UNST 123 G: Forbidden Knowledge

Module I:  Strange Fruit

Online Readings

Color-Coded Key

Required Reading/Activity
Strongly Recommended
Optional Reading/Activity



Online Readings and Activities

  1.  "Introduction" & "The Atlantic Slave Trade." Slavery: The Peculiar Institution.  African American Odyssey. American Memory. Library of  Congress. 15 Mar. 2002. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart1.html>.
  2. "Liberation Strategies."  Part I: Slavery--The Peculiar Institution. African American Odyssey. American Memory. Library of  Congress. 15 Mar. 2002.
    <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart1.html#01b>.
  3. "Flights to Freedom." Part II: Slavery--The Peculiar Institution. African American Odyssey. American Memory. Library of  Congress. 15 Mar. 2002. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart1b.html#01c>.
  4. "The Amistad Mutiny." Part II: Slavery--The Peculiar Institution. African American Odyssey. American Memory. Library of  Congress. 15 Mar. 2002. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart1b.html#01d>.
  5. "Other Liberation Strategies." Part II: Slavery--The Peculiar Institution. African American Odyssey. American Memory. Library of  Congress. 15 Mar. 2002.
    <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart1b.html#01e>.
  6. Early, Gerald. "Slavery: History in the Key of Jazz." JAZZ: A Film by Ken Burns. PBS Online. <http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_slavery.htm>.
  7. "Slavery." Strange Fruit Protest Music. Independent Lens. PBS Online. Independent Television Services. 2006. <http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/strangefruit/slavery.html>.
  8. Ward, Andrew. "Jubilee Songs." The American Experience. PBS Online. WGBH.  1999-2000. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/singers/sfeature/songs.html>.
  9. "Jamaica." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 Apr. 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jamaica&oldid=46746140>.  From this Wikipedia page, investigate the following and check out the VODs, too.
  10. Douglass, Frederick.  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845.  A Penn State Electronic Classics Publication.  2004. <http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/f-douglas/Narrative-Douglass.pdf>.
  11. Take a trip on the Underground Railroad: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/index.html
  12. The Booker T. Washington Era: Parts I and II.  African American Odyssey. American Memory. Library of  Congress. 15 Mar. 2002.<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart6.html> and <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart6b.html>.
  13. World War I and Postwar Society: Parts I and II. African American Odyssey. American Memory. Library of  Congress. 15 Mar. 2002. <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart7.html> and <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart7b.html>.
  14. Farrell, Walter C., Jr., and Patricia A. Johnson. "Poetic Interpretations of Urban Black Folk Culture: Langston Hughes and the 'Bebop' Era." MELUS 8:3 (1981): 57-72. Persistent link: http://proxy.lib.pdx.edu:2091/view/0163755x/ap020015/02a00100/0?frame=noframe&dpi=3&userID=83fc7879@pdx.edu/01cc9933960050bb7af&backcontext=page&backurl=/cgi-bin/jstor/viewitem/0163755x/
  15. Art of the Harlem Renaissance. <http://www.iniva.org/harlem/index2.html>.
  16. The Harlem Renaissance. <http://www.fatherryan.org/harlemrenaissance/>.
  17. Garber, Eric. "A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem." Hidden from History. Eds. Martin Bauml Duberman, Martha Vicinus and George Chauncey Jr. New York: NAL Books, 1989: 318-331 at <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/blues/garber.html>.
  18. "Poets.org Guide to Langston Hughes." poets.org. Academy of American Poets. <http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/323>.








Dr. B's Work Area (ignore)

The Human Experiment: No. 9 http://www.learner.org/resources/series81.html

Modernist Portraits No. 11
Poetry of Liberation, No. 15 http://www.learner.org/resources/series164.html

http://www.learner.org/resources/series57.html 6. Langston Hughes
Hughes wrote of the beauty, dignity, and heritage of blacks in America. Interviews, music, and dance performances convey his work and influence, discussed by James Baldwin and biographer Arnold Rampersad.


http://www.learner.org/resources/series41.html 16. Distant Voices: Myth, Symbolism, and Allusion in Poetry
Four poetic versions of the Icarus myth — those of Sexton, Spender, Williams, and Field — are dramatized and compared. Marge Piercy discusses the role of myth in her poetry. 

8. The Author's Voice: Tone and Style in Short Fiction
An interview with Maxine Hong Kingston highlights this examination of the impact of style on meaning.

9. Suggested Meanings: Symbolism and Allegory in Short Fiction
Symbolism is prominent in a dramatization of D. H. Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," while myth predominates in the work of Native American writer N. Scott Momaday, who is interviewed.

10. The Sum of Its Parts: Theme in Short Fiction
Multiple themes are uncovered in "Everyday Use," a dramatization of Alice Walker's short story.

11. The Sacred Words: The Elements of Poetry
The role of poetry for the individual and the culture is suggested through visual essays. An interview with James Dickey includes his reading and analysis of his poems "The Performance" and "The Lifeguard."

12. A Sense of Place: Setting and Character in Poetry
The historical settings of "My Last Duchess," "Theme for English B," and "Dover Beach" convey much about the characters and ideas of these poems. The New England landscapes of Maxine Kumin echo the themes of her poetry.

13. Tools of the Trade: Words and Images in Poetry
Poetry readings, visualizations of poems, and an interview with Lucille Clifton, who reads two of her favorite poems, "This Morning" and "Homage to My Hips," reveal the beauty and the workings of poetic language and imagery.

14. Seeing Anew: Rhetorical Figures in Poetry
The power of metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech becomes clear through dramatizations of Anne Bradstreet's "The Author to Her Book," Nikki Giovanni's "Woman," and Daniel Halpern's "Snapshot of Hue." Gary Soto is interviewed and reads and comments on his poem "Oranges."

15. An Echo to the Sense: Prosody and Form in Poetry
X. J. Kennedy discusses and demonstrates the importance of rhyme and meter in his poetry. Dramatic readings of poems by Shakespeare, Dickinson, and Hopkins and contemporary poets like Dudley Randall and Leonard Adame are analyzed to show how prosody and form contribute to meaning.


http://www.learner.org/resources/series139.html
Workshop 6. Objectifying the Text

This session showcases the reader as critic, as the readers step out of the text to reflect on what it all means, how it works, and why. From this stance, the readers look at Alice Walker’s “Revolutionary Petunias” and Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B” to examine the authors’ craft, the structure of the text and its various literary elements, and the choice of language. Dr. Langer reminds readers of the importance of personal evaluation of the text and encourages teachers of readers to include the techniques explored here in their classrooms.

http://www.learner.org/resources/series197.html

20. Unit 20. Imperial Designs http://www.scctv.net/annenberg/bridging_world_history_20.asx
What lasting impacts did modern imperialism have on the world? The profound consequences of imperialism are examined in the South African frontier and Brazil, where politics, culture, industrial capitalism, and the environment were shaped and re-shaped.

21. Unit 21. Colonial Identities
How did colonialism and eventual de-colonization mutually affect the colonizer and the colonized? From Zanzibar to India, colonial and post-colonial identities are examined through clothing.

    

VOD "Peer Feedback." English Composition: Writing for an Audience. Annenberg/CPB. Berkow & Berkow, 2001. <http://www.scctv.net/annenberg/English_Composition_14.asx>.

The Matrix Has You, a flash video at Flashplayer.com, http://www.flashplayer.com/animation/thematrixhasyou.html.

Rogers, Michael, Normal Oder, and Andrew Albanese. "Could Librarians' Help Have Prevented Hopkins Tragedy?" Library Journal 126.14 (2001): 16-17. Persistent link: http://proxy.lib.pdx.edu:2052/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=5124760

Missy Ellliott's "Lose Control" video:

Handsome Boy's Modeling School "The World's Gone Mad" video.

Nappy Root's "Trouble of this World" video.


© Martha J. Bianco, Ph.D., 2006-2008