Getting Started

You can see a sample syllabus, schedule, homework squence, and assignment descriptions on this site. There is also a guide to teaching online.
Please note that SDSU is asking that we insert a diversity and inclusion statement in our syllabi. They have provided a set of models and sample
language.  SDSU has also created guides to making your syllabus accessible. 

Class Plans for First Three Weeks

• Detailed sample class Plans for the First Three Weeks of the Semester. (Google doc. You will need SDSU account to edit)

Setting Up a Blog Page & Hypothesis Account

• Setting up a blog on Wordpress is fast and fairly simple. See this step-by-step guide.
• The hypothes.is web browser extension allows us to collaboratively annotate online texts. Here is a guide to using Hypothesis.

Unit 1 Teaching Materials

• Large collection of teaching materials for unit 1. This file also has links to Google slide presentations you can use if you wish. 
  It's in a Google doc and you will need a SDSU account to edit it.

Unit 1 and Stevenson's "We Need to Talk about an Injustice"

• Bryan Stevenson’s TED talk “We Need to Talk about an Injustice” (transcript, video). This speech gets at some of the issues
  related to our current crises, but is hopeful and rhetorically interesting. There is a one page text by Stevenson that  covers
  similar ground, that could be used to introduce Stevenson’s TED talk, and to discuss how Stevenson modulates his
  argument for a different audience.

Introducing Stevenson: pre-reading resources

• Stevenson’s Wikipedia page.
• A three minute video introducing Stevenson and some of his main ideas about racism and the criminal justice system. PBS Newshour
• There is a one page text from the 1619 project Stevenson wrote that  covers similar ground, that could be used to introduce
  Stevenson’s TED talk, and discuss how Stevenson modulates his argument for a different audience.
• Bryan Stevenson’s bio page at the Equal Justice Initiative, the organization he founded.
• The HBO documentary True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality follows. The film explores 30 years of EJI’s work on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. “Told primarily in his own words, True Justice shares Bryan Stevenson’s experience with a criminal justice system that “treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.” The burden of facing this system is explored in candid interviews with associates, close family members, and clients.” (From the EJI web site).
• Stevenson interviewed about his memoir, Just Mercy, and the movie made about it, starring Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan. WBUR Jan 10, 2020.

Stevenson on Racism, the Protests, and how we can Move Forward.

These texts could be used as part of a unit 3 project.

• “Bryan Stevenson: From the Courtroom to Hollywood.” 18 minute video from BookTube in which Stevenson discusses his work with young people. Stevenson discusses his book Just Mercy, which was made into a major Hollywood movie. The segment also covers some of the same ground as the TED talk, but updates it in a way that brings his work more squarely into conversation with more recent events. Excellent piece to help students think about how Stevenson’s work connects to our current moment.
• Stevenson on the George Floyd killing and our summer of protest. From the New Yorker, June 1, 2020. This could be a great text for students interested in Stevenson, the protest movement, and the issue of racial justice, to explore these issues further in unit 3.
• Bryan Stevenson on how America can heal. A conversation about truth and reconciliation in the US. Vox, Jul 20, 2020. Ezra Klein interviews Stevenson about the protests, race in America, and how we can move forward.
• Stevenson:  How we arrived at this moment and where we go from here. 4 minute video. A livestream event assembling artists and activists to listen, learn, and take action in support of the Equal Justice Initiative.
• Bryan Stevenson: There’s a Direct Line from Lynching to George Floyd. Jun 2, 2020. Stevenson  talks with Walter Isaacson about solutions, from a change in the culture of policing to an embrace of truth and reconciliation. 18 minute video.
• Nationwide unrest is about a history of racial inequality. Stevenson interviewed by Lester Holt about the response to the death of George Floyd.

Stevenson Videos

• A three minute video introducing Stevenson and some of his main ideas about racism and the criminal justice system. PBS Newshour.
• Bryan Stevenson:  How we arrived at this moment and where we go from here. 4 minute video. A livestream event assembling artists and activists to listen, learn, and take action in support of the Equal Justice Initiative.
• Bryan Stevenson: There’s a Direct Line from Lynching to George Floyd. Jun 2, 2020. Stevenson  talks with Walter Isaacson about solutions, from a change in the culture of policing to an embrace of truth and reconciliation. 18 minute video.
• Bryan Stevenson: There’s a Direct Line from Lynching to George Floyd. Jun 2, 2020. Stevenson  talks with Walter Isaacson about solutions, from a change in the culture of policing to an embrace of truth and reconciliation. 18 minute video.
• Nationwide unrest is about a history of racial inequality. Stevenson interviewed by Lester Holt about the response to the death of George Floyd.

Some background texts

• Ibram X. Kendi, “The Difference between being “Not Racist” and Antiracist.” TED talk, June 13, 2020. 

• Darrick Hamilton and Trevon Logan, "Why the Wealth Gap between Black and White Americans Persists." Fast Company, August 2, 2020.
  

• Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, Rashad Robinson, Dr. Bernice King and Anthony D. Romero. “The path to ending systemic racism in the US.” TED, June 3, 2020 

• TED radio hour “Ingrained Injustice.” Four short talks that explore different aspects of how racism became embedded in our lives.

• Video of Interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi.

• Baratunde Thurston, “How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time” and Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, April 2019. How we can make
  racism a solvable problem — and improve policing.

Unit 2 Teaching Materials

• Large collection of teaching materials for unit 2 (Google doc). Includes some ideas for teaching Landrieu and Hannah-Jones.
• Google slides for introducing rhetorical strategies and doing in-class exercises 
• Google slides for teaching evaluation of arguments 
• Google slides on Fallacies 

Unit 2: Nikole Hannah-Jones and Landrieu

• Chris and Jason are considering using Nikole Hannah-Jones “America Wasn't a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It.
  ”The pdf version is from the Pulitzer Center. There are also lesson plans. Hannah Jones explains her purpose and the intended
  audience for the 1619 project in an interview.Hannah-Jones’ text is a rich, complex argument for rethinking American history
  and democracy. Chris is thinking of teaching Hannah-Jones alongside Mitch Landrieu’s speech explaining why he removed
  confederate monuments from New Orleans.  Both Hannah-Jones and Landrieu make their arguments in part by inviting
  us to grapple with identity – to rethink who we are, who we have been, what our history is, and who we might become.
• Note that you can follow Hannah Jones on Twitter (her twitter handle is @nhannahjones).  
• Short videos of Hannah Jones describing the 1619 project and some of her arguments: CBS This Morning (4 minutes), her interview with 
  Trevor Noah on the Daily Show (6 minutes), her interview with Christian Amanpour on CNN (12 minutes).
• Interview on MSNBC, 9 minutes. PBS interview, August 18, 2019. "The 1619 Project details the legacy of slavery in America"
• Podcasts on the 1619 project.
• The Search for Racial Equity | The 1619 Project | Nikole Hannah-Jones & Dr. Kamau Bobb. Google Talks series, July 10, 2020.  This is a fascinating 55 minute 
  video that explains the 1619 project, goes into how it came to be, and why she led the project. It also connects to many unfolding events. This video could 
  be used instead of the written text, or it could be used as part of unit 3, to think about how Hannah-Jones work extends into other conversations. 
  The 1619 project works to "reframe the history of the United States by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the 
  very center of the US’s national narrative. Slavery is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the country’s very origin."  
• Debating the 1619 Project: Historian Leslie Harris's sympathetic but critical analysis of Hannah-Jones argument. 5 Historians 
  took issue with some of the claims Hannah-Jones makes, and the NYTimes replied. 

Texts with Connections to Hannah Jones and Landrieu

• Sal Khan of Khan Academy Interviews Nikole Hannah Jones. July 30, 2020. Video, 40 minutes. Wide ranging discussion that explains 
  the purpose of the 1619 project and how it connects to many aspects of contemporary life. 
• Hannah-Jones interviewed by Terry Gross on radio show Fresh Air (there is a transcript). "A Call For Reparations: How America Might Narrow The
  Racial Wealth Gap June." 24, 2020
• CBS News - 16 minute video with Nikole Hannah-Jones. "Nikole Hannah-Jones on protests and the roots of racism in the U.S."
• Nikole Hannah-Jones and and New Yorker staff writer Jelani Cobb on protests: Black Americans are ‘demanding their full citizenship’
• Oprah Winfrey's "Where do we go from here?" site has video clips that include Nikole Hannah Jones and many other writers
  and scholars who examine race and racism. 

Unit 3: How Did We Get Here? What Needs to change? (Entering the Conversation)

Introduction

In unit 3 you will present an argument of your own. Your paper will describe the question, issue, or problem you wish to address.
It will describe how some other authors have approached the issue (what Graff and Birkenstein call the “they say” move in academic
writing) and then present your contribution to it. Your contribution may extend, complicate, illustrate, challenge or qualify the arguments
that other authors have made. 

Your paper may use texts and topics we have discussed earlier in the class. Or, it can explore one of the other “crises” and debates that
are currently occurring (examples: a) the pandemic, b) police reform, c) race and racial justice, d) confederate monuments, e) social media
and democracy. Sets of texts on some of these topics are listed below.)

Your paper will focus on two or three texts that take different positions on the issue/problem. You will describe points of connection,
difference, and disagreement, and evaluate relative strengths and weaknesses. You will present your own argument. Your argument
should contribute to the conversation in some way – by extending, illustrating, complicating, or challenging what the other authors say.

Your paper should conclude by addressing the significance of the issue, discussing its implications, proposing a solution, or suggesting
what can be learned from examining this issue. 

Analyzing the Pandemic

1. Alexander, Aaliyah. “There’s No Returning Back to Normal after COVID-19.” The Daily Aztec, 12 May 2020, 
2. “The America We Need.”  By the editors of the New York Times. Describes the problems the pandemic has revealed/emphasized, and
   argues for reforms. 
3. National and international data on Covid 19 https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-covid-deaths-per-million  
4. Charles Duhigg, “Seattle’s Leaders let scientists take the lead. New York’s did not.” The New Yorker, April 26, 2020. This is about
   how much language and persuasion matter when responding to pandemic. 
5. "The Unique US Failure to Control the Virus," David Leonhardt, NYTimes August 6, 2020. Examines why the US response was so different from other 
   countries. George Packer, We Are Living in a Failed State. The coronavirus didn’t break America. It revealed what was already broken.
   Atlantic Monthly, June 2020.
6. Why America Resists Learning From Other Countries. "The pandemic may pose the greatest threat yet to the belief that America has little
   to learn from the rest of the world." 
7. Masks: "Seriously, Just Wear Your Mask" (NYTimes editorial board, July 2, 2020).  How to Actually Talk to Anti-Maskers. You cannot force public trust;
   you have to earn it. Charlie Warzel, July 22, 2020. 

Using Stevenson and Hannah-Jones to Discuss our Current Crises

• Bryan Stevenson and John Lewis in conversation, "The Fight for Civil Rights and Freedom. TED talk. 
• How 50 years of racial progress fuelled a global movement against racism. Nesrine Malik, The Correspondant. 
• Sal Khan of Khan Academy Interviews Nikole Hannah Jones. July 30, 2020. Video, 40 minutes. Wide ranging discussion that explains 
  the purpose of the 1619 project and how it connects to many aspects of contemporary life. 
• Hannah-Jones interviewed by Terry Gross on radio show Fresh Air (there is a transcript). "A Call For Reparations: How America Might Narrow The
  Racial Wealth Gap June." 24, 2020
• CBS News - 16 minute video with Nikole Hannah-Jones. "Nikole Hannah-Jones on protests and the roots of racism in the U.S."
• Nikole Hannah-Jones and and New Yorker staff writer Jelani Cobb on protests: Black Americans are ‘demanding their full citizenship’
• Oprah Winfrey's "Where do we go from here?" site has video clips that include Nikole Hannah Jones and many other writers
  and scholars who examine race and racism.  

Debating Police Reform

• Defund the police? Here’s what that really means. The Washington Post, June 07, 2020.
• The Path to Better Policing. Verbruggen, National Review, June 18, 2020.
• Kaba, "Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police." NYTimes, June 12, 2020.
• After this crisis, policing should never be the same. Washington Post
• Why Black America Fears the Police Nikole Hannah Jones, PS Mag, May 8. 2018. 
• Opinion | Don’t Defund the Police. Re-Fund Them, Smarter.
• Alex S. Vitale 'The End Of Policing' After Floyd Death : Code Switch : NPR. June 3, 2020.
• Addressing Law Enforcement Violence as a Public Health Issue. American Public Health Association Report, Nov 13 2018
• On The Path Toward Police Abolition | by DeRay Mckesson | Medium
• Hannah Jones, "Black America Fears the Police. Here's Why" PS Mag, May 18, 2018.

Monuments, Memorials, Team Names: Debating History, Identity, Values

• What the Redskins Name and Confederate Statues Have in Common By PHILIP DELORIA, Politico, 07/15/2020
• The Boston Tea Party was a Riot, and Statues were Toppled.  Stacy Schiff.
• Why are Army Bases Named After Confederates? Alex Horton, Washington Post, June 11, 2020
• Its Statue Topling a Monumental Error? Stephens and Collins debate the issue.
• Yes, Even George Washington. Charles Blow, NYTimes, June 28, 2020.