Image: The 135th St Branch (Now the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture) of the NYPL. Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Collections.
Announcements
Scholarship info: The Puerto Rican Day Parade scholarship due date is April 2; Dominican Day Parade scholarship due date is April 2; The St. George’s Society scholarship (for students with a background from British Commonwealth) is usually due in the spring; contact Lehman’s scholarship office (linked) to apply.
Lehman’s Pre-Graduate Advising Office offers workshops on the graduate school application process and has drop-in hours each week via Zoom. This semester’s workshops focus on personal statements, interviewing, and the various standardized exams. All are highly recommended–especially if you haven’t thought about it. Details at their site
Quick highlights from last week’s classes:
- Reviewed selections from chapter 5 in (Black Religion) Maulana Karenga’s Introduction to Black Studies. See last week’s posts for specific sections
- See the Lecture Notes page for a copy of my presentation with highlights from the text
- Also on the Lecture Notes page is my presentation on preparing for exams and notes on essay exams–both covered in class
DAY SECTION
Your midterm exam is Monday April 3 and will run for the entire class period. There are no make-ups.
NIGHT SECTION
Your midterm exam is Tuesday April 4. The exam will be in the first half of class. There are no make-ups.
Both sections:
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 we’ve covered 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 these to make sense!
READ the table of contents in the book for an outline of each chapter
READ the study questions and keywords at the end of each chapter
FORM a study group and meet with them! Hint: you might want to continue this after the midterm!
In short, you have to spend some time and read/process/ understand the info!
Midterm format will be as follows: several short answer questions (6- 8) and one essay. You will have a choice of essay topics.
The midterm exam will focus on assigned sections from chapters 2,3,4, and 5 and Marimba Ani’s essay (on the Readings page).
Know: the significance of Cheikh Anta Diop and his arguments for the importance of Kemet
Know: the significance of Kemet and its contributions
Know: keywords from Marimba Ani’s essay and her conception of African and European worldviews
Know: why African civilizations were conquered by Europe and the effects of it
Know: the significance of Cheikh Anta Diop and his arguments for the importance of Kemet
Know: the Holocaust of enslavement and why this set in place systems of oppression
Know: why Reconstruction failed and Jim Crow/Segregation started
Know: the Great Migration
Know: 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.)
Know: The 3 Modal Periods in Africana history from chap 4
Know: Tendencies of the Black Power era from chap 4: Religious, Cultural, Political, Economic thrusts
Know: Legacy of nationalist influence on the Black Power era from chap 4
Know: Similarities in African religious traditions from chap 5
Know: Basic tenets of Maat/role of service from chap 5
Know: Basic tenets of Dogon/role of complementarity from chap 5
Know: Social ethics of MLK, NOI, Malcolm X from chap 5
Introduction to Africana Studies 