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AMERICA'S RACIAL INEQUITY

The second section of this resource guide grounds America's racial inequity in history and begins to establish how history has played a factor in contemporary systems. "America's Racial Inequity" has six sections laid out below to work through and adapt with your student organization.

1. Historical Roots 

The 1619 Project Backstory

  • Read the backstory of The New York Time's 1619 Project by clicking on the title above for context for the poems and stories below.

Poems and Stories of the 1619 Project

  • Explore the poems and stories focused on critical moments in African American history by clicking on the heading above. For discussion, choose at least one piece.

"Four Faces of the Moon"

  • Watch the video below about the history of the treatment of Indigenous people in North America.

  • Questions for individual reflection and group dialogue regarding The 1619 Project and "Four Faces of the Moon":

    • ​How has history impacted you? Personal history? Broader history?​
    • Which poems/ stories from The 1619 Project did you focus on? Any particular reason?
    • Were there any key lines, moments, or themes that stood out to you across "Four Faces of the Moon" and/or The 1619 Project's poems and stories?
    • How does history impact the creation and power of a community?
    • How have you seen history played out in modern society? How has it informed our social and structural systems? How has historical identity played a role in these systems?

2. "Welcome 2 America" 

Gordon Parks Photography

  • Click on the heading above to view Gordon Park's photography of daily life during the 1940s.

  • Questions for individual reflection and group dialogue:

    • ​Were there specific photos that stood out? Particular style techniques? Why?
    • How does Gordon Parks represent daily life in his photographs? How does he represent inequities in daily life?
    • Where do you see intersections between different social identities in his photographs? 
    • What is the effect of using art to address the inequities in the U.S. across social identities?
"Welcome 2 America"

  • Listen to Prince's 2010 song, "Welcome 2 America," below.

  • Questions for individual reflection and group dialogue:​

    • ​Were there specific words or lines that stood out? Why?

    • How does "Welcome 2 America" fit into Gordon Parks’ work? 

    • Compare and contrast Prince's more contemporary discussion of inequity in America to that displayed in Gordon Parks’ photography from the1940s. 

      • What themes are the same? What themes are different?

      • What is the impact of a song? What is the impact of a photograph?

      • How does realism affect the message(s)?
         

3. "Still I Rise" 

"Still I Rise"

  • Read Maya Angelou's 1978 poem, "Still I Rise," by clicking on the title above.

Kehinde Wiley Portraits

  • Explore Kehinde Wiley's portraits by clicking on the heading above.

"Initiate Change Through Art"

  • Watch the video below created by Jessica Ramirez.

  • Questions for individual reflection and group dialogue regarding "Still I Rise," Kehinde Wiley's portraits, and "Initiate Change Through Art":

    • ​How do you recognize history playing a factor in one, two, or all of the pieces?
    • What is being drawn on for individual and community strength and power throughout the creative works? 
    • How is strength, pride, and power represented? 
    • Can you find moments of joy throughout the three pieces? How does joy add to community power?

4. "Bodies as Resistance" 

"3 Ways to Speak English"

  • Watch Jamila Lyiscott's spoken word essay, "Broken English," below. 

"Bodies as Resistance"

  • Watch Sonya Renee Taylor's poem and discussion below.

  • Questions for individual reflection and group dialogue regarding "Broken English" and "Bodies as Resistance": 

    • ​What is your understanding of “radical self-love” in context to Taylor's "Bodies as Resistance" and Lyiscott’s “Broken English” spoken word essay? 
    • How have you seen language discriminate against individuals, groups, and/or social identities? How have you seen language uplift individuals, groups, and/or social identities?
    • What is your definition of "resistance"? "Disruption"? Where do these definitions come from? Do they change across contexts?

5. Truth and Reconciliation? 

"We Need to Talk about an Injustice"

  • Watch Bryan Stevenson's discussion about injustice below.

  • Questions for individual reflection and group dialogue:

    • ​What do you consider the role of love to be in working against injustice?

    • Have you seen reform efforts based in truth and reconciliation?

    • What role does history play in shaping contemporary reform? 
       

6. Roses in Concrete 

"The Rose That Grew From Concrete"

  • Listen to Tupac Shakur's "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" below.

  • Questions for individual reflection and group dialogue:​

    • ​What is the "concrete"? When you picture the concrete, what things stand out?

    • What does it mean to "grow in concrete" rather than in a flower box, grass, etc? 

    • How do social identities intersect (e.g. intersections between class and race) in ways that further harden the "concrete"? 
       

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