Textbooks

• Online access to They Say/I Say: the Moves that Matter in Academic Discourse, and the Little Seagull Reader
  (you will need your email address and login for the Norton site). 
• The free RWS100 Digital Textbook Reading, Writing, and Evaluating Argument    

Short texts to introduce Rhetorical Analysis

We have a collection of short texts on a range of topics that are often used to introduce rhetorical concepts and argument
analysis. There are teaching materials for many of those texts. 

If you wish to use some short texts that address racial (in)justice, and aspects of the current moment, we could also consider 
using some of the texts below. 

• The video and transcript of rapper Killer Mike’s Atlanta speech at the Atlanta mayor’s press conference. (There is
  also his interview with Stephen Colbert).

• President Obama’s Medium article – “How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change” and president
  Bush’s: “Statement by President George W Bush” Margaret Renkl, "An Open Letter to my Fellow White Christians."

• Some recent short texts on racial justice that could be used as supplements or alternatives to the texts bove. 

• An assortment of texts from the writings and social media accounts of people involved in the recent protests.

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.

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: Some Texts Chris and Jason are Considering

• 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."  
  
  This part of the "Search for Racial Equity Series" assembled by Google. It is a global forum offering an in depth study and dialog of racial equity and 
  justice, through forthright discussion and a syllabus that intends to amplify the most authentic and powerful voices of our time and of this movement. 

   

• 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.