Image: Ethel Shariff in Chicago, 1963. By Gordon Parks (1912-2006)
General/community Announcements
- Job opportunity: The NYC Board of Elections hires poll workers for every election. Pay is decent. Details here.
- Also, see the Board of Elections site for info on voting early or to submit an absentee ballot to avoid voting in person.
- Lehman’s Pre-Graduate Advising Office offers workshops on the graduate school application process and has drop-in hours each week via Zoom. Their October 26 event “What Does it Take to Get into Graduate School” is highly recommended–especially if you haven’t thought about it. Details at their site
Course Announcements:
- Midterm exam will be on Monday October 24 in class. Do not miss it!
- Details below
DO THIS for week 9–Mon/Wed 10/24 & 26
Monday October 24:
Midterm exam held during class time and will take the entire period. Scroll down for outline of topics/format
Wednesday October 26:
READ from the following section of Chapter 5 (Black Religion) in Introduction to Black Studies
- Read pages 189-222
- Focus on the sections on:
- The Dogon Tradition,
- Maat,
- Read for the following:
- How central tenets (beliefs) of the Dogon and Maat shape the worldview of African people
Quick highlights from Week 8:
- Reviewed sections of Chapter 4 on Civil Rights-Black Power in Maulana Karenga’s Introduction to Black Studies (pages 150-168). Skipped last section on 1970s-2000s
- See the Lecture Notes page for a copy of my presentation with highlights from the text
- Music: James Brown: “Say it Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)”–on YouTube here
- Resource/for further reading: Peniel E. Joseph’s Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour a narrative history of the Black Power movement. In the CUNY library system here, the NYPL here, and you can buy it used online starting at about $5.
General reading strategies:
- Underline/highlight key points in the text
- Use the reading questions at the back of chapters to focus you: read those first
- Try to understand the definitions of the key concepts listed at the back of the chapter
- Make a note to ask the instructor to clarify anything you don’t understand
- Note key issues, approaches, and dilemmas/challenges Dr. Karenga outlines
Discussion questions
- See chapter/essay highlights above
Midterm outline and format
Covers: textbook chapters 2-4
Format: in-class ONLY on Monday October 24
- short answers and one essay question
Topics:
REVIEW: the legacy of Cheikh Anta Diop from chapter 2
REVIEW: the importance of Nile Valley Civilization, western African civilizations decline/conquest of the African continent from chapter 3,
REVIEW: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey. Be familiar with their political positions, organizations, the differences between them. (Re-reading Dr. John Henrik Clarke’s essay will help here in addition to the textbook chapters.) Think of how you might write an essay on them.
REVIEW: The 3 Modal Periods in Africana history from chap 4
REVIEW: Tendencies of the Black Power era from chap 4: Religious, Cultural, Political, Economic thrusts
REVIEW: Legacy of nationalist influence on the Black Power era from chap 4
To prepare for it, do the following:
READ the weekly updates on the course website! They point you to the specific sections of book chapters to focus on
Read the slide presentations on the Lecture Notes page
Read the sections of the book the notes are pulled from! The slides only give you an outline; you need the full discussion from the book for this to make sense!
In short, you have to spend some time and read/process/ understand the info!
What’s Next?
FINISH chapter 5 and go on to Chapter 6 in Introduction to Black Studies
Introduction to Africana Studies 