Literature
‘I do’; ‘I apologize’; ‘I dare you’; ‘I promise; ‘You’re fired’
What are examples of performative utterances?
This musical was created to highlight key milestones for a popular group during the Motown era. It showed their career success along with realistic life issues.
What is Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” was adopted by this organization.
What is the NAACP?
This Concept from Toni Morrison describes the way Black Identity is distorted or simplified when filtered through dominant White perspectives.
What is American Africanism?
The literary powerhouse that imagined the concept of American Africanism, or the way American literature constructs black identity by using a white-centric, and often dehumanizing, view of "blackness".
Who is Toni Morrison?
What relationship is at the heart of the story’s emotional arc?
Sisterhood and community.
Who is Sam Cooke
This contemporary sitcom, set in a Philadelphia public school, blends comedy and cultural commentary to show authentic Black experiences in an educational setting.
What is Abbott Elementary?
An American novel by Ralph Ellison, who utilizes the performative utterance“I yam what I am” to signify Black pride.
What is the Invisible Man?
This play centers on two Black brothers whose rivalry, survival tactics, and history lead them into a tragic power struggle.
What is Topdog/Underdog
This song was released shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud”
This risk emerges when biopics simplify complex Black identities into entertainment.
What is oversimplification?
A SciFi legend who wrote Kindred in 1979, a novel that incorporates time travel and is modeled on slave narratives.
Who is Octavia Butler?
During These Are the Keystrokes, we see a sense of what issues occur.
What is Gang violence/loss of community/stereotypes?
One truth Samuel L. Jackson embodied as Uncle Sam
What is a symbol of Black success?
What is a reminder of how America expects Black men to conform?
What is a stand-in for the U.S. government itself?
What often gets lost when Black experiences are translated into mainstream film and TV.
What are cultural nuances?