Readings for African American Literatures & Cultures Institute (2016)

This June at the University of Texas San Antonio, I'll work with Fellows in the African American Literatures and Cultures Institute, a program founded and directed by part-time literary scholar, full-time superhero Joycelyn Moody. I run the day-to-day seminar duties.

Here's a look at our reading list for the summer.

Week 1
• Keywords 
• Debates in Black Studies
• Poetry packet #1: Vivee Frances, Robert Hayden, Ishmael Reed, Opal Palmer Adisa
• “Message to the Grassroots” by Malcolm X
• Editorial selections by Felicia Nimue Ackerman
• "Diversifying the Graduate school Pipeline" by Joycelyn Moody and Howard Rambsy II
• Poetry packet #2: Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Jayne Cortez, Lucille Clifton, Jay Z and Jay Electronica
• Beyoncé, bell hooks, and Black Feminisms
• Poetry packet #3: Amiri Baraka, Nas, and Jay Z
• Ta-Nehisi Coates's "Nina Simone's Face" and "The Appropriation of Nina Simone"

[Related: 2016 course packet]

Week 2
• "The Breast Cancer Racial Gap" by Tara Parker-Pope 
• "A Grim Breast Cancer Milestone for Black Women" by Tara Parker-Pope 
• Poetry packet #4: Kelly Norman Ellis, Tracie Morris, jessica care moore, Evie Shockley, Lauryn
Hill, Kendrick Lamar, and Jay Z
• "1.5 Million Missing Black Men," "The Methodology: 1.5 Million Missing Black Men," "Chicago’s Murder Problem"
• “Why Luck Matters More Than You Might Think” by Robert H. Frank
• Excerpts from The Boondocks by Aaron McGruder and (Th)ink by Keith Knight
• Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl"
• Toni Morrison's "Sweetness"
• Excerpt from The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Poetry packet#5: Poems by Tyehimba Jess, Adrian Matejka, Kevin Young, and Common

Week 3
• Presentations

Related:
• African American Literatures and Cultures Institute