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852),” 195-222

Week 11

11/08: Drake Library Introduction (meet at Drake Library)
11/10: NCPH Instagram Takeover (possible visit from Dr. Bruce Leslie)
11/12: NCPH Instagram Takeover

Week 12

Due 11/15: NCPH Instagram Takeover Week photos and writeups (see assignments for prompt)
11/15: Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On, Side 01; Jennie Chaplin, “Please tell me “What’s Going On”?: the contemporary resonance of Marvin Gaye,” History@Work, 11 August 2021
11/17: Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On, Side 02
11/19: Open
Due 11/21: Taylor or Rankine response (see assignments for prompt)

Week 13 – Thanksgiving – No Meetings

Week 14

11/29: Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing, First half of film
12/01: Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing, Second half of film
12/03: Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing

Week 15

12/06: Freedom’s Ring website
12/08: Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America website
12/10: Reflections and Wrapping up
Due 12/12: Marvin Gaye, Spike Lee, Freedom’s Ring, or Mapping Inequality response (see assignments for prompt)

Final – 12/17

Final essay due (see assignments for prompt)