Poverty and Literature

 

EU71

 

Spragins

 

Spring 2015

3rd Period Even Days; Drop Down Day 1

 

 

 

 

Second Semester Topics:

 


Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen (2004) by David Hilfiker, MD



 


Maggie:  a Girl of the Streets (1892) by Stephen Crane

 

 

 

 


The Promised Land (1991) by Nicholas Lemann, Clarksdale and Chicago

 

 

 

 


Richard Wright (1908-1960)

Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright

 

 

 

 


LBJ Signs War on Poverty Bill, July 23, 1964

The Promised Land (1991) Nicholas Lemann, Washington

 

 

 

 


Tally’s Corner (1966) by Elliott Lebow

 

 

 

 

Jitney (1977) by August Wilson

Reactions to the Baltimore Riots 4-27-15

 

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (2014) by Jeff Hobbs

 

 

 

William Julius Wilson, New Yorker Profile

 

 

 

Month

Day

Cycle

Assignment

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

1         

26

Day 10

Mon.

Exam Make-up Day

 

1

27

Day 1

Tues.

Drop Down Day

 

1         

28

Day 2

Wed.

 

 

 


Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey and former mayor of Newark


Paul Ryan, United States Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district since 1999 and will be the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee . He was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2012 election

George Will,  The harm incurred by a mushrooming welfare state (Post 1-22-15); Slouching toward disability (Post 10-26-12) 

Nicholas Eberstadt, American Exceptionalism and the Entitlement State National Affairs Winter 2015

 

Course Description


Preliminary Poll (Survey Monkey) (Results)  


The Debate:

Homework:







 

1         

29

Day 3

Thurs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1       

30

Day 4

Fri.

 

 

 


Sarah's Uncertain Path NYT 1-21-14
Profiling a pregnant teenager in Missouri, this short documentary provides a window into rural poverty in America's heartland.

 

Hilfiker Essay due on Monday, February 10th at 3:30 pm

Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen by David Hilfiker, MD  

Chapter One, "Building the Ghetto: A History" (Study Guide) (Answers) (Hilfiker Outline) 

Discussion: (Evaluating Hilfiker): The Causes of Poverty:

  • Macro vs. Micro Effects;
  • Intended vs. Unintended; 
  • Government Action vs. Private Action

Homework:

 

2         

2

Day 5

Mon

 






 

2

3

Day 6

Tues

 

 

 


The Problem We All Live With, Norman Rockwell (illustration for Look 1964)


Baltimore's redlining map (left) and census tracts with persistently low homeownership rates (right). VCU Center on Society and Health.


Todd Heisler/ The New York Times
1-3-07 Elissa Gootman, Trying to Find Solutions in Chaotic Middle Schools NY Times

 

Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen by David Hilfiker, MD

Hilfiker Essay due on Monday, February 10th at 3:30 pm

Homework:
24Day 7Wed.




 

2         

5

Day 8

Thurs

 Parent Conference Day









26Day 9Fri.

 

2         

9

Day 10

Mon.






Cliffdwellers  (1913) George Bellows (high resolution)


Jacob Riis, Mulberry Street


Daumier, At the Melodrama


Jacob Riis, Bandit's Roost

Poverty, race drive asthma rates
more than city living
Meredith Cohn It was the day after Mother's Day in 2012 when Faith Walker ran into her East Baltimore house unable to breathe. (Sun 2/6/15)

Kalefa Sanneh, "Don’t Be Like That:  Does black culture need to be reformed?" New Yorker. 2-9-15

Hilfiker Essay due at 3:30 pm


Realism vs. Naturalism

Stephen Crane: Maggie A Girl of the Streets (1892)


Homework:

For further reading:





 

2         

10

Day 1

Tues.





Reading Day

 

2         

11

Day 2

Wed.









Little Mother (1890) Jacob Riis


42 Kids (1907) George Bellows


Stag at Sharkey's (1909) George Bellows


Typical Toughs (1890) Jacob Riis
How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (part one) Study Guide
(Lecture One) (GoogleDocs version)  

Essay on Maggie due Monday 2/23 at 3:30 pm. (Quiz)
  • Setting: Describe the situation of children who grow up in the Rum Alley ghetto.
  • Plot: What can you predict will happen to the heroine in a melodrama?
  • Pay close attention to Crane's style: what is his perspective on his characters?
  • Can you pinpoint a moment in Jimmie’s development when he could have altered the final shape of his character?
  • Can you pinpoint a moment in Maggie's development into adulthood when she could have altered the final shape of her character? (Look carefully at the moment when Maggie realizes the future which awaits her in the factory.)

Overview:
  • What are we to make of Crane’s brutal ridicule of the poor? Is his stereotyping justifiable? What does he find most contemptible about Jimmie, Pete and Maggie? Could he be as savage in his depiction of the impoverished today? (Imagine Pete as a black man or as an Hispanic?)


Homework:


For further reading:

Bowery Boy Movies:



2
 12
 Day 3
 Thurs.

 

2         

13

Day 0

Fri

Professional Day

 

2

16

Day 0

Mon.

 Presidents' Day

 

2

17

Day 4

Tues.

Snow Day







 

2

18

Day 5

Wed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2         

19

Day 6

Thurs.

Stag at Sharkey's (1909) George Bellows


Henri, Robert
Salome 1909
Mead Art Museum

Discuss Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (part two) (Quiz 2) Study Guide; (Lecture Two)

  • What is the primary obstacle to Maggie achieving the insight necessary to understand her situation? What makes her unable to accomplish this goal? Do you hold her responsible?
  • What could Maggie have learned from Nellie? Would that have saved her?
  • What has Maggie realized at the moment that she is dumped by Pete? What options does Maggie have at this point? 
  • Could Maggie have done anything to interrupt this slide down the slippery slope?

Homework:

 

2         

20

Day 7

Fri.

 

2         

23

Day 8

Mon.

 

 

 

 


National Child Labor Committe(1905) Lewis Hines


Lange, Breadline (1936)

 
Lange,  Migrant Mother Photos from
Farm Security Administration  Photos
(1936-38) (LOC)

 

Essay on Maggie due at 3:30 pm.


Photography and Ideology:

  • Michael Katz: Responses to Poverty Outline
    • individual responsibility vs. structural forces
    • the dysfunctional family’s role in reproducing social pathology
    • the neighborhood environment’s role in conditioning individual responses
    • culture’s role (group attitudes, values, and behaviors) in perpetuating poverty 
    • the capacity of public or private institutions to counteract these forces
    • does intervention hurt by creating dependency or help by shaping middle class behaviors.
  • Changing Attitudes Towards the Poor (1890-1935): Jacob Riis, Lewis Hines and Dorothea Lange (ppt)


Introduction to The Promised Land (1991) by Nicholas Lemann


Homework:



Routes of the Great Migration

 

2         

24

Day 9

Tues










 

2         

25

Day 10

Wed.

 

 

 



Jacob Lawrence, "The Great Migration: A Story in Paintings"


McCormick-Deering Cotton Picker (1932)


The Chicago Black Belt 1920-1941

 

Lemann, The Promised Land Clarksdale (pp1-58) (Study Guide) (Googledoc Guide) (Answers)

The Blues Go North

General Questions:

  • What influence has the environment of the segregated South had upon the people who moved from Clarksdale to Chicago?
  • Does Lemann believe that ‘a culture of poverty’ existed in the South?
  • What role does the family structure have on the transmission of poverty from generation to generation?
  • What impact did the move from the agricultural South to the urban North have on the migrants?
  • Would Lemann recommend government intervention to address the problems of poverty which emerged in the cities? If so, how?

Homework:

For further reading:

Ta-Nehisi Coates, "The Case for Reparations": Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.The Atlantic (June 2014)

 

2         

26

Day 1

Thurs.
Reading Day

 

2         

27

Day 2

Fri.

 

 

 

 


Apartment Building in Chicago's
"Black Belt" (LOC)

Justin Fenton, Report: Sandtown-Winchester leads state in number of people incarcerated (Sun 2-16-15)

Ta-Nehisi Coates, "The Case for Reparations": Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.The Atlantic (June 2014)

Donna Owens, Baltimore-born Ta-Nehisi Coates makes his case (Sun 1-29-15)


The Robert Taylor Homes
 

 

Lemann, The Promised Land  Chicago (59-107) (Study Guide) (GoogleDocs Guide) (Answers)

General Questions:

  • What influence has the environment of the segregated South had upon the people who moved from Clarksdale to Chicago?
  • Does Lemann believe that ‘a culture of poverty’ existed in the South?
  • What role does the family structure have on the transmission of poverty from generation to generation?
  • What impact did the move from the agricultural South to the urban North have on the migrants?
  • Would Lemann recommend government intervention to address the problems of poverty which emerged in the cities? If so, how?

Homework:

Backgrounds to Richard Wright

For further reading:







 

3

2

Day 3

Mon.

 







 

3         

3

Day 4

Tues.






Richard Wright (1908-1960)

David Hornbeck, Charter schools do not equal education reform  (SUN 2-28-15)



Canada Lee as Bigger Thomas


Changing Attitudes Towards the Poor (1890-1935): Jacob Riis, Lewis Hines and Dorothea Lange (ppt)

Backgrounds to Richard Wright
Homework:
For further reading:






 

3

4

Day 5

Wed.







 

3         

5

Day 6

Thurs.

 

 

 


The Skywriter

 

Essay Assignment on Native Son,


Wright, Native Son, Book One: "Fear" (Study Guide) (Discussion)


Saturday Morning in the Thomas’ Apartment (3-12)
On the Street  (12-22)
The Pool Hall (22- 29)
At The Movies (29-34)
Terrorizing Gus (34-41)
The Interview (42-51)

Mary, Peggy and the Blind Woman  (51-62)
The Night Ride with Mary and Jan  (62-80)
Bigger and Mary Stumble Towards Bed  (80-87)
The Furnace (87-93)

 

Homework:




 

3

6

Day 7

Fri.

 






 

3

9

Day 8

Mon.

 

 

 

 


The Pool Hall


Bigger and Mary

 

Essay Assignment on Native Son,

Wright, Native Son, Book 1: "Fear"  (Study Guide) (Discussion)


Saturday Morning in the Thomas’ Apartment (3-12)
On the Street  (12-22)
The Pool Hall (22- 29)
At The Movies (29-34)
Terrorizing Gus (34-41)
The Interview (42-51)

Mary, Peggy and the Blind Woman  (51-62)
The Night Ride with Mary and Jan  (62-80)
Bigger and Mary Stumble Towards Bed  (80-87)
The Furnace (87-93)

Homework:




 

3         

10

Day 9

Tues.












 

3

11

Day 10

Wed

 

 

 


Richard Wright as Bigger Thomas and Gloria Madison as Bessie Mears in the 1950 film version of Native Son


Ato Essandoh, as Bigger Thomas, and Felicia V. Loud, as Bessie, star in "Native Son" at Intiman Theatre.

 

Essay Assignment on Native Son


Wright, Native Son, Book 2, "Flight" (Study Guide Book Two) (Discussion Book Two) (Googledocs Guide Book Two)

New Consciousness (97-116)
Improvisation (116-129)
Bessie (129-149)
Interrogation (149-172)

The Ransom Plan (172-184)
Discovery (184-220)
Flight  (220-241)
The Manhunt (241-270)

 

Homework:

 

3

12

Day 1

Thurs.

 




New Masses (May, 1933)

Wright, Native Son, Book 2, "Flight" (Study Guide Book Two) (discussion) (Googledocs Guide Book Two) 
 

New Consciousness (97-116)
Improvisation (116-129)
Bessie (129-149)
Interrogation (149-172)

The Ransom Plan (172-184)
Discovery (184-220)
Flight  (220-241)
The Manhunt (241-270)


Homework:

 

3

13

Day 2

Fri.

 

 

 

 

Max and Bigger Intiman Theatre
Seattle (2006)

 

Wright, Native Son, Book 3, "Fate" (Study Guide) (discussion)

Bigger’s Cell (271- 310)

The Inquest (310-340)

Interview with Max (341- 363)

The Trial (363- 418)

Max’s Speech (382-415)       

Bigger Achieves Consciousness (418)

Homework:

 

3

14

Day 0

Sat.

Spring Break

 

3         

23

Day 0

Mon.

Spring Break

 

3         

24

Day 3

Tues






 

3         

25

Day 4

Wed.

 

 

 

Atto Essandoah as Bigger Thomas Intiman Theatre, Seattle (2006)

Three Miles, This American Life  3-13-15
There’s a program that brings together kids from two schools. One school is public and in the country’s poorest congressional district. The other is private and costs $43,000/year. They are three miles apart. The hope is that kids connect, but some of the public school kids just can’t get over the divide. We hear what happens when you get to see the other side and it looks a lot better.

 

Wright, Native Son, Book 3, "Fate" (Study Guide) (discussion)

Bigger’s Cell (271- 310)

The Inquest (310-340)

Interview with Max (341- 363)

The Trial (363- 418)

Max’s Speech (382-415)       

Bigger Achieves Consciousness (418)

 

Homework:

 

3         

26

Day 5

Thurs






 

3

27

Day 6

Fri


JFK


MLK


LBJ


RFK

Essay Assignment on Native Son due 3:30 p.m.

 

War on Poverty Flow Chart due Wednesday, April 8th at 3:30 p.m.


The Post-War Liberal Consensus

Helpful Chronological Framework

Hilfiker Review: The Myth of the War on Poverty

Why did LBJ’s ‘War on Poverty’ fail? What happened to the one chance in the last half century that the federal government had to make an intensive effort to deal with the problems of our city’s ghettos?


Homework:

 

3

30

Day 7

Mon.

 






 

3

31

Day 8

Tues.

 

 

 

 


LBJ

 

War on Poverty Flow Chart due Wednesday, April 8th at 3:30 p.m.


Helpful Chronological Framework


Class Discussion: What does it take to fight a “War on Poverty”? (just like a “War on Drugs” or a “War on Terrorism”)

Lemann, The Promised Land Washington,  (study guide) (study guide googledocs) (outline) (outline googledocs) (answers)


Homework:


For further reading:

 

4

1

Day 9

Wed.






 

4

2

Day 10

Thurs.

 

 

 


Daniel Patrick Moynihan  (1927-2003)
Nicholas Kristoff, When Liberals Blew It, NY TImes 3-11-15  on The Moynihan Report's 50th Anniversary


Richard Nixon (1913-94)

 


Lemann, The Promised Land Washington,  (study guide) (study guide googledocs) (outline) (outline googledocs) (answers)


Lemann's Thesis?
  • See conclusion.
  • How do you align this point with his main idea in earlier chapters of the The Promised Land  Chicago (59-107)?
  • Do You Agree?


Homework:







 

4

3

Day 0

Fri.

 Good Friday






 

4         

6

Day 0

Mon.

 Professional Day

 

4         

7

Day 1

Tues.




Christopher Jencks, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Christopher Jencks, "Did We Lose the War on Poverty?—II"  NYRB 4-23-15

 

4         

8

Day 2

Wed.

 

 

 

Movement to Increase McDonald’s Minimum Wage Broadens Its Tactics (NY Times 3-30-15)

Spent!
(Minimum Wage Budget Game)

(Marketplace Poverty Simulator: Could You Live on $438 per wk.?)

Economic Policy Institute Family Budget Indicator (2013)

Can You Live on Minimum Wage? (NY Times 2/2014)

Living Wage Calculator (MIT)

 

War on Poverty Flow Chart due Wednesday April 8th at 3:30 p.m.


Introduction to Talley's Corner (1966) by Elliott Liebow


Context:

  • The War on Poverty: Riots, Vietnam (1966)
  • The Moynihan Report (1965): crisis of inner city family
  • Refocus issue from delinquency (criminal teenagers) and dependency (welfare mothers) to the villain of the story, the absent adult male.
 

Method:

  • Not Sociology: data gathered by social workers, census workers, parole officers, and teachers using questionnaires to generate statistical reports.
  • Urban Anthropology: long term participant-observation of a culture by meeting individuals on their own turf and on their own terms (as if studying a native culture).
  • Liebow invented the discipline, or rather he renamed it: its practitioners used to be called reporters and novelists.
 

Setting:

  • Washington, DC (1962-63): How was the ghetto different in 1963?
  • The New Deal Carry Out Shop

The Cast:

  • Tally; Sea Cat; Richard; Leroy
 

Problems?

  • Who funded the research? Who is Elliott Liebow? How did he select what would be included in this book? How did the men on the corner manipulate him? What is his ideological perspective?

Homework:

 

4         

9

Day 3

Thurs.

 






 

4         

10

Day 4

Fri.

 

 

 

 


Paul Ryan, United States Representative, Vice-Presidential candidate in 2012; now Head of the House Ways and Means Committee

Think to yourself what Paul Ryan would have to say about the scene Liebow describes on the corner next to the New

Ryan’s Budget Would Cut $5 Trillion in Spending Over a Decade (NY Times)

Idea to overhaul social welfare assistance with guaranteed income spurs debate and diverse support (Making Sense)

 

Talley's Corner (1966) by Elliott Liebow, 


Talley's Corner Essay

This essay is due on Wednesday, April 22nd at 3:30 p.m

Fun with Numbers:


The Inflation Calculator: $1.00 (1962) = $7.60 (2014)

  • Federal Minimum Wage: $7.25 (2014) = $0.72 (1962) (The real minimum wage was $1.00 in 1962)
  • Laborer Wage: $1.50 to $2.65 an hou = $11.40 to $20.14 an hour (2014) 
  • Top Pay for Jobs Available to Corner Men: $45.00 per week = $342.03 (2014) or  $1368.12 a month (2014)
  • Rent = $12-20 per week =  $91.21(26%) -$152.01 or $600.00 a month (2014) (44% of salary) (I pay @ 18% of my income on rent per week.)

 

Homework:

 

4         

13

Day 5

Mon.

 






 

4         

14

Day 6

Tues.

 

 

 
John Rawls (1921-2002)


Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992)


Robert Nozick (1938-2002)

 


Talley's Corner Essay:

Group Essay: Income Inequality and Ghetto Related Behaviors

As you muse about the situation of the streetcorner man in 1962 Washington D.C., imagine a debate which contrasts the political philosophies of John Laws and Friedrich Hayek. Come up as a class with a thesis which reflects one of their points of view. Then write a group essay. Wit a partner you will be  responsible for  analyzing one chapter of the text from the group's point of view.

Chapter One: Introduction: Chapters 1 and 2; (Study Guide 1,2) (Googledocs Study Guide) KIM and SABRINA

  • Narrative point of view of the writer:
    • Socio-political context in time: 1962 and 1967
    • Study Method: Urban Anthropology vs. Sociology?
    • Study Method: Anecdotes from Grown Men on Their Own Turf: Why?
    • Intended Audience? Grant Origin?
    • Ideological Perspective?
    • Social/Cultural Perspective?
  • Problems?
    • Ideological Flags?
    • Study Method?
    • Social/ Cultural Barriers?
    • Aesthetic Distortions?

Chapter Two: "Men and Jobs": (Chapters 1 and 2) (Study Guide 1,2) (Googledocs Study Guide 1 and 2) (Answers) CLAIRE and MAYA

  • Main Idea: Why is getting and keeping a job a low priority on the corner scale of real values? What conclusion is Liebow leading us towards? Is his evidence convincing?

Chapter 3: "Fathers Without Children": (Chapters 3 ) (Chapter 4) (Study Guide 3,4)  (Googledocs Chapters 3,4) (Answers) COLE and CALVIN
  • Main Idea: How can we inform our judgment of "deadbeat dads" by considering the influence of environment and culture?

Chapter 4: "Husbands and Wives": (Chapters 3 ) (Chapter 4) (Study Guide 3,4)  (Googledocs Chapters 3,4) (Answers) BRENDAN and STEVEN

  • Main Idea: What impact does economic insecurity have on the relationships between man and woman in the corner culture?

Chapter 5: "Lovers and Exploiters": (Chapter 5)  (Chapter 6)  (Study Guide 5,6) (Answers) RYAN and AMANZE

  • Main Idea: How does economic insecurity turn physical attraction into 'cynical, self-serving marauding'?

Chapter 6: "Friends and Networks": (Chapter 5) (Chapter 6) (Study Guide 5,6) (Answers) BRITTANY and OLIVIA and ABBEY

  • Why do attempts to organize and maintain solidarity fail?

Chapter 7 and Appendix: (Chapter 7) (Appendix) (Study Guide 7, Appendix)

  • What conclusion does Liebow draw about "What is to be done?"

Homework:

  • Work on your chapter assignment with your partner. Due date for group essay is next Tuesday. 

 

4         

15

Day 7

Wed.







4
 16
 Day 8
 Thurs


Ta-Nehisi Coates, ‘This Is How We Lost to the White Man’: The audacity of Bill Cosby’s black conservatism,   Atlantic Monthly May 2008 (for further reading: “the Pound Cake speech”; “Come On People”)

Group Essay: Income Inequality and Ghetto Related Behaviors

Talley's Corner 3 and 4  (Study Guide 3,4)  (Googledocs Study Guide 3 and 4)  Minimum Wage Excel Spreadsheet


Chapter 3: "Fathers Without Children":

  • Main Idea: How can we inform our judgment of "deadbeat dads" by considering the influence of environment and culture?


Chapter 4: "Husbands and Wives":

  • Main Idea: What impact does economic insecurity have on the relationships between man and woman in the corner culture?


Homework:

 

4         

17

Day 9

Fri.

 

4         

20

Day 10

Mon.

 

 

 










 

Chapter One: Introduction: Chapters 1 and 2; (Study Guide 1,2) (Googledocs Study Guide) KIM and SABRINA

  • Narrative point of view of the writer:
    • Socio-political context in time: 1962 and 1967
    • Study Method: Urban Anthropology vs. Sociology?
    • Study Method: Anecdotes from Grown Men on Their Own Turf: Why?
    • Intended Audience? Grant Origin?
    • Ideological Perspective?
    • Social/Cultural Perspective?
  • Problems?
    • Ideological Flags?
    • Study Method?
    • Social/ Cultural Barriers?
    • Aesthetic Distortions?

Chapter Two: "Men and Jobs": (Chapters 1 and 2) (Study Guide 1,2) (Googledocs Study Guide 1 and 2) (Answers) CLAIRE and MAYA

  • Main Idea: Why is getting and keeping a job a low priority on the corner scale of real values? What conclusion is Liebow leading us towards? Is his evidence convincing?

Chapter 3: "Fathers Without Children": (Chapters 3 ) (Chapter 4) (Study Guide 3,4)  (Googledocs Chapters 3,4) (Answers) COLE and CALVIN
  • Main Idea: How can we inform our judgment of "deadbeat dads" by considering the influence of environment and culture?

Chapter 4: "Husbands and Wives": (Chapters 3 ) (Chapter 4) (Study Guide 3,4)  (Googledocs Chapters 3,4) (Answers) BRENDAN and STEVEN

  • Main Idea: What impact does economic insecurity have on the relationships between man and woman in the corner culture?

Chapter 5: "Lovers and Exploiters": (Chapter 5)  (Chapter 6)  (Study Guide 5,6) (Answers) RYAN and AMANZE

  • Main Idea: How does economic insecurity turn physical attraction into 'cynical, self-serving marauding'?

Chapter 6: "Friends and Networks": (Chapter 5) (Chapter 6) (Study Guide 5,6) (Answers) BRITTANY and OLIVIA and ABBEY

  • Why do attempts to organize and maintain solidarity fail?

Chapter 7 and Appendix: (Chapter 7) (Appendix) (Study Guide 7, Appendix)

  • What conclusion does Liebow draw about "What is to be done?"

 

4         

21

Day 1

Tues.

 

 

 

 

 


Talley's Corner Essay due Wednesday, April 22nd at 3:30 p.m.

Group Essay: Income Inequality and Ghetto Related Behaviors


Talley’s Corner, 7 and Appendix  (Chapter 7) (Appendix) (Study Guide 7, Appendix)


Homework:

 

 

4         

22

Day 2

Wed.

 

 

 


August Wilson (1945-2005)


Time Magazine
Cover July 1977

 

Talley’s Corner Essay Due at 3:30 pm


From The Culture of Poverty to “The Underclass”:

  • "The Underclass"- a group beyond the help of government
  • Conservatives seize the ‘Culture of Poverty Concept’ Term emerges in 1977-82 era
  • Drugs, crime, teen pregnancy, unemployed, socially alienated, school dropouts, welfare moms, Urban decay, black hole of welfare spending
  • Ken Auletta in 1977 Time Magazine article entitled "The American Underclass" suggested that a whole class of people were emerging in the inner city who might be beyond the reach of any form of help:
  • The Underclass
    • not listed as unemployed because they have given up even looking for a job.
    • hostile street criminals and hustlers
    •  incorrigible welfare moms
    • school dropouts
    • Discussion

 

Introduction to Jitney (1977) by August Wilson

 

Jitney (1977; 1997)

Homework:

 

4         

23

Day 3

Thurs.

 






 

4         

24

Day 4

Fri.

 

 

 


Booster


Paul Butler as Becker

Jitney Set  at Two River Theatre Co. in Pittsburgh  (2012)


Jitney at Huntingdon Theatre, Boston
 (1999)

 

Act One of Jitney (Study Guide) 

Today's the day that Becker will announce to his drivers that the Urban Renewal is moving in, he's moving out, and he's not sure that he wants to keep the business going.

Today's the day that Fielding finally gets himself fired.

Today's the day that the feud between Youngblood and Turnbo breaks wide open.

Today's the day that Rena confronts Youngblood with her suspicions about his running around with Peaches.

Today's the day that Becker's boy, Booster, is getting out of the penitentiary and coming home to meet his father.

Thesis: How are the strands of the action inter-related? (ie, is it just an accident that each of these thunderheads breaks simultaneously?)

Homework:

 

For further reading:


Baltimore’s ‘Broken Relationship’ With Its Police
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG NYTimes 4-25-15
The city’s history helps explain the long-simmering anger that boiled over this week, after the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a severe spinal cord injury in police custody.

 

4         

27

Day 5

Mon.








 

4         

28

Day 6

Tues.

 

 

 


Malcolm X
1925-1065

Malcolm X debates at London's Oxford Union at Oxford University in 1964, defending the proposition that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." (YouTube)

Malcolm X - We Didn't Land On Plymouth Rock


Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

 

Act Two of Jitney (Study Guide) 

  • What problems are Youngblood and Rena having in their relationship? (How would Liebow analyze their situation?) What must they do to make it work? (73-77)
  • How about Becker's problem with the city? Will he work that out? (How would Liebow analyze this situation?) What are the stakes? How important is Becker to this neighborhood? (36-37)
  • How are the problems between Becker and his son Booster related to the neighborhood's crisis? (How would Liebow analyze this relationship?) (What would Richard Wright have to say?) (53-60)
  • What plan does Becker come up with? (84-87)
  • Unpack the political meaning of the play's conclusion. How does Becker's death relate to Wilson's point? What will happen to the jitney drivers? What about Booster's response? (88-96) 

Homework:



 

4

29

Day 7

Wed.


The House I Live In: David Simon on drug laws – video Guardian

The Wire (2004-08)
  • West Baltimore, 1998:
  • The Surround:
    • Bethlehem Steel is Gone.
    • The Middle Class is Gone.
    • Concentrated Poverty in Public Housing  (Laffayette Courts came down in 1995)
    • The Evolution of the Drug Corner: Crack Cocaine, ‘Deregulation’ of the Drug Trade and the Disintegration of the Single Parent Family
    • Reagan Era Cuts in Social Services: (Public Education, Child Care, Housing Assistance) 
    • Public Education in the Ghetto: The Last Best Hope for Corner Kids
    • Jobs: No Market for Unskilled Labor
    • Police Policy: The War on Drugs: Zero Tolerance, Three Strikes, Stop and Frisk, Hot Spots and Prison as a Growth Industry vs. Community Policing, The Paper Bag Law, Drug Treatment and Rec Centers for Kids (Community Action)
    • Councilman Martin O'Malley Runs for Mayor






























































Reactions to the Baltimore Riots 4-27-15:

Anand Giridharadas: A tale of two Americas. And the mini-mart where they collided TED Talk March 2015

The GOP's Response:

The National Review:

Weekly Standard:

Wall Street Journal

Washington Post

NYTimes Op-Ed Articles:

Health, Poverty, And Race:
The War on Drugs and Sentencing Policies:
Post-Riot Crime Wave:

Policing Strategies:
A New Militancy:

A Regional Approach?
Street Artists Respond:
Concentrated Poverty, Low Income Housing and Vouchers
Religious Leaders Respond:
Impact of Riots on Local Business:

 

4

30

Day 8

Thurs.

 

 

 


 
Schooled: Cory Booker, Chris Christie, and Mark Zuckerberg had a plan to reform Newark's schools. They got an education. by Dale Russakoff  The New Yorker 5-19-14


Homework:

  • The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (2014) by Jeff Hobbs

 

5

1

Day 9

Fri.






 

5

4

Day 10

Mon.

AP Exams






Homework:
  • The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (2014) by Jeff Hobbs






 

5

5

Day 1

Tues.

AP Exams




Reading Day







 

5

6

Day 2

Wed.

AP Exams
Homework:
  • The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (2014) by Jeff Hobbs

 

5

7

Day 3

Thurs.

 

5

8

Day 4

Fri.

AP Exams

 

 

 

 

 Homework:
  • The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (2014) by Jeff Hobbs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

11

Day 5

Mon.

AP Exams






 

5

12

Day 6

Tues.

AP Exams

 

 

 


Harvard Department of Sociology

 

Wilson, New Yorker Profile; Reading Guide; (GoogleDocs)

Homework:

The Conservative Final Word:

For further reading:

 

5

13

Day 7

Wed.

AP Exams

 

5

14

Day 8

Thurs.

Senior Exams

 

5

15

Day 9

Fri.

Senior Exams

 

5

18

Day 10

Mon.

 

5

19

Day 1

Tues.

 Senior Encounter Begins

 

5

20

Day 2

Wed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

21

Day 3

Thurs.

 

5

22

Day 4

Fri.

Awards Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

25

Day 0

Mon.

Memorial Day

 

5

26

Day 5

Tues..

 Review Day

 

5

27

Day 6

Wed.

Review Day

 

5

28

Day 7

Thurs..

Reading Day

 

5

29

Day 8

Fri.

 Exams

 

6

1

Day 9

Mon.

Exams

 

6

2

Day 10

Tues.

Exams

 

6

3

Day 1

Wed.

Exams

 

6

4

Day 2

Thurs.

Grading Day

 

6

5

Day 0

Fri.


 

6

6

Day 0

Sat.

Baccalureate

 

6

7

Day 0

Sun.

Founders Day