September 27, 2015 - 17:54
I.
Here are my post-class notes from last week to remind you where we've been: /oneworld/arts-resistance/post-class-notes-september-21
To mix things up, we're going to start immediately with our experimental essayists -- both because Shirah suggested it and because that will mean, I hope, we can write to reflect on the class towards the end of class. (Also since we didn't go into the jail this week, I'm assuming there's less for us to process.)
Our experimental essayists this week: Sula, Han, Shirah, and Farida
II.
There are also a few moments in DuBois that I'd like to call to your attention as we keep thinking about the "arts of freedom":
- His insistence that freedom requires training, which comes out toward the end of "Spiritual Strivings."
- The idea that the emancipation of slaves did not free them; the paradox of "freedmen" not being freed at all. This appears at the beinning of "Of the Dawn of Freedom" (p. 17).
- That the Freedmen's Bureau might have created "a great school of citizenship" (p. 34) but failed to do so.
- The discussion of "Negro criminality" (p. 130).
- DuBois's description of the sorrow songs as the "articulate message of the slave to the world" (p. 182).
These are just the first five that leap into mind. I'm excited to see what you make of Souls!
III.
We'll also talk about the Socrates Cafe next week that we'll have in lieu of class. We're going back to the city!