This assignment has 3 parts.
1. Slavery, Jim Crow, the push back against Civil Rights, all the way up to mass incarceration and anti-Black brutality today are among some of the most violent and horrific things that have happened in human history. How can artists and intellectuals represent this history in ways that do not disturb people? In fact, isn’t being disturbed the point of their intervention? To use Coates’ language, how do you wake up the Dreamers that have been sleep walking their whole lives in a country that actively wants to deny the history of racism? In other words, most people are rewarded for staying asleep. However, it is also a good question to ask: is their method of waking Dreamers up effective? Write 200-500 words on this question.
2. On the occasion of the 4th of July, Fredrick Douglas, one of the most famous escaped slaves and abolitionists in the 19th century, gave a speech thinking through these issues described above. Watch a excerpt of the speech performed by James Earl Jones:
(Links to an external site.)
You can read the entire speech here
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3. Read an interview with Questlove about his focus on Black joy.
https://www.documentary.org/column/summer-soul-conversation-questlove-about-black-joy?fbclid=IwAR2QvvrEh0RkK8g84wejSLyvL5Pw2HvuAWsBicVxFFvcV2Vr8p8GjTswuqk
(Links to an external site.)
The film is currently in the theaters. You can also stream it on Hulu.
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