CURRICULUM FOR Sacred Ground
Co-Facilitators:
Holly Carter, Ph.D, hmazecarter@gmail.com
Caitlin Slodden, Ph.D, cslodden@brandeis.edu
Core Texts to Purchase:
Diangelo, Robin. 2018. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism. Boston: Beacon Press.
Kendi, Ibram X. 2019. How To Be An Anti-Racist. New York, New York: One World Press.
Thurman, Howard. 1949. Jesus and the Disinherited. Boston: Beacon Press.
SPRING 2020 Curriculum
SESSION 6: Jan 12/16
CHAPTER EXCERPT: Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow (pp 26-40).
DOCUMENTARY: "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow" Episode 1 "Promises Betrayed." (55:34 min). Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3IxWEK0uJA
ARTICLE: Hiskey, Michelle. "Pilgrims Bear Witness To Racial Reconciliation At Georgia Lynching Site." Episcopalian News Oct. 24 2017
SCREENING: Wednesday, January 29: Beyond Hate at 7 pm in Upper Weld Hall
SESSION 7: February 9th/12 - Moving Beyond Black-White Binary
LatinX
Color and Ethnicity
Vietnam War and Asian Devils
Convergence of Race and Class
Read:
Robin Diangelo, White Fragility, chapter 5 “The Good/Bad Binary”
Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited. Chapter Four “Fear”
Op-ed: “Moving Beyond the Black-White Binary” by Roberto Lovato
Watch:
PBS series: Latino Americans, Episode 1: “Foreigners in Their Own Land” (53 min.)
SESSION 8: March 1st /4th - Grappling with White Anxieties
Civil Rights, Affirmative Action and Misconceptions of Racial Equality vs Black Privilege
Colorblindness and Eduardo Bonilla- Silva: YouTube Book TV at Duke University
White Nationalism vs Black Lives Matter
Read:
Robin Diangelo, White Fragility . Chapter 3: “Racism After the Civil Rights Movement” and Chapter 4 “How Does Race Shape the Lives of White People”
Ibram Kendi, How To Be an Antiract, chapter 10 “White.”
Watch: “White Anxiety” from Katie Couric’s America Inside Out Series. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6k806l (45 minutes)
SESSION 9: March 8th / 11th – The Enduring Legacies: Racism’s Long Life
Structural, Institutional, and Interpersonal Racism
Don’t call me a Racist
Read:
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Chapter 2: The Lockdown”
Rev. David Pettee and Susan Hutchison “Ghosts of the Masters: Descendants of Slaveholders Reckon with History”
Crear-Perry, Joia. “Racism Isn’t a Risk Factor For Maternal Health. Racism Is.” Rewire News. April 11, 2018
Johnson, Akilah. “That Was No Typo: The Median Net Worth of Black Bostonians Really is $8.” The Boston Globe. December 11, 2017
SCREENING: March 15th : “Thirteenth” 6:30 – 8:30 PM Upper Weld Hall
SESSION 10: March 22/25 Becoming a Beloved Community of Action
Read:
Robin Diangelo, White Fragility, chapter 12: “Where Do We Go from Here?”
Jim Wallace, America’s Original Sin. Chapter 10 “Crossing the Bridge to a New America”
Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited. chapter 5: “Love”
Watch:
Repairing the Breach: The Episcopal Church and Slavery Atonement (31 min.)
April 30 – May 1. Optional Sacred Ground Pilgrimage to Washington, DC African American Museum, National Cathedral. More details to follow.
FALL 2019 CURRICULUM (Completed)
Week 1. October 6/ October 9: Stepping onto Sacred Ground
To read beforehand:
• “Getting Started” sections of Sacred Ground webpages: “Invitation & Introduction”
• Column: “Black History Is Everyone’s History” by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
• Selection from book: America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (bottom of p. 103 to p. 117). Photocopy
• Core Book: Chapter 1 “Definitions” from How To Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi. Photocopy
Week 2. October 20/ October 23: Exploring Race and Ethnicity: Social Constructionism
To watch beforehand:
• Race Power of an Illusion: The Difference Between Us. PBS documentary. (57 minutes)
To read beforehand:
• Core Book: Chapter 1 from White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo.
• Core Book: Chapters 3 (“Power”) and 4 (“Biology”) from How To Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi.
• Core Book: Forward & Preface from Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
Week 2 Class Resources:
Powerpoint Presentation: What is Race?
Answer Key to The Great Black History Quiz
Week 3. November 3/6. Whose Land? Exploring Indigenous History
To watch beforehand:
Open Film Screening, Sunday, October 27 at 6 pm at St. John’s (Upper Weld Hall). Dawnland (2018).
To read beforehand:
• Audio story and article: “The Map of Native American Tribes You’ve Never Seen Before” by Hansi Lo Wang from NPR. Please look at Aaron Carapella’s map to see which Native tribes lived at the time of European conquest in the region where you live now.
• Short Story: Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” from The New Yorker (2003).
• Core book: Chapter 1 (“Jesus and Interpretation”) from Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman.
• In session viewing: The Episcopal Church Exposes the Doctrine of Discovery (14 min.)
Week 4. November 17/20. Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery: Exploring Black History
To watch beforehand:
• PBS series: The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Episode 1: “The Black Atlantic: 1500-1800” (56 min.)
To read beforehand:
• Core Book: Chapter 2 from White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• Core book: Chapter 2 (“Fear”) from Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
• Essay: “White Man’s Guilt” by James Baldwin from Ebony magazine.
More Week 4 Resources:
View Powerpoint presented at Session 4
Slavery: A Dehumanizing Institution
Week 5. December 8/11: Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery: The Complicit
To watch beforehand:
• Traces of the Trade: A Store from the Deep North (86 min.) (2008).
To read beforehand:
• Article: Archarya, et al. “The Political Legacy of American Slavery” (skim)
• Author: Browne, Katrina. “Circle of Humanity”
• In Session Viewing: Truth and Reconciliation Pilgrimage to Ghana, three short videos featuring Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, the Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, and Bishop Andrew Waldo (23 min. total)