Assignment task:
Following our themes of protest, "A Letter to My
Nephew" by James Baldwin and "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates are essays written by Black men, at times roughly 50 years apart, that express angst and frustration about the state of relationships between Black men and the organizations of power in society that often control the path of their lives. Though both are framed as messages to a child (nephew or son), both texts are inherently argumentative essays that lay out frameworks and evidence for ways in which to deal with the structures of society that threaten to oppress the writers and the Black children to whom they speak. Do you confront society or follow a different path? Each argues for multiple ways to deal with society's pressures: protest, educate oneselt, reconcile, hold true to one's identity. As we continue to grapple in this country with the legacy of racial injustice, these works offer important means to understand such issues over time and in individual lives. More significantly, these writers invite us to look at the power of literature to capture the historic in a personal voice, and to expand upon personal narrative to address maior historic issues. How do you feel about their messages? Do you understand their grief and why they felt they had to write these pieces? How do you connect what they wrote to what is happening around you? How might their points be relevant for a broader range of individuals than Black men? How might these texts connect us back to the question of the American Dream raised by Franzen's piece earlier in your readings?