Quote:
Originally Posted by Lance Levens
The Black youth especially need to know
what their ancestors suffered and how it was possible for men of different races to love one another.
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Lance,
This is compelling argument, but it's also one I don't understand. Couldn't this better be done by teaching Beloved? Why do some schools teach Up From Slavery, but not The Souls of Black Folk? Why don't more curricula include Their Eyes Were Watching God? When was the last time we saw The Ballot Or The Bullet in a high school classroom?
But instead of spending our energy on those, we have this same tired old argument. Now, I know, much has changed over the last couple decades, including the inclusion of a few of the texts above. But so often, it feels as if so little has changed.
Yes, I do know how it feels in some classrooms. I've taught black literature deep in the heart of Alabama, and white literature at HBCUs. It's exhausting in both cases, but for different reasons.
Believe it or not, the HBCU students were actually far more tolerant of diversity, but for reasons I never would have suspected. You know what white book went over the best with those students? Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man! Who would have guessed?
I asked a colleague about it. She turned to the very end of the book, and pointed out this line: "I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. "
Thanks,
Bill