I would like to share with you the wonder and works of Titus Kaphar. Kaphar is a amazing artist and I have created a lesson activity to supplement U.S. History units about Indian Removal, Andrew Jackson, Jacksonian Era, and Trail of Tears. I teach these topics through the lens of American Settler Colonialism using Dr. Muhammad’s Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy Framework. Please click here to access of Teachers Pay Teachers FREE download.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was so excited to read Veronica Roth again. I tried to get into the Carve the Mark series but I just couldn’t get past the first half of the first book. I really enjoyed this book. The main character is flawed and what inspired me the most is that the heroine decided to stop pretending to be someone she was not. She totally owned her failures and did not let her former boyfriend guilt her for breaking up with him. That was so dope. I don’t think I have ever read a common character trope to play out the way it did in this book. The magic system and world building is on point and of course the setting is in Chicago. Roth really knows the layout of Chicago and I could envision almost every scene set in the city. This book falls in between YA and New Adult.
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dragons, magic, war, revenge and resistance against classism? Who can resist? I enjoyed this book and Winter’s writing style. The magic system is unique where Tau has the unlikely ability of the “gifted” to transport himself to the underworld and battle demons. Winter didn’t delve too deeply into the magic system and we learn, alongside Tau, more about its origins and effects on the world around him. This book has a little bit of everything and it was dope to read another fantasy novel with people of color. Excited for the next installment!
Not only did I graduate with my Masters in Secondary Education with a teaching credential in April; I got a job! I only applied to one school, and that is the school where I did my student teaching. I love this school for three reasons: it has a diverse student body, faculty in the social studies department are amazing, and the administration is actively pursuing diversity and inclusion from the top down. I am so excited to teach!!!
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Just, wow. The editor Deborah G. Plant did an amazing job putting Hurston’s manuscript into, “The Story of the Last Black Cargo.” The early life of Cudjo in West Africa prior to his illegal capture, transport, and enslavement in America was eye opening. There are very few narratives of freedmen, and to learn about his life prior to captivity made this “peculiar institution” an even greater evil. Cudjo’s vernacular, stories and histories revealed the reality of enslaved Africans lives before it all went to hell.
Foolish fallacies passed down as facts are revealed as lies,
“We come in de ‘Merica soil naked and de people say we naked savage. Dey say we doan wear no clothes. Dey doan know de Many-costs snatch our clothes ‘way from us.” -Cudjo
The reality of police brutality from the Emancipation Proclamation until now,
“Somebody call hisself a deputy sheriff kill de baby boy now… he say he de law, but he doan come ‘rest him…Oh, Lor’! He shootee my boy in de throat. He got no right shootee my boy. He make out he skeerd my boy goin’ shoot him and shootee my boy down in de store…Dey doan do nothin’ to de man whut killee my son.” -Cudjo
No reparations for Freedmen and the onset of economic and social freedom in America,
“Cap’n jump on his feet and say, ‘Fool do you think i goin’ give you property on top of property? I tookee good keer of my slaves in slavery and derefo’ I doan owe dem nothin? You doan belong to me now, why must I give you my lan’?” This was Cudjo’s former master’s response to his request for land upon emancipation after laboring five years and six months as a slave without pay.
A response to “Go back to Africa!” upon emancipation,
“We work hard and try to save our money. But it too much money we need. So we think we stay here.” -Cudjo
Honestly, I could go on and on about this book. The most affirming part was the Afterword. Please read this book for yourself, as Plant states, “Barracoon does not articulate an explicit political agenda. And it does not speak with the kind of heroic, self-possessed, and self-realized voice associated with black autobiography.”
teachquelle 