PRINTA three-week institute for twenty-five school teachers on African-American literature and social history.
This institute provides an opportunity for twenty-five secondary school teachers to study both well-known and less-widely-taught works in African-American literature, coupled with key readings in social history. Each week of the institute corresponds to a theme: "Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction," "The Jim Crow Era," and "The Civil Rights Era and Beyond." During the course of the project, participants read and discuss five novels: Octavia Butler's Wild Seed, Richard Wright's Native Son, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Gloria Naylor's Linden Hills, and Black Artemis's (Sofia Quintero) Picture Me Rollin', as well as six short stories by Zora Neale Hurston and Charles Chesnutt and one graphic novel, Kyle Barker's Nat Turner. The five novels are paired with readings in social history and social science theory and films. For instance, Richard Wright's Native Son is coupled with excerpts from Drake and Cayton's Black Metropolis; Charles Burnett's film To Sleep with Anger and Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye are coupled with Margaret Hunter's Race, Gender and the Politics of Skin Tone and the film Imitation of Life. Participants view portions of several other films, such as D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation; Charles Burnett's Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property; and John Sayles' The Brother from Another Planet; they listen to music connected to the period of the works in question. Each participant produces a lesson plan based on one of five additional novels that are shared with the institute community at the close of the third week. Academic staff for the institute consists of institute director Wahneema Lubiano, William Darity, Jr., and Thavolia Glymph (all Duke University), Tess Chakkalakal (Bowdoin College), and Harryette Mullen (UCLA).
Faculty: William A. Darity, Tess Chakkalakal, Thavolia Glymph, Harryette Mullen, Daniella Ann Cook