All written assignments must be in proper MLA format, unless otherwise agreed upon, and provide a works cited page. 

10%–Essay 1: Write a 3-page essay about how (mis)perception affected a character’s point of view. Your argument should have a clear thesis, and it must be supported with textual evidence and analysis.  Provide an outline that clearly articulates your claim about how a character’s (mis)perceptions change or develop over the course of a narrative—for example, “At the beginning of the story, character X is (or seems to be) a Y”; “When A happens, characters X begins to see Z” or “When A happens, we, as readers, begin to see Z about character X”; “By the end of the story, character X has become (or seems to us to be) a D.” Due June 2^nd. You must cite at least one work from class. 

10%–Essay 2: Write a 3-page essay displaying either the way 2 characters display Black joy, humanity, or self-affirmed identity, or how 2 characters disrupt stereotypical flat portrayals of Black characters – i.e. the drug dealer or gang-banger … no summary allowed.  Due June 16^th. You must cite two works from class.

Use evidence–facts and inferences– to support your claim: Something the character says or thinks; something the character does, something another character or the narrator says about the character, something the character wears, owns and so on.

10%–Essay 3: Write a 2-3 page explication of your group’s “found poem” or the original work you produced in this course. Due June 23^rd.

10%–Essay 4: Write a 3-page paper as to the ways that masculinity limits, expands, or stagnates the possibility for relationship/community building in the Barbershop Chronicles? Due July 3^rd. You must cite the Barbershop Chronicles.  The Barbershop Chronicles is hyperlinked here. 

 

30%–Eight Writing Assignments/Reader Responses

1, Perception is the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. Write 2-3 pages as to how characters from assigned works see, hear, or gain an awareness of race or racialization through their senses or experiences? And what are the implications/impacts of those insights or experiences? Due May 30^th.

2, Write 2-3 pages about what character from Black From to the Future you most identify with, why you identify with this character, and how this character relates to your personal narrative? Due June 1^st.

3, Write 2-3 pages about how setting, symbol, figurative language, or theme acts as a vehicle or catalyst for your understanding(s) of the character’s experience, personal development, or joy? Due June 6^th.

4, Write 2-3 pages explaining how Black humanity is redefined in Black From the Future in ways that decenter oppression and trauma. Due June 8^th.

5, Write a 15-75 line poem about something that is meaningful to you. Due June 13th

6,  Write a 2-page poem explication of any poem you’ve read or watched in class. Also, bring in your favorite music verse/lyric that discuss or references America. Due June 15^th. Here are some examples: Nas, “My Country,”

“My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Naw, never)
‘Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
‘Cause the things I seen (We seen too much)”

Or, Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue,”

“Now this nation that I love has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flyin’ in from somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the fourth of July”

FYI, I get my lyrics from genius lyrics. Due June 15^th.

7, Reflect on your poetry journey in this course. Write a 2-3 page paper that juxtaposes either your expectations coming into the class with your experiences now leaving the poetry section of the course, or what you think a typica poetry introduction in an ENG 102 class would entail. Regardless of your decision, make sure to address poetry centered on race, relationships, and gender identity and the ways they affected your critical lens. Due June 20^th.

8, The Black Barbershop serves as a site for male hair care, but what else does the site serve or function as? In other words, what needs are met, or what type of community is built at the barbershop? Write a 2-3 page response. Due June 22^nd.

 

30%–Final Exam

Option A, create a website that educates others on themes, ideas, or possibilities expressed in 3 different stories from Black From the Future;

Option B, create a website that pays homage to the poetry works you’ve been exposed to in class and challenges traditional poetic aesthetics;

Option C, create a group video where you make your own version of the Barbershop Chronicles by using characters from the works you’ve been exposed to in the fiction and poetry sections of the course;

Option D, If group work or none of these options appeal to you, you can write a traditional 5-page essay that addresses the following question: How has your understandings of race, gender, or gender-identity evolved, regressed, or stagnated over the course of the semester, and how does that challenge the understandings about race, gender, or gender-identity you’ve been indoctrinated into prior to this course, and how will it shape your community-building efforts after this course?;

Option E, If writing a traditional essay is not your thing, then you are welcome to write a 10-page one-act play that uses characters and themes from works you’ve been exposed to in class;

Option F, Produce an extended poem or spoken word poem that serves as a manifesto for X, an act of resistance against Y, or a celebration of joy that is typically denied to Z, along with a 3-page analysis of how your work functions as a manifesto, act of resistance, or celebration of joy;

Option G, Create a work of art that reflects your understandings of any work or them you’ve been exposed to in class this semester, and provide a 3-page analysis of the artwork.

Final exams are due by July 3^rd.

All written assignments must be in proper MLA format, unless otherwise agreed upon, and provide a works cited page.