I've been looking for a book to complement Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow. I want something that deals with racism before the New Jim Crow emerged in the 1980s. I don't want the book to be too dry. I was thinking of a novel I read about 18 years ago, Octavia Butler's Kindred. The students could develop a thesis that addresses the connection between power, identity, and the poison Kool-Aid of white supremecy or something like that.
I could supplement my lectures with The Strange Career of Jim Crow and documentry excerpts from Many Rivers to Cross.
I would have to discuss the science fiction genre and perhaps have an assignment about the ways in which the novel transcends and elevates science fiction.
I used Kindred in an English A class about 10 years ago. It was consistently well-liked.
Posted by: Jeff | 05/09/2014 at 04:15 PM
That's good to hear. I really do want to use fiction as a way to get the students interested in this part of history before I teach the polemic The New Jim Crow.
Posted by: herculodge | 05/09/2014 at 04:18 PM