Poverty and Literature

EU71

Spragins

Spring 2019

3rd Period Even Days; Drop Down Day 1

Second Semester Topics:

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

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

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

Richard Wright (1908-1960)

Richard Wright, Native Son (1940)

Month

Day

Cycle

Assignment

1         

21

0

Mon

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

1

22

5

Tues.

Google Forms Preliminary Poll 

Debating the War on Poverty Fifty Years Later: 

• If Poverty is the Real Problem, Then Capitalism is the Only Solution Nov 30, 2018
• Don’t Believe the UN’s Propaganda About "Extreme Poverty" in the U.S.
  Jul 17, 2018 
• New Statistics Show Decline in Poverty in Trump’s First Year
  Jamie Bryan Hall Sep 13, 2018 
• Do 5 Million Americans Really Live in Third World Poverty?
  Mar 30, 2018

• Children’s exposure to food insecurity is still worse than it was before the Great Recession by Lauren Bauer and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach Friday, June 29, 2018
• Throwing money at a problem can work, but we have to count the money we spend Gary BurtlessWednesday, July 25, 2018
• Work requirements and safety net programs Lauren Bauer, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, and Jay ShambaughMonday, October 15, 2018

Homework:

• Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen by David Hilfiker, MD, 
• Introduction and Chapter One, "Building the Ghetto: A History" (Study Guide) 
• Hilfiker Graded Discussion due on Wednesday, January 30th at 11:59  pm (Canvas Discussion Board)

1         

24

7

Thurs.

1       

25

8

Fri.

Redlining in Baltimore

Hilfiker Graded Discussion due on Wednesday, January 30th at 11:59  pm (Canvas Discussion Board)

Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen by David Hilfiker, MD  

Introduction:

• What is Hilfiker’s main idea? (1)
• improving poor people vs. social and historical structures
  
• What do you think of his credentials? (2)
• Define what Hilfiker means by "the surround". (3)
• How did Hilfiker's political stance change over the years? (3)
• Overall Questions: 
• How did the Urban Ghetto take shape from the 1880's to the 1950's?
• Despite the fact that segregation has existed throughout American history, the truly abysmal 'modern ghetto' emerged only during the last fifty years. (After the Civil Rights Movement!) Why? What happened?

Chapter One, "Building the Ghetto: A History" (Study Guide) (GoogleDocs Guide Chapter One) (Hilfiker Outline) (Blank Guide for your note taking)

Discussion: The Causes of Poverty:

• Macro vs. Micro Effects;
  
• Intended vs. Unintended; 
  
• Government Action vs. Private Action
• (Study Guide Answers)

Homework:

• Hilfiker, Chapter Two, "Pillaging the Ghetto: Other Causes of Poverty" (Study Guide)

1     

28

9

Mon

1

29

10

Tues

Baltimore's Murphy Homes Housing Project
built in 1963


Murphy Homes Demolition (1999)
(video)

• Demolition of the Murphy Homes  (1999); Scene as portrayed in The Wire Season 3 Episode 1 "Time after Time"  opening scene (VIDEO)

Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen by David Hilfiker, MD

Hilfiker Graded Discussion due on Wednesday, January 30th at 11:59  pm (Canvas Discussion Board)

• Hilfiker Thesis: (the surround)
• The Failure of the War on Poverty (GoogleDocs Guide) (Study Guide Answers)
• Hilfiker, Chapter Two, "Pillaging the Ghetto: Other Causes of Poverty" (Study Guide) (GoogleDocs Guide Chapter Two) (Study Guide Answers)
• Hilfiker Outline
• Discussion: The Causes of Poverty: Macro vs. Micro Effects
• Hilfiker's Recommendations: "What is to be done?"

Homework: 

Conceptions of Social Justice

• Classical Liberalism:
• John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1690)
• Natural Rights, Tabula Rasa
  
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
• The Invisible Hand, laissez faire
  
• Thomas Malthus.Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)
• Social Darwinism
• Radical Liberalism:
• Jeremy Bentham and the Principle of Utility
• Socialism:
• Socialism: New Possibilities for Society

Conceptions of Social Justice:

• Classical Liberalism:
• John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1690)
• Natural Rights, Tabula Rasa
  
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
• The Invisible Hand, laissez faire
  
• Thomas Malthus.Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)
• Social Darwinism
• Radical Liberalism:
• Jeremy Bentham and the Principle of Utility
• Socialism:
• Socialism: New Possibilities for Society

• Hilfiker Graded Discussion due on Wednesday, January 30th at 11:59  pm (Canvas Discussion Board)

Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)	Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

1        

31

2

Thurs

Cliffdwellers  (1913) George Bellows (high resolution)

Jacob Riis, Mulberry Street


Jacob Riis, Bandit's Roost

Realism vs. Naturalism

• Introduction to Stephen Crane
• Perspectives on Poverty: Dickens, Riis, Howells and Crane
• Sentimental Melodrama: popular genre for stories and plays in the late 19th century:
  
• Naturalism: Literary Definition

New York City 1888:

• Ric Burns, New York episode three Sunshine and Shadow 1865-1898 (Clip) OR full episode's opening: Jacob Riis, then Bethesda Fountain, then Central Park, then the Five Points) (then go to Jacob Riis 1:20:44 to 1:32:48)
• Silent Film Melodrama: The Little Matchgirl (1902) 
• Creative Project on on Maggie due Thursday 2/14 at 3:30 p.m

• Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1892):  Chapter 1: The Street Fight (3-6)

• Read Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (part one) Study Guide
• Social Reading Option: (GoogleDocs Text) (GoogleDocs Study Guide)

• Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1888) (video)
• Crain, The Red and the Scarlet New Yorker June 30, 2014
• Background to Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (Bloom)
• New York episode four Power and People: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 1:19:45
• Realism and Naturalism: The Ashcan School in Painting (ppt)
• Progressivism and Naturalism Projects

2

1

Fri

2         

4

4

Mon.

• 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?
  
• Style: Pay close attention to Crane's style: what is his perspective on his characters?
• Character: 
• Smith and Malthus and Social Darwinism
• Locke's Epistemology: tabula rasa
• Hard Determinism vs. Soft Determinism
• 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? 

Part One: Chapters 1-10

• The situation of children in Rum Alley (chapters 1-3)
• Jimmie's Fate: determined or not? (chapter 4)
• Maggie and Pete: her version vs. reality (chapters 5-6)
• Two Dates: the vaudeveille show and the melodrama (chapters 6-8)
• How powerful is the shaping force of NYC culture in Maggie's mind?
• Maggie's Choice (chapter 8)
• The Curse (chapters 9-10)
• Maggie 'goes teh hell'.
• Does this choice destroy her?

Homework:

• Read Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (part two) Study Guide

For further reading:

Bowery Boy Movies:

• Dead End Kids "They Made Me A Criminal" (1939)
• Humphrey Bogart in "Dead End" (1937)
• Creative Writing ala Crane

2         

5

5

Tues.

2         

6

6

Wed.

2         

7

7

Thurs.

2         

8

8

Fri.

• Why is Maggie unable to understand her situation? What obstacle blocks her? Do you hold her responsible?

Part One: Chapters 1-10

• The Situation of Children in Rum Alley (chapters 1-3)
• Jimmie's Fate: determined or not? (chapter 4)
• Maggie and Pete: her version vs. reality (chapters 5-6)
• Two Dates: the vaudeveille show and the melodrama (chapters 6-8)
• How powerful is the shaping force of NYC culture in Maggie's mind?
• Remember that Maggie is a character in a melodrama.
  
• Maggie's Choice (chapter 8)
• The Curse (chapters 9-10)
• Maggie 'goes teh hell'.
• Does this choice destroy her?

• The Bar Fight (chapter 11)
• How does Crane depict The Urban Jungle?
• Pete and Maggie at the 'Hall of Irregular Shape' (chapter 12)
• What is Maggie's impression of how she and Pete are doing?
• Where has he taken her?
• Maggie's Mortal Sin (chapter 13)
• What does Maggie's Mom tell the judge when she is tried for public drunkeness?
• Nell Steals Pete at the 'Hilarious Hall'
• Describe Nellie. Why is she interested in Pete?
• What does she think of Maggie?
• How does Maggie react when she is ditched?
• Return of the Prodigal Daughter (chapter 15)
• Who accosts Jimmie on the street?
• How is Maggie received by everyone in the neighborhood when she returns home?
• Pete's Struggle of Conscience (chapter 16)
• What does Pete tell Maggie when she confronts him at his bar?
• Where can she turn?
• Maggie's Descent to the East River (chapter 17)
• Nell Hustles Pete (chapter 18)
• "I allus been goo' f'ler "
• What could Maggie have learned from Nellie?
  
• Mag's Dead (chapter 19)
• "I kin remember when she weared worsted boots."
• "Oh, yes, I'll fergive her! I'll fergive her!"

Crane on Fate: “A man is born into this world with his own pair of eyes, and he is not responsible for his vision-- he is merely responsible for his quality of personal honesty. To keep close to honesty is my supreme ambition.”

Homework:

• Graded Discussion on Maggie: A Girl of the Streets due Monday night 2/11 by 11:59 p.m.

2         

12

10

Tues.

• As a group, choose a key moment from the story to dramatize. (for example Maggie's impressions of her situation in the 'Hilarious Hall' (from Chapter 8).
• Go to the passage in the story which contains that key moment and do a close reading. (see Study Guide)
• Decide as a group whether you are going to interpret the scene as a hard or soft determinist.
• Storyboard a shot sequence on index cards or Post-It Notes.
• Compose the elements of each shot.
• Brainstorm costumes, props and settings.
• Choose music that would work well with your scene.
• Cast your scene.
• Be ready to shoot your scene next class.
• Use these student films as models: 
• THE PICNIC: A Silent Melodrama
• Maggie: A Girl of the Streets Trailer

• Is Maggie responsible for her fate?
• What obstacle prevents her from understanding her situation?
• What is to be done about the situation of young people who grow up in environments like Maggie's family and neighborhood? 

2         

14

2

Thurs.

2         

15

0

Fri.

Professional Day

Creative Project on on Maggie due Friday 2/22 at 3:30 p.m

Photography and Ideology:

• Michael Katz: Responses to Poverty Outline: (Notes from Improving Poor People: The Welfare State, The “Underclass,” and Urban Schools as History (1995) by Michael Katz)
• Changing Attitudes Towards the Poor (1890-1935): Jacob Riis, Lewis Hines and Dorothea Lange (ppt)
• Progressivism Projects

Lange, Breadline (1936)	Lange,  Migrant Mother Photos
from Farm Security Administration  Photos (1936-38) (LOC) Masterpiece: The Making of Migrant Mother (Nerdwriter)

Homework:

• Creative Project on on Maggie due Friday 2/22 at 3:30 p.m

2

21

5

Thurs.

2       

22

6

Fri.

McCormick-Deering Cotton Picker (1932)

Homework:

• Graded Discussion: Reflection on Collaboration: Maggie Melodrama due Sunday by 11:59 p.m.
• Nicholas Lemann, The Promised Land Clarksdale (pp.3-31) (Study Guide) 

2

25

7

Mon.

2      

26

8

Tues.

Conceptions of Social Justice:

• Classical Liberalism:
• John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1690)
• Natural Rights, Tabula Rasa
  
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
• The Invisible Hand, laissez faire
  
• Thomas Malthus.Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)
• Social Darwinism
• Radical Liberalism:
• Jeremy Bentham and the Principle of Utility
• Socialism:
• Socialism: New Possibilities for Society

General Questions:

• What influence did the 'surround' of the segregated South have upon the people who moved from Clarksdale to Chicago? Does Lemann believe that ‘a culture of poverty’ existed in the South? 
• How does Lemann's selection of anecdotes about the folk from Clarksdale who moved to Chicago support his thesis?
• Does Lemann’s use of these anecdotes an accurate reflection of why concentrated poverty overtook the black neighborhoods of Chicago's South and West Sides?
• According to Lemann, how did the public housing debacle in Chicago develop?To what degree does Lemann hold Mayor Daley and the city government responsible for the coming catastrophe?
• What would Isabel Wilkerson think? How about Hilfiker and Crane?
• Identify the position on social justice that you are taking: classical liberal, radical liberal, or socialist.

• Ruby Daniels
• Uless Carter
• George Hicks
• Bennie Gooden
• Aaron Henry

Homework:

• Nicholas Lemann, The Promised Land Clarksdale (pp.32-58) (Study Guide) (Googledoc Guide)

2

27

9

Wed.

2

28

10

Thurs.

Graded Discussion: The Promised Land due on Friday, March 8th by 11:59 p.m.

Lemann, The Promised Land Clarksdale (pp, 32-58) (Study Guide) (Googledoc Guide) (Answers)

Key Questions:

• What influence did the environment of the segregated South have 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?
• Would Lemann recommend government intervention to address the problems of poverty which emerged in the cities? If so, how?
• Is Lemann’s history of the Great Migration accurate?

• Lemann's Thesis
• David Cohn's Prediction
• Richard Wright's Prediction

• Ruby Daniels
• Uless Carter
• Connie Henry
• George Hicks
• Bennie Gooden
• Aaron Henry

Homework:

• Lemann, The Promised Land Chicago (59-107) (Study Guide) (GoogleDoc Guide)

• Muddy Waters, "I'm A Man" 
• Howlin' Wolf, "Smokestack Lightning"

3         

1

1

Fri.

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

Chicago South Side Map

Graded Discussion: The Promised Land due on Friday, March 8th by 11:59 p.m.

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

Key Questions:

Lemann's Character Selection in The Promised Land:

Analyze why Lemann chose these people to represent the millions of African-Americans who moved north during the Great Migration:

• Ruby Daniels
• Uless Carter
• Connie Henry
• George Hicks
• Bennie Gooden
• Aaron Henry

Homework:

• Lemann, The Promised Land Chicago (59-107) (Study Guide)  (GoogleDoc Guide)

3

4

2

Mon.

• What influence did the 'surround' of the segregated South have upon the people who moved from Clarksdale to Chicago? Does Lemann believe that ‘a culture of poverty’ existed in the South? 
• What role does family structure have on the transmission of poverty from generation to generation?
• Would Lemann recommend government intervention to address the problems of poverty which emerged in the cities? If so, how?
• How does Lemann's selection of anecdotes about the folk from Clarksdale who moved to Chicago support his thesis?
• Does Lemann’s use of these anecdotes provide an accurate reflection of why concentrated poverty overtook the black neighborhoods of Chicago's South and West Sides? 
• To what degree does Lemann hold Mayor Daley and the city government responsible for the coming catastrophe?
• Is Lemann’s history of the Great Migration accurate?
• What would Isabel Wilkerson think? How about Hilfiker and Crane?
• Identify the position on social justice that you are taking: classical liberal, radical liberal, or socialist.

Reviews of The Warmth of Other Suns (2010) by Isabel Wilkerson's? How does she explain the emergence of the terrible ghettoes at the end of the 20th century?

• Jill Lepore, The Uprooted: Chronicling the Great Migration The New Yorker September 6, 2010 
• John Stauffer, The Great Northern Migration: Long after Emancipation, African-Americans found another kind of freedom WSJ (2010) 
• David Orshinsky, Freedom Trains NY Times (2010) 
• Janet Maslin, The Lives Gained by Fleeing Jim Crow NY Times (2010)
• Ta-Nehesi Coates, The American Case Against a Black Middle Class The Atlantic (2013)

3

5

3

Tues.

3

6

4

Wed.

Graded Discussion: The Promised Land: Clarksdale and Chicago due on Friday, March 8th by 11:59 p.m.

Reviews of The Warmth of Other Suns (2010) by Isabel Wilkerson's? How does she explain the emergence of the terrible ghettoes at the end of the 20th century?

• Jill Lepore, The Uprooted: Chronicling the Great Migration The New Yorker September 6, 2010 
• John Stauffer, The Great Northern Migration: Long after Emancipation, African-Americans found another kind of freedom WSJ (2010) 
• David Orshinsky, Freedom Trains NY Times (2010) 
• Janet Maslin, The Lives Gained by Fleeing Jim Crow NY Times (2010)
• Ta-Nehesi Coates, The American Case Against a Black Middle Class The Atlantic (2013)

An alternative vision: The characters chosen by Isabel Wilerson for her history of the Great Migration: The Warmth of Other Suns (2010). It includes the biographies of three persons: 

• Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, a sharecropper's wife who left Mississippi in the 1930s for Chicago. 
• George Swanson Starling, an agricultural worker and union organizer who left Florida for New York City in the 1940s.
• Robert Joseph Pershing Foster, a doctor who left Louisiana in the early 1950s, moving to Los Angeles.

• What influence did the 'surround' of the segregated South have upon the people who moved north during the Great Migration? 
• What does Wilkerson's selection of Ida Mae, George, and Pershing to represent the six million people who moved teach us about the character of the Great Migration?
• Does Wilkerson believe that a 'culture of poverty' moved from the plantations of the South to the ghettos of the North?
• How does Wilkerson explain the emergence of neighborhoods of concentrated poverty in the urban ghettos?
• How might Lemann respond to Wilkerson's history of the Great Migration?

• Graded Discussion: The Promised Land: Clarksdale and Chicago due on Friday, March 8th by 11:59 p.m.

3         

8

6

Fri.

• What influence did the 'surround' of the segregated South have upon the people who moved from Clarksdale to Chicago? 
• What role does ‘a culture of poverty’ have on the transmission of poverty from generation to generation?
• Would Lemann recommend government intervention to address the problems of poverty which emerged in the cities? If so, how?
• Does Lemann’s use of  anecdotes about the migrants from Clarksdale to Chicago provide an accurate reflection of why concentrated poverty overtook the black neighborhoods of Chicago's South and West Sides? 
• To what degree does Lemann hold Mayor Daley and the city government responsible for the coming catastrophe?
• Is Lemann’s history of the Great Migration accurate?
• What would Isabel Wilkerson think? How about Hilfiker and Crane?
• Identify the position on social justice that you are taking: classical liberal, radical liberal, or socialist.

• Wright, Native Son, Book One: "Fear" (Study Guide) (GoogleDocs Guide Book One)
• Graded Discussion: The Trial of Bigger Thomas due Friday March 15th by 11:59 p.m.

• The Great Depression
• Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression by Robert D.G. Kelley
• The Scottsboro Case (1931)
  
• Communist Party, USA
  
• Orson Welles directs "Native Son" at the Mercury Theatre in 1941 (same year as Citizen Kane)

3         

11

7

Mon.

3

12

8

Tues.

Richard Wright (1908-1960)

The Skywriter

Graded Discussion: The Trial of Bigger Thomas due Friday March 15th by 11:59 p.m.

James Baldwin, "Everybody's Protest Novel" from Notes of a Native Son (1948)

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

• Saturday Morning in the Thomas’ Apartment (3-12) 
• The Kitchenette Apartment
• The Rat
• The Situation of the Thomas Family
  
• On the Street  (12-22)
• Symbol: The Poster and the Skywriter
• The feeling in Bigger's Gut
  
• Bigger and Gus Playing Generals
• The Pool Hall (22- 29)
• Blum's Delicatessen
• The Vicious Cycle of Bigger's Thinking
  
• At The Movies (29-34)
• The Surreal Newsreel
• Fantasizing about Jan and Mary
  
• Terrorizing Gus (34-41)
• Why does Bigger attack Gus?
• What is the relationship between racism and Black on black violence"
• Can Bigger process what he has done?
  
• The Interview (42-51)
• The Gun
• What does Bigger think off this job opportunity?
• What role does Bigger play during the interview?
• Mary, Peggy and the Blind Woman  (51-62)
• How does Bigger respond to meeting Mary?
• What makes encounters with Mrs. Dalton so eerie?
  
• The Night Ride with Mary and Jan  (62-80)
• What is so wrong about the way Mary and Jan treat Bigger?
• Why is Bigger humiliated at Ernie's Chicken Shack?
• How demeaning is it for Bigger to 'chauffeur' Mary and an around the Park?
  
• Bigger and Mary Stumble Towards Bed  (80-87)
• What conflicting feelings possess Bigger as he helps Mary to bed?
• Could Bigger have done anything differently?
• The Furnace (87-93)
• Note the ways that Wright imbues this scene with horror.
  

Homework:

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

3

13

9

Wed.

3

14

10

Thurs.

Bigger and Gus

The Night Ride


The Drive Way


The Bedroom

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

Graded Discussion: The Trial of Bigger Thomas due Friday, March 15th by 11:59 p.m.

When is punishment is justified?

• Did the perpetrator intend to commit the crime? (intention)
• Did he understand what he was doing at the moment he committed the crime? (knowledge)
• Did he have any other option? (control)

• First-degree murder: any intentional murder that is willful and premeditated with malice aforethought.
• Felony murder: a charge that may be filed against a defendant who is involved in a dangerous crime where a death results from the crime] is typically first-degree.
• Second-degree murder: any intentional murder with malice aforethought, but is not premeditated or planned in advance.
• Voluntary manslaughter: sometimes called a crime of passion murder, is an intentional killing that involves no prior intent to kill, and which was committed under such circumstances that would "cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed".
• Involuntary manslaughter: a killing that stems from a lack of intention to cause death but involving an intentional or negligent act leading to death. The killer did not intend for death to result from their intentional actions.

QUESTION TWO:
What combination of the principles of punishment should be used to determine a just consequence for Bigger's crime?

• Retribution: Punishment is called for because the moral or legal violator deserves to be penalized.
• Deterrence: Punishment serves as an effective disincentive for the individual and other potential criminals. The pain of punishment is offset by the benefit for society as a whole
• Restitution: In response to this disruption of the social order, what can be done to restore the victim of a crime
• Rehabilitation: What can be done to restore the offender to a situation of pro-sociality?

QUESTION THREE:
To what extent is inner city violence directly related to the psychological effects of systemic racism?

3

15

1

Fri.

3

26

2

Tues.

LBJ

The War on Poverty:

Helpful Chronological Framework
Lemann, The Promised Land Washington,  (outline)  (answers)

The Underclass Debate:

• "The Underclass": a group beyond the help of government
• Term emerges in 1977-82 era
• Ken Auletta in 1977 Time Magazine article entitled "The American Underclass" suggested that a whole class of people were emerging in the decaying inner city who might be beyond the reach of any form of help:
• Drugs, crime, teen pregnancy, welfare spending and the breakdown of the family combine to create a class of people who are unemployable and socially alienated: school dropouts, welfare moms,  the passive poor, hostile street criminals, hustlers, drunks/addicts/homeless.

Homework:

• Nicholas Lemann, The Underclass Debate  (Study Guide)
  from The Promised Land (1991) pp. 280-291

3

28

4

Thurs.

The Underclass Debate:

• "The Underclass": a group beyond the help of government
• Term emerges in 1977-82 era
• Ken Auletta in 1977 Time Magazine article entitled "The American Underclass" suggested that a whole class of people were emerging in the decaying inner city who might be beyond the reach of any form of help:
• Drugs, crime, teen pregnancy, welfare spending and the breakdown of the family combine to create a class of people who are unemployable and socially alienated: school dropouts, welfare moms,  the passive poor, hostile street criminals, hustlers, drunks/addicts/homeless.

Chapters:

1. “Lower-class behavior in our cities is shaking them apart.” (Julie Nina)

2. “We are incarcerating too few criminals.” (Emily, Eleanor)

3. “You don’t take a shower after 9 o’clock.” (Sophia, Ajee)

4. “The crime-stained blackness of the Negro” (Khai, Calvin)

5. "The “baddest generation any society has ever known.” (Steven, Pierce)

6. “It’s like I’m in prison with him.” (Tyler, John)

7. “Our value system became surviving versus living.” (Lila, Gigi)

8. “The Negro poor having become more openly violent.” (Joy, Hamera)

9. “Now comes the proposition that the Negro is entitled to damages" (Kiki, Abbey

3   

29

5

Fri.

4         

1

6

Mon.

Chapters:

1. “Lower-class behavior in our cities is shaking them apart.” (Julie Nina)

2. “We are incarcerating too few criminals.” (Emily, Eleanor)

3. “You don’t take a shower after 9 o’clock.” (Sophia, Ajee)

4. “The crime-stained blackness of the Negro” (Khai, Calvin)

5. "The “baddest generation any society has ever known.” (Steven, Pierce)

6. “It’s like I’m in prison with him.” (Tyler, John)

7. “Our value system became surviving versus living.” (Lila, Gigi)

8. “The Negro poor having become more openly violent.” (Joy, Hamera)

9. “Now comes the proposition that the Negro is entitled to damages" (Kiki, Abbey

Working with a partner, prepare a Google presentation on your assigned chapter from Ta-Nehisi Coates' essay The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Your goal is to identify the main idea in each chapter, explain how Coates defends that idea with evidence, and then evaluate the extent to which you agree or disagree with his assertion. (Let my study guide questions on the GoogleDoc guide the construction of your presentation.)

Explore the validity of Coates' main idea by doing some research on your own to defend or challenge Coates' argument.

PROJECT EXPECTATIONS:

• Create a slide towards the beginning of your presentation which includes a Topic Sentence.
• Use Mr. Spragins' Prompts to help organize your presentation.
• Find the best Short Quotes from your sources to use in your presentation.
• Make In-text Citations to your sources on each slide.
• Provide Interesting Graphics (pictures, sketches, tables) to Illustrate your Presentation.
• Provide Excerpts from Videos to explain Difficult Concepts
• Second to the Last Slide: Make your Conclusion Clear.
• End Your Presentation with a Properly Formatted Works Cited Page.

4         

2

7

Tues.

4         

3

8

Wed.

Chapters:

1. “Lower-class behavior in our cities is shaking them apart.” (Julie Nina)

2. “We are incarcerating too few criminals.” (Emily, Eleanor)

3. “You don’t take a shower after 9 o’clock.” (Sophia, Ajee)

4. “The crime-stained blackness of the Negro” (Khai, Calvin)

5. "The “baddest generation any society has ever known.” (Steven, Pierce)

6. “It’s like I’m in prison with him.” (Tyler, John)

7. “Our value system became surviving versus living.” (Lila, Gigi)

8. “The Negro poor having become more openly violent.” (Joy, Hamera)

9. “Now comes the proposition that the Negro is entitled to damages" (Kiki, Abbey)

• The Tragedy of Baltimore by Alec MacGillis March 12, 2019 (NY Times Magazine Version) Since Freddie Gray’s death in 2015, violent crime has spiked to levels unseen for a quarter century. Inside the crackup of an American city.
  

4         

4

9

Thurs.

4         

5

10

Fri.

• Baltimore homicide rate spikes since 2015 death of Freddie Gray (CBS video)
• The Tragedy of Baltimore by Alec MacGillis March 12, 2019 (NY Times Magazine Version) Since Freddie Gray’s death in 2015, violent crime has spiked to levels unseen for a quarter century. Inside the crackup of an American city. (Study Guide)

• Graded Discussion: Black Lives Matter and the Ferguson Effect due by 11:59 p.m..Monday, April 8th

POTENTIAL FINAL PROJECT TOPICS:

• Urban Policing Policies: The Legacy of the War on Drugs, Broken Windows Policing, and Mass Incarceration:
• Urban Policing Practices: The Black Lives Matter Movement in My City
• Urban Policing Policies: The Fergusen Effect: Under Policing in High Crime Neighborhoods
• Criminal Justice Reform: Plea Bargaining Pros and Cons
• Criminal Justice Reform: Ending Cash Bail
• Prison Reform: Halfway Houses for Drug Rehabilitation or Job Training for Ex-Convicts
• Prison Reform: Pell Grants for Prisoners
• Prison Reform: Giving Back the Right to Vote to Felons
• Prison Reform: Reforming Sentencing Strategies for Non-Violent Drug Offenses
• Prison Reform: Ending Solitary Confinement for Minors
• Baltimore Club Music Culture (See Sound of My City: Baltimore with Tate Kobang YouTube) 

Catherine Pugh

4         

8

1

Mon.

• Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration The Atlantic (2015) (Online Atlantic Article) (Coates' Main Ideas)
• The Tragedy of Baltimore by Alec MacGillis March 12, 2019 (NY Times Magazine Version) Since Freddie Gray’s death in 2015, violent crime has spiked to levels unseen for a quarter century. Inside the crackup of an American city. (Study Guide)

• This week as we watch If Beale Street Could Talk, you should brainstorm a final project for this course. Please go to this page to brainstorm projects with your classmates.

• This week as we watch If Beale Street Could Talk, you should brainstorm a final project for this course. Please go to this page to brainstorm projects with your classmates.

The film If Beale Street Could Talk is based on the 1974 novel by the great American writer James Baldwin. Baldwin was an essayist and novelist who also became a prominent public intellectual during the 1960’s. In his essays collected in The Fire Next Time (1962) Baldwin called out the widespread expressions of innocence among white Americans when faced with the oppression of blacks. He said, “It is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.” The solution to the problem of race in America, Baldwin believed was love: love of blacks for whites, and both races for each other.

In If Beale Street Could Talk Baldwin focuse on the love which sustains a black family through a terrible ordeal. A young couple fall in love and decide to marry. Fonny and Tish face the familiar challenges many young couples must overcome. Fonny wants to be an artist, a sculptor. His parents are opposed to his dream and opposed to his marrying Tish. Fortunately, Tish’s family supports them both, and the couple rents a loft in Greenwich Village and is preparing to move in together when catastrophe strikes. Fonny is arrested and charged with the rape of a woman. They cannot raise the money to get Fonny out on bail, so he is imprisoned awaiting a trial which is postponed again and again. Tish must find a lawyer and her family must come up with the money to pay his fees and the fees of any investigator who might seek to prove Fonny’s innocence. It is in this situation that Tish realizes that she is pregnant. How will her family face this daunting test.

Homework:

• Please read the First Chapter of If Beale Street Could Talk to get a sense of Baldwin's writing style and amazing talent.

4         

10

3

Wed.

• Graded Discussion: If Beale Street Could Talk due Monday, April 15 by 11:59 p.m.
• Final Project Brainstorm

4         

12

5

Fri.

• Opinion | The plea bargain trap (Washington Post)
• Adnan Sultan, Why Innocent People Plead Guilty (TEDxFurmanU)
• Nancy Franklin, Who would confess to a murder they didn’t commit? Maybe you. (TEDxSBU)
• Adam Foss: A prosecutor's vision for a better justice system,  TED Talk Feb 2016
• Dylan Walsh, Why U.S. Criminal Courts Are So Dependent on Plea Bargaining: Side effects include inordinately powerful prosecutors and infrequent access to jury trials. The Atlantic 5-2-17
• Jennifer Gonnerman, Larry Krasner’s Campaign to End Mass Incarceration New Yorker October 22, 2018 Philadelphia’s District Attorney reinvents the role of the modern prosecutor.
• Emily Bazelon, If Prisons Don’t Work, What Will? NY Times 4-5-19
  The Democratic presidential candidates should look at what a growing number of prosecutors are doing to end mass incarceration.
• Adam Gopnik, Who Belongs in Prison? New Yorker 4-8-19 A truly just system must do more than protect the rights of the innocent; it must also respect the humanity of the guilty.
• Adam Gopnik. How We Misunderstand Mass Incarceration New Yorker 4-3-17 A new book argues that, in the effort to fix the prison epidemic, we are addressing the wrong things and missing the true problem.

• Graded Discussion: If Beale Street Could Talk due Monday, April 15 by 11:59 p.m.
• Final Project Brainstorm

4         

16

7

Tues.

4         

17

8

Wed.

4         

18

9

Thurs.

4

19

0

Fri.

GOOD FRIDAY/PASSOVER

4

23

10

Tues.

4

24

1

Wed.

4

25

2

Thurs

4

29

4

Mon.

AP's

5

1

6

Wed.

AP's

• Prepare a report (presentation) in which you describe how the following social entrepreneurs are making a difference in their communities. 
• As part of your presentation, list the kind of projects each of the following groups have sponsored.
• Try to find video to include in your presentation.

• Mike Wieckert, Co-Director of the MICA Center for Urban Design:  Learn How Design Helps People Get the Things They Need to Make Their Lives Better 
• Deconstructing Poverty (Impact Design Hub)
• George Aye and Sara Cantor Aye,  Greater Good Studio cofounders 
• Liz Danzico,  NPR Creative Director
• Housing Works (Brooklyn, NYC)
• Christine Gaspar,  Executive Director Center for Urban Pedagogy
• Liz Ogbu of Studio 
• Gaby Brink, Founder, Tomorrow Partners 
• Ferguson-based activist DeAndrea Nichols

5

3

8

Fri.

AP's

• From Clay Pots to Cities: Theaster Gates (Antonio)
• Making a Difference in the World: DeAndrea Nichols (I'Jae)
• Deconstructing Poverty (Corey and Alex)
• Social Entrepreneurship: Housing Works (Parker and Jack)
• Liz Ogbu and Studio O (Tabb and Will)
• Social Entrepreneurship: Center for Social Design: MICA (Mina and Madi)
• The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) (Robert and Wolfie)

• Framework for Presentation
• Read Media Literacy Tools of Persuasion
• TV Commercial Rubric
• Watch and Analyze: Media Literacy Exercise
• Be Prepared to Settle on a Product or Service with your Group Members in Class on Monday

5

7

10

Tues.

AP Exams

• Framework for Presentation
• Read Media Literacy Tools of Persuasion
• TV Commercial Rubric
• Watch and Analyze: Media Literacy Exercise
• Be Prepared to Settle on a Product or Service with your Group Members in Class on Monday

5

8

1

Wed.

AP Exams

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

5

9

2

Thurs.

AP Exams

• Wolfie and Rob, Tooth Truck
• Madi, Mina and I'Jae, Necessities
• Alex, Antonio, and Corey, Teenworks
• Jack and Parker, Food Deserts
• Tabb and Will, Police Basketball League Network

5

10

3

Fri.

5

13

4

Mon.

 AP Exams

5

14

5

Tues.

5

15

6

Wed.

5

16

7

Thurs.

5

17

8

Fri.

SENIOR EXAMS

5

21

10

Tues.

5

22

1

Wed.

5

24

3

Fri.

5

27

0

Mon.

MEMORIAL DAY

5

31

7

Fri.

EXAMS

6

3

8

Mon.

EXAMS

6

4

9

Tues.

EXAMS

6

6

1

 Thurs.