Readings | Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies | Music and Theater Arts

Required Texts

Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York, NY: Vintage International, [1974] 2004. ISBN: 9781400033430.

Senna, Danzy. Caucasia. New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 1998. ISBN: 9781573227162.

Smallwood, Stephanie. Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Slavery to American Diaspora. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780674023499.

Course readings.
SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction
2	Viewing, Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness. Llewellyn M. Smith. California Newsreel/PBS, 2009.	Begin Sula. Hurston, Zora Neale. "Characteristics of Negro Expression." African American Literary Theory: A Reader. Edited by Winston Napier. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2000, pp. 31-44. ISBN: 9780814758106.
3	Lecture, "Sula: Two Wrongs and a Writer."	Finish Sula.
4	Discussion	Review Sula. McDowell, Deborah. "'The Self and the Other': Reading Toni Morrison's Sula and the Black Female Text." Modern Critical Views: Toni Morrison. Edited by Harold Bloom. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House, 1990, pp. 149-163. ISBN: 9781555464394.
5	Lecture, "Circulations of Blackness I." Guest Artist: Makeda Thomas; Viewing, Freshwater.	How do constructions of blackness circulate? What is the place of performance in those circulations? How can dance movement seem to reflect or demonstrate blackness? Makeda Thomas/Roots & Wings Movement!
6	Lecture, "Circulations of Blackness II."	"Georges Adéagbo." jointadventures, 1999. "Georges Adéagbo." culturebase.net, 2004. Cotter, Holland. "Art in Review: Georges Adéagbo." New York Times, March 2, 2001. Biographical Sketch (PDF)
7	Lecture, "Middle Passage Stories."	Saltwater Slavery, pp. 1-100; Reading questions (PDF)
Class Field Trip: New York City		Sylvia's Restaurant "Intersections Intersected: The Photography of David Goldblatt." New Museum, 2009. "African Burial Ground National Monument." General Services Administration, 2008. Hair (Revival, on Tour) "African Burial Ground," "Blacks," "Haitians," and "Harlem." The Encyclopedia of New York City. Edited by Kenneth T. Jackson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995, pp. 9, 112-115, 516-517, and 523-525. ISBN: 9780300055368.
8	Discussion	Saltwater Slavery, pp. 101-208.
9	Lecture, "Water, Water, Everywhere."	Review Saltwater Slavery. Childs, Dennis. "'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet': Beloved, the American Chain Gang, and the Middle Passage Remix." American Quarterly 61 (June 2009): 271-297.
10	Writing Workshop
11	Lecture, "1967: A Turning Point."	Van Deburg, William L. "What Is 'Black Power'?" and "Black Power and American Culture: Literary and Performing Arts." New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993, pp. 11-28 and 248-291. ISBN: 9780226847153.
12	Discussion	Jones, LeRoi (Amiri Baraka). Slave Ship. Newark, NJ: Jihad Productions, 1969. Douglas, Emory. "Art for the People's Sake." The Black Panther Party: Service to the People Programs. Edited by David Hilliard. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2008, pp. 121-124. ISBN: 9780826343949. "Emory Douglas: Black Panther." New Museum, 2009.
13	Lecture, "Forms that Create Presence."	What are the particular performance forms that artists have engaged to create black presence? How have those forms changed over time? What were the terms of creativity that invigorated artists aligned with the Black Arts Movement? What sort of work did they make, and how was it received? DeFrantz, Thomas. "To Make Black Bodies Strange: Social Protest in Concert Dance of the Black Arts Movement." A Sourcebook on African American Performance: Plays, People, Movements. Edited by Annemarie Bean. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999, pp. 83-93. ISBN: 9780415182355. "Historical Overviews of the Black Arts Movement." Modern American Poetry, 2002. Text taken from: ya Salaam, Kalamu. "Black Arts Movement." The Oxford Companion to African-American Literature. Edited by William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN: 978-0195065107. Martin, Reginald. "Black Arts Movement." The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. Edited by Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN: 978-0195066081. Neal, Larry. "The Black Arts Movement." Visions of a Liberated Future: Black Arts Movement Writings. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1989, pp. 62-78. ISBN: 9780938410775. Bullins, Ed. "The So-Called Western Avant-Garde Drama." Liberator 7 (December 1967): 16-17.
14	Rehearsal for Slave Ship
15	Lecture, "Slave Ship: Content of a Character."	Gerzina, Gretchen. "Mobility in Chains: Freedom of Movement in the Early Black Atlantic." South Atlantic Quarterly 100 (Winter 2001): 41-59.
16	Rehearsal for Slave Ship
17	Performance of Slave Ship
Class Field Trip: Walking Tour of South End/Lower Roxbury		King, Mel. "Growing up with the South End," and "Tent City." Chain of Change: Struggles for Black Community Development. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1981, pp. 9-14 and 111-118. ISBN: 9780896081055.
18	Discussion	Begin Caucasia, through p. 131; Reading questions (PDF)
19	Writing Workshop	Continue Caucasia
20	Lecture, "Quantities of the Nation: Majorities, Minorities, Anxieties."	Continue Caucasia, through p. 289.
21	Discussion	Finish Caucasia. Kennedy, Randall. "Interracial Intimacy." The Atlantic 290 (December 2002): 103-106, 108, 110.
22	Viewing, Rize. David LaChappelle. Lion's Gate Entertainment, 2005.
23	Lecture, "Caucasia: Longing to Belong."	Pabst, Naomi. "Blackness/Mixedness: Contestations over Crossing Signs." Cultural Critique 54 (Spring 2003): 178-212. Thompson, Vetta L. Sanders. "The Complexity of African-American Racial Identification." Journal of Black Studies 32 (2001): 155-165. Byrd, Donald. "Twenty Questions." Black Cultural Traffic: Crossroads in Global Performance and Popular Culture. Edited by Harry Elam Jr. and Kennell Jackson. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780472068401.
24	Guest Author: Danzy Senna	Weber, Rebecca L. "The Africana QA: Danzy Senna." July 6, 2004.
25	Student Presentations
26	Student Presentations (cont.)