Important events
When was the first time Thurston used his passport + bonus if you know what issue he ran into when getting it.
1. senegal
2. His legal name was still his father's last name
Compare and contrast the author's experiences at school with another character from a book we have read this year .
1. Kim, girl in translation
Up for interpretation
What does the author use to "lighten the mood" and talk about difficult topics concerning race in the book?
satire
Discuss a stereotype that the author disproves in the novel?
the single black mother stereotype
up for interpretation
When is my birthday?
List one of the three moments of his black self-awarness?
1. in kindergarten when he had a crush on a white girl and though no one pointed it out he remembers noticing racial differences.
2. His house being filled with pictures of proud blackness
3. When he went on a camping trip with his friends and his mom and some random person called him the N word
What does the author mean when he says:
"Being an African American doesn't necessarily help you connect with native Africans"
Some native African people did not like that he as an African American had a Nigerian name.
When his friend's dad gave I'm a lecture over the phone about the meaning of his name and how he would never understand it even though he already knew.
What is the main goal of the book?
To discuss the ideas of blackness
Why does the author include a panel?
He includes the panel to get multiple inputs about each person's experience as a black person and different opinions on issues about race.
How many American Identities sections does Ms.Burke teach?
3 i think
How did being put in a private school affect his life?
He realized at a young age he would not be treated the same as other white kids but he was also able to have a deeper understanding of "two worlds" white and black
Explain the meaning behind this quote:
“There's no perk in being closed-minded as a minority. It's never, ever, ever going to help you, ever.”
you gain nothing being a close minded minority the only way to achieve social change is to be open minded.
How are the themes of expectations and stereotypes explored through the book?
up for interpretation.
What does the nickname oreo symbolize?
up for inerpretation
What year was the book written?
2012
How did the author feel at the end of his trip to Senegal?
A sense of completion, satisfaction and contentedness. He felt whole again
"My name has served as a perfect window through which to examine my experience of blackness."
This shows how Thurston realizes that for white and black people things can be too black or not black enough
Name two specific stereotypes that the author addresses and explain them?
1. His father getting shot in a drug deal and how he does not like that it plays into the stereotype?
Why is one of the chapters called can you swim and what is the main idea of the chapter?
It is called this because it begins talking about the stereotype that black people can't swim and then gets opinions from the panel about whether or not they learned how to swim and how accurate the stereotype is.
Who wrote Pride and Prejudice?
Jane Austin
Name a major event that stood out to the author during his time at Harvard and why was it offensive?
when he worked the bar during a reunion and alumni yelled at him for not being served fast enough and threatened to have his financial aid revoked.
Give context to this quote:
"The whole effort had a who's your father Figure game show feel to it"
When his mother was trying to get men in his life and brought people to seem like father figures to him in many different professions.
When people as "Why do all the black kids sit at the same lunch table?" what does the author counter this with?
He asks why do all the white people sit together. This is never questioned because society has considered this "normal". By putting too much attention this it would cause forced desegregation and wont allow student's to sit at lunch with who they are comfortable around.
At the end of the book the author talks about his plan for the future of blackness of America. What does this plan consist of?
1. New black history
2. distributed struggle
3. the center for experimental blackness
Who is
What was the name of Dan's novel from gossip girl?