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SSOC 223  Women Writers:  A Medley of Voices
Assignment Calendar       Spring, 2007 Tues. 6:00-9:15 E215
Kay Fowler

"For it is surely a lifetime work,
This learning to be a woman."  -- May Sarton

Ringgold Cotton, Sunflower, Blackbird Quilt

Faith Ringgold Cotton Fields, Sunflowers, Blackbirds and Quilting Bees 1997
Acrylic on canvas; painted and pieced border 76.5 x 75.25

  http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/d15.htm

"What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?
The world would split open..."   --Muriel Rukeyser

WW Sp07 Book Reports and Oral Presentations  | WW S07 Book Report List |


Literature/History Links      |   Women Studies Links    |  Multicultural Studies Links      |  Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Links     | Women Writers Booklists/Links/Bibliography     |   Social Thought Weblinks


Class hour and room: Tues. 6-9:15 Room: E215  Office: School of Social and Human Services, Room E-222 Phone :  684-7565 (don't leave voicemail)   Email:  kfowler@ramapo.edu Website: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/ Office hours: Mon. 5:30-6:30 Tues. 4:30-5:30.  Other times by appointment.

Course Description: This is a 200 level women's studies course surveying the wide, deep and vibrant range of American Women's voices from pre-European contact to the present with attention to the context of feminist theory and feminist literary criticism. We are attempting to cover a very rich tradition in a single semester so the reading is substantial, although, I trust, not overwhelming. Still we will only be able to "taste" the many delicacies and take a quick nibble at some of the main courses. The material is  wonderful and diverse, enjoyable and occasionally difficult.  Readings will be explored and contextualized through a number of individual writing assignments, collaborative projects, presentations, WebCT resources and class discussions, activities and supplemental resources.  For further details see the detailed course description at http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwcoursedescription.html 

Course Objectives:  http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwcourseobjectives.html

Required TextsPH: Poetry Handout (provided first day), Edwige Danticat, Breath Eyes and Memory.  AL:  Hogeland, Lisa Maria and Mary Klages, Eds.  Aunt Lute Anthology of U. S. Women Writers Vol. 1: 17th-19th C. 2004  WOW: Kallet, Marilyn and Patricia Clark, eds.  Worlds in Our Words: Contemporary American Women Writers.  1996. There will be additional readings on  WebCT6 and on the Web. Get your books early from the bookstore.  Do not wait until they are due because the bookstore returns leftover books to the distributors shortly into the semester.  You are responsible for all these readings.  Note: For most weeks there will be assigned readings to be done by the entire class and assigned readings specifically for each small group.  You are to read the general readings and your group's reading.  (Feel free, of course, to read any and all of the other groups' readings as you choose!) NOTE: ALL REQUIRED READINGS TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE CLASS!

Writing Assignments and Projects:  Quilt piece (Due Class 2) (group grade); Reading Questions on Danticat (Due Class 5); Email Exchange (Due before class 6) (group grade); Play Preparation/Performance (Class 7) (group grade); Midterm Exam (in-class Class 8); Interview (Due Class 9);  Experiential Project 1 (See below) (Due: Class 10); Poem explication (Due class 11); Hacker ’'Lost Ladies' research (due Class 12) (group grade ); Letter to Power (Due Class 13); Experiential Project 2 (See below) (Due: Class 14);  Book Report -- written 3-5 pages submitted the day you present and presented orally on day assigned for your book; Final Exam (TBA)

Experiential Reports:  Under the new Curriculum Enhancement Program (CEP) students are expected to do approximately 5 hours of experiential learning outside the class.  This requirement will be satisfied for this class by completing (and submitting a write-up of the experience) two Experiential Projects from the linked list of Experiential Project options.  Experiential Project #1 is due Class 10; Experiential Project #2 is due Class 14.  Alternatively you can elect to do a service learning project related to the class. For options and guidelines see:  http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wws07experientialguide.html

Student Obligations and Course Policies: You are responsible to read these policies carefully and understand and observe them: Attendance; Class Participation; Class Decorum; The "Ouch" Rule, Academic Integrity; Collaborative Learning; Service Learning Option; Honors Option: Students with Special Needs For details see: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwpolicies.html

Grading Policy  http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwgradingpolicy.html

COURSE CALENDAR

Class 1 Tues. Jan. 23:  Introduction and Women’'s Voices: Collective Wisdom (traditional tales and teachings, sacred stories, oral histories)

In Class :  Introduction to Web CT and course structure.  Asking Questions and Posing Frameworks; Group Assignments and selections of texts for Student Presentations 

Setting the Themes:  Anonymous (Shoshone) "Song of an Old Woman" (traditional) Nikki Giovanni (African Am.) "Ego-Tripping" (1973);  Mary Mullinaux Lemon (European Am.) "All My Grandmothers Could Sing Most Died Young," (1992); Elmaz Abi-Nader (Lebanese Am.) "Preparing for Occupation" Lucille Clifton (African Am.) "Wishes for Sons" Joy Harjo (Creek/Muscogee) "I Give You Back," (1983)

Collective Wisdom: Handouts: Group A: Zuni "How Women Learned Wisdom" 63-64 Group B: Iroquois: "Sky Woman" 173-4 Group C: Chinook: "The First Ship" 175-6 Group D: Colette Inez (French/Belgian American) "Mary at the Cave".  POETRY HANDOUT: Group E: Luci Tapanhoso (Dine/Navajo) "Remember the Things They Told Us" Group F:  Elaine Zimmerman (European Jewish Am.) "To Essie Parrish"

Class 2 Tues. Jan. 30 :   Speaking Hands  (sewing, weaving, cooking,  gardening, hair dressing, art and music)

ALL READ:
Teresa Palomo Acosta (Chicana) "My Mother Pieced  Quilts" PH; Linda Hogan (Chickasaw) "What Has Happened to These Working Hands" WOW 475-6; Abbey Lincoln (Aminata Moseka (African Am.) "I Am the Weaver" PH; Lucy Larcum (European Am. Working Class) "Weaving" (1868) AL 763-764; Gina Valdez (Chicana) "My Mother Sews Blouses" PH; Alice Walker (African Am.) "In Search of Our Mother’Äôs Gardens" 516-523 on WebCT; Roberta Hill Whiteman (Oneida) "Star Quilt" PH

View on the Web:  Hmong Story cloth: http://www.uwrf.edu/library/exhibits/storycloth.html       AND   Elizabeth Keckley and the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt: http://www.quilters-world.com/pages/features1.php?_id=3&subcat=In the quilting world

Assignment: Before class: Create a (paper) Quilt piece (use a 12x12 square piece of sturdy paper as provided in class.  If for some reason you did not receive one, please come by my office during office hours and select one.) On your quilt paper tell visually a traditional story or piece of wisdom important in your family/culture. Think, for example, about some story that has been repeated many times in your family or in your faith community or at cultural gatherings  or one that has been handed down in your family through generations. (As you illustrate this story on the quilt piece, you may use a word or two but the primary presentation should be visual). Sign it on the front visually in some way. Sign it on the back with your written name and the date.

Activity: Class 3 Tues. Feb. 6Women’'s Voices Whispering Secrets (personal records, diaries, private journals, writings for the self)

ALL READ:
Marilyn Chin
, (Chinese Am.) "First Lessons" (1987)
WOW 62-63; Mary Wright Cooper "From the Diary" (1769) 84-86 on WebCT; Sonia Sanchez "Dear Mama" (1989) WOW 132-134;  Amalia Sibrian (Mexican Californian) "A Spanish Girl's Journey from Monterey to Los Angeles" (1829?) AL 594-6; Nancy Willard "Angels in Winter" (1995) WOW 577-578

GROUPS READ:
Group A: Sarah Kemble Knight (European Am.) from "The Journal of Madame Knight" (1704)  entries Oct. 2-Oct. 7: AL 60-71; Group B: Abigail Abbot Bailey (European Am.) "from The Memoirs of Mrs. Abigail Bailey (1815) AL 135-139; 144-162; Group C: Loreta Janeta Velasquez (Cuban Mexican Transgender) "from The Woman in Battle..." (1876) Chaps. 1, 3, 4: AL 1074-1089 Group D: Lorenza Stevens Berbinea "from Unpublished Diaries" (1851) 98-103 on WebCT;  Group E: Mary Coburn Dewees "From the Journal..." (1788) 230-234 on WebCT and Dorothy Dudley "from the Diary’Äô"(1775) 287-291 on WebCT; Group F:   Alice James "From the Diary" (1889) 996-1003 on WebCT.

Book Reports: Audre Lorde (African Am. Lesbian) The Cancer Journals (1980).

Class 4 Tues. Feb. 13 "The Truth About Her Life:" 19th Century (autobiography, liberatory narratives, memoirs, testimony etc.)

ALL READ:
Anonymous, "Homeless Woman Living in Car," (1993) on WebCT Lorna Dee Cervantes (Chicana) "Refugee Ship" (1975) WOW 61-62;  Susan (Harriet Farley Donlevy) (European Am.) "Letters from Susan: Letter 2" (1804) AL 298-301;   Naomi Shihab Nye (Palestinian Am.)  "Adios" (on leaving) WOW70.

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Harriet Jacobs (African Am.) from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) AL 529-534; Group B: Nancy Mairs "from Carnal Acts" 375-385 on WebCT; Group C Mary L. Day (European Am./blind) "from Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl" (1859) AL 1005-1008 AND Leslie Feinberg (European Am. Jewish Lesbian) "Natural Becomes Unnatural" 60-65 on WebCT; Group D: Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) (Dakota/Sioux) "The School Days of an Indian Girl" (1900) 185-194 on WebCT; Group E: Lisa Springer (European Am. Lesbian lived in Iran) "Between Girls" WOW 522-530. Group FSucheng Chan (Chinese Am.) "You're Short Besides," (1989) 434-439 on WebCT

Book Reports: Dorothy Allison (Eur. Am. Working Class) Bastard Out of Carolina (1993); Maya Angelou (African American) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969);  Carolyn Chute, (Working Class Euro. Am.) The Beans of Egypt Maine (1986); Mary Crow Dog (Lakota Sioux) Lakota Woman (1990); Leslie Feinberg (European Jewish Transgender) Stone Butch Blues (1993); Helen Fremont  (Polish Jewish Lesbian Am.) After Long Silence:  A Memoir.  (2000);  Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1867);  Lely Hayslip (Vietnamese Am.), When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (1990); Jeanne Houston and James D. Houston  (20th C. Japanese Nisei Amer.), Farewell to Manzunar (1973); Fae Myenne Ng (Chinese Working Class Am.) Bone (1993); Esmerelda Santiago  When I Was Puerto Rican (1993)

Class 5 Tues. Feb. 20Women’s Voices in Novel Form

ALL READ:
Edwige DanticatBreath Eyes and Memory.  Read all.

NOTE: Danticat will be doing a reading on Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. in the Adler Theater in the Berrie Center.  You are strongly encouraged to attend and use this as an experiential option

Assignment: Answer (in a substantive and thoughtful way with direct quotation and references to the text) 2 of the questions  from Reading Questions on Danticat  Your responses should together be 2-3 pages in length.

Book Reports: Louise Erdrich Native American) Tracks (1988);    Toni Morrison (African American) The Bluest Eye (1990);

Class 6 Tues. Feb. 27 Women's Voices in Conversation (letters, directed journals, dialogues, etc.) 

ALL READ:
Azza Basrudin (Malaysian Am. Muslim), Maddy Mohammed (Palestinian Am. Muslim) and Khanum Shaikh (Pakistani Am. Muslim) "Our Memories of Islam: Pakistani, Malaysian, and Palestinian Women (Re)imagine 'Muslim’Äô and (Re)define Faith" (2006) 129-159 on WebCT; Mrs. Elizabeth Dixon Smith Geer (European Am.) "Diary and letter" 251-255 on WebCT Elizabeth Sprigs (Working Class) (1756) 49-50 on WebCT;.

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Abigail Smith Adams and Mercy Otis Warren (1776+) 239-244 on WebCT;  Group B: Lety Martinez Gonzalez (Chicana working class) and Patricia Zaratec (Chicana working class) "Two Letters Home" (1981, 1990) 141-155 on WebCT; Group C: Harriet Beecher Stowe (European Am.) "From Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands" Letter 1 (1854) on WebCT; Group D: Margaret Tynal Winthrop (European Am.) "The Letters of MTW" (1626) 176-178 on WebCT and The Winthrop Women (1630s-1640s) (European Am.) 235-239 on WebCT;  Group E: Merle Woo, (Chinese/Korean Am.) "Letter to Ma," (1981) 531-8 on WebCT; Group F: Harriett Noble (European Am.) "Emigration from New York to Michigan" 223-229 on WebCT.

Assignment: Write and send an email directed to the members of your small group (copied to me) about what it is like to be a college student in 2007 -- what were your expectations, what is the biggest challenge you face, what are the things you feel have changed you in some profound way during your college experience, how has your race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, political persuasions, religion etc. affected your experience or your analysis of it?  Then write back to each writer in your group a thoughtful response to their first email. (In other words in all you will be writing 6 emails).  You will be graded as a group so be conscientious on behalf of your group mates.

Class 7 Tues. Mar. 6:   Women’s Voices Dramatizing (plays, monologues, films)

ALL READ:
Wendy Wasserstein (European Jewish Am.) "Tender Offer" (1983) WOW 134-141.

GROUPS READ -- And Prepare to perform (see below):
Group A: Cassandra Medley (African American) "Waking Women" (1991) WOW 53-60;  Group B: Momoko Iko (Japanese Am.) "Gold Watch" (1972) WOW 231-265; Group C: Alice Childress (African Am.) "Florence" WOW 458-469; Group D: Janet Neipris (European Am.) "The Agreement" WOW 542-563; Group E: Denise Chavez, (Chicana) "Novena Narratives," (1987), 295-309 on WebCT; Group F: Susan Glaspell (European Am.) "Trifles" 1351-1361 on WebCT.

Assignment: Read the play assigned for your group. Draft a summary of the key info about the play which you will be sharing with your group in class.  In class you will consolidate your drafts into a concise but effective summary of the key points and then work with your group in class on how you might produce (stage, cast, etc.) the play.  You will then select and rehearse one scene from the play.  Each group will then report out on their summary info and then actually perform the scene they have chosen from the play for the rest of the class.  Feel free to bring props and/or wear costumes but this is not required.  If you do want to do this you will need to confer with your group members in advance by email or otherwise so that the group as a whole comes to a decision.  You will be graded as a group, so help each other out.

SPRING RECESS NO CLASS ON TUES. MAR. 13

Class 8 Tues. Mar. 20:  Women’s Voices Reaching, Teaching and Preaching (spiritual narratives, educational treatises, sermons, children’Äôs books)  

MIDTERM --  IN CLASS 6-7; regular class will resume at 7:00 p.m.

ALL READ:
Cherokee Women (Cherokee) "Cherokee Women Address Their Nation"(1817); 177-178 on WebCT; Margaret Fuller (European Am.) "Educate Men and Women as Souls" (1855) AL 430-1; Joy Harjo (Creek/Muskogee) "Healing Animal" WOW 657-8;  Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (African Am.) "An Appeal to My Countryman" (1893) AL 799-801;  Audre Lorde (African Am. Lesbian) "A Litany for Survival" WOW 66-8; Pat Parker, (African Am.) (1978) "Where Will You Be?" 115-119 on WebCT; Debra Swallow, (Oglala) "Keep A Dime," (1984)140-141 PH;

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Sui Sin Far (Chinese Am.) "Its Wavering Image" (1912) 539-544 on WebCT. Group B: Judith Sargent Murray (European Am.) "On the Equality of the Sexes" (1790) AL 162-169; Group C: Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (European Am.) "from The Laws of Life with Special Reference to Physical Education of Girls" 1852 AL 706-717; Group D: Michelle Sharif  (Arab Am.) "Global Sisterhood: Where Do We Fit In?"  151-159 on WebCT Group E: Gloria Anzaldua , (Chicana Lesbian) "La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness" (1987) WOW 560-572; Group F: Adrienne Rich (Jewish Lesbian Am.) "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" 1993 on WebCT.

Book Reports: Jane Addams, (European Am.) Twenty Years at Hull-House (1909; 1990); Anna Julia Cooper.  (African Am.) Voice From the South (1892); Helen Keller, (European Am.), The Story of My Life, (1903); Maria Elinor LucasForged Under the Sun/Forjada Bajo el Sol:  the Life of Maria Elena Lucas; Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee), A Chief and Her People (1993)

Class 9 Tues. Mar. 27Women’s Voices Filtered; Muffled; Transmitted (court records, "confessions," anthropological accounts, etc., symbols)

ALL READ:
Lilac Chen (Chinese Am.) "Lilac Chen" (1973) AL 1359-1362; Janice Mirikitani (Japanese Am.) "Suicide Note" (1987) PHS.N.  (South Asian) "Revisionist History" 2006 PH; Nishimura Ekiu v. United States  (Japanese Am.) (1891-2) AL 1350-1351; Belinda Royall, (18th C. African Working Class Am.) "Petition of an African Slave" (1787) http://www.medfordhistorical.org/belinda.php and  see http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/archive/2002/august/calendar/royall2.shtml ; Vo Thi Tam: (Vietnamese Am.) "A Boat Person's Story" on WebCT; Sojourner Truth  (African Am.) "Speech" (1851) AL 337-8.

GROUPS READ:

Group Readings: Group A: Mary Read (European Am. Transgender) "The Life of Mary Read" (1724) AL 98-102;  Group B: Tituba (Native Am./African Am.) "The Examination of Tituba" (1692) AL 79-87; Group C:  "Petition for a Ten Hour Workday" (1845) AL 148-157; Group D: Lee Yow Chun and Chun Ho (Chinese Am.) "Rescued Chinese Prostitutes Testify at the Industrial Commission."  (1901) 377-383 on WebCT;  Group E: Joyce Madelon Winslow (European Jewish Am.) "Born Again" WOW 313-324.  Group F: Vue Vang, (Laotian Am.), "Vue Vang's Life Story as Told to her daughter Marjuo Xiong," (1993) on WebCT.

Assignment:  Interview a woman or girl who is over 65 or under 12 or whose first language is not English (and is not your first language).  Work up several questions in advance to ask; you will be adding others as the interview unfolds.  Focus on what your interviewee thinks is most important to share about  herself and her life.  Then write up the interview (using a pseudonym for your subject or just initials).  Include a brief introduction describing the person you chose to interview, the interview questions and the interview process.  (Approximately 2-4 pages in length).  Bring to class and be prepared to share it with your group.

Book Reports: Farah Ahmedi (with Tamin Ansary) (Afghan Am.) The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky (2005);  Maria Chona (Papago) Papago Woman ed. Ruth Underhill (written 1930s, pub. 1979); Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (20th C. African Am.) Having Our Say.  (1993)

Class 10 Tues. Apr. 3:  Women’s Voices Telling Stories (short stories, novels)

ALL READ:
Alice Walker (African Am.) "Everyday Use," (1973), WOW 6-13; Mary Wilkins Freeman (European Am.) "The Revolt of Mother" (1891) http://home.comcast.net/~mewf_short_stories/RevoltOfMother.htm   

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Kate Chopin (European Am.) "Desiree's Baby" (1893) AL 1174-1178; Group B: Sarah Orne Jewett (European Am.)"The Flight of Betsey Lane" (1893) AL 1142-1155; Group C: Jumpha Lahiri. (20th C. South Asian/Indian Am.)  "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" 23-42 on WebCT; Group D:   Leslie Marmon Silko (20th C. Laguna) "Lullaby"  WOW 24-31; Group E: Cynthia Ozick, (Russian/Litvak Jewish Am.) "The Shawl" (1980) WOW 204-207;   Group F:  Otono Watanna (Winnifred  Eaton) (Chinese Am.) "The Loves of Sakiro Jira and the Two Headed Maid" (1903) 576-580 on WebCT.

Assignment:  Experiential Report # 1 due.

Book Reports: Diana Abu-Jaber (20th C. Jordanian Am.) Arabian Jazz (1993).  Kate Chopin (European Am.) The Awakening (1899); Ella Cara Deloria (Anpetu Waste Win -- Beautiful Day Woman)  (Yankton Dakota) Waterlily (1944); Chitra Divakaruni (Indo-Am.) Arranged Marriage (1995); Linda Hogan (Chickasaw)  Mean Spirits (1990); Zora Neale Hurston (African Am.)Their Eyes Were Watching God (1936); Helen Maria Viramontes (Chicana) Under the Feet of Jesus (1995)

Class 11 Tues. Apr. 10

Women Making Poetry

ALL READ:
Reminder:  Poetry is much easier to understand -- and much more effective -- if read aloud  -- and read more than once. Take your time and savor these poems.  Don’Äôt rush them.

Paula Gunn Allen, (Laguna Pueblo/Sioux/Lebanese)"Weed" (1988) WOW 387; Anne Bradstreet (European Am.) "Here Follow Upon the Burning of Our House" (1666) AL 33-34; Emily Dickinson (European Am.) Poetry selections AL 841-853; Joy Harjo (Creek/Muskogee) "Interview by Marilyn Kallet: In Love and War and Music: An Interview with Joy Harjo" and "The Place the Musician Became a Bear" (1992) WOW 670-682; Sophie Jewett (European Am.) Poems AL 1298-1300; Irene Klepfiz (Polish Jewish Lesbian Am.) "Warsaw, 1983: Umschleplatz" (1983) WOW 271-2; Maxine Kumin (European Jewish Am.) "Menial Labor and the Muse" (1989) WOW 456-458; Denise Levertov (European Jewish Am.) "A Tree Telling of Orpheus" (1968) WOW 396; Audre Lorde (African Am. Lesbian) "Poetry is Not a Luxury" (1977) WOW 42-44;  Pat Mora (Chicana) "La Migra" (1993) WOW 280-281; Naomi Shihab Nye (Palestinian Am.) "So Much Happiness" (1982) WOW 745-6;Wendy Rose (Hopi/Miwok/Scots) "I Expected My Skin and My Blood to Ripen" (1980) WOW 283-284; May Sarton (European Am. Lesbian) "The Work of Happiness"  (1948) WOW 484-5;  Phillis Wheatley (African Am.) Selections AL 170-173; Lois Ann Yamanaka (20th C. Japanese Hawaiian Am.) "Turtles" (1993) WOW 482-484.

Poetry Handout: Read generously as much as you can of the Poetry on Poetry Handout.

Assignment: Do a careful and full explication of one poem chosen from the poetry handout or from the assigned poems above.  You may not select a poem which we have already examined in class.  Make use of the very clear and helpful guide to explicating a poem at http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/poetry-explication.html

Class 12 Tues. Apr. 17:     In Praise of Women (tributes and accounts of sheroes, heroes; exploration of sisterhood; celebrating womanhood)

ALL READ:
Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna Pueblo/Sioux/Lebanese) "Eve the Fox" (1989) WOW 563-4; Maya Angelou (African Am.) "Known to Eve and Me" WOW 565-6; Anne Bradstreet (European Am.) "In Honour of That High and Mighty Princess" (1650) AL 26-29;   Judith Ortiz Cofer (20th C. Puerto Rican Working Class) "The Latin Deli"(1993) WOW 63-65; Marilyn Hacker (European Am.) "Ballad of Ladies Lost and Found: For Julia Alvarez" (1985) PH; Maxine Hong Kingston (Chinese Am.) "No Name Woman" (1976) WOW 118-127;   Emma Lazarus  (European Jewish) "The New Colossus" AL 1170; Paule Marshall (African Am.)  "To Da-duh, In Memoriam" (1967) WOW 97-105; Melissa Range (European Am.) "Lot's Wife" (1994) WOW 401-403;   Mary Tallmountain , (Athabaskan) "Matmiya," (1984) 144 (on grandmother)  PH; Sylvia Watanabe (Japanese Am.) "Talking to the Dead" (1989) WOW 603-612;

Group Assignment: Each group will be assigned a section of Marilyn Hacker's "Ballad of Ladies..." You are to work together as a group prior to class to identify and prepare a brief report on each of the women alluded to in your section.  You can use internet, library databases, queries of people who might suggest ideas -- but you must be sure that your identification is ultimately well defended, verified by more than one source and properly documented. 

Group A:  Hacker Stanzas 1&2; Group B: Hacker Stanza 3; Group C: Hacker Stanzas 4&5; Group D: Hacker Stanza 6; Group E: Hacker Stanza 7; Group F: Hacker Stanzas 8&9.  You will receive a group grade for this assignment -- so help each other out!

Book Report: Maxine Hong Kingston, (Chinese Am.), from The Woman Warrior (1976).

Class 13 Tues. Apr. 24Women’Äôs Voices Speaking Truth to Power (speeches, essays, public letters, newspaper articles, documentaries, etc.)

ALL READ:
Mary ("Molly") Brant (Canienga/Mohawk) "Letters of Molly Brant to Judge Daniel Claus" (1778-9) 279-281 on WebCT;    Audre Lorde: (African Am. Lesbian) "The Master’Äôs Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" (1979) 98-101 on WebCT.

GROUPS READ:
Group 1:
Abolition
Muskingham County Female Anti Slavery Society "Petition of Ladies" (1836) AL 237-8; Maria W.  Stewart, "Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall , Boston, Sep. 21, 1832" (1832) AL 408-414; Angelina Grimke Weld (European/African Am.) (1880-1950): "Address at Pennsylvania Hall" (1838) AL 414-418;  Ladies of Steubenville, Ohio (European Am.) "Memorial" ((1830) AL 839-841;
Group 2: Women's Rights
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (European Am.) "The Solitude of Self" (1892) AL 565-571; Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention "Declaration of Sentiments", (1848) AL 703-706; Victoria Woodhull (European Am.) "from The Truth Shall Make You Free" AL 1026-1036 

Group 3: Poverty/Labor Helen Campbell (European Am.) "From Prisoners of Poverty" (1847) AL 1036-1041; Mary Harris, Mother Jones, "Victory at Arnot" (1972) 420-422 on WebCT; Ah Quon McElrath , (Chinese Am.) "The Challenge is Still There" (1976 and 1994) on WebCT; Anamaria de la Cruz (Salvadoran Am.) "Interview with Jessie de la Cruz"  (2003) on WebCT.

Group 4: Jim Crow/Lynching. Eleanor Roosevelt, " Abolish Jim Crow " (1943);  Ida Baker Wells-Barnett, "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases" (1892) AL 1304-1319.

Group 5: Mind and Body: Margaret Sanger, (European Am.)   from AutobiographyNaomi Wolf (European Am.) "Hunger" (1991) WOW 330-347; Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran) "from Ten Days in a Mad-House" (1887-1888) AL 1320-1334. 

Group 6Contact and ConflictAnida Yoeu Esguerra (Cambodian Muslim Am.) "The Day After: A Cento Based on Hate Crimes Filed Shortly after 9/11" (2006) 23-26 on WebCT; Cindy Sheehan "Open Letter to George W. Bush" on her webpage at http://www.angelfire.com/sk3/spkhntrca/Casey.html; Amy Ling (Chinese Am.)"Whose America Is It?"  (1989) WOW 208-217.

Assignment:   Construct a letter to a political official (congressperson, senator, president, governor). Choose a topic (a social issue, political position, a human rights cause) that is deeply important to you and construct an argument presenting your position.  Be sure that your opinion is supported by concrete facts, examples, and documented information (where appropriate).  Be thoughtful about what other positions might be held and how they should be anticipated and addressed. Post the letter on WebCT for other class members to read and consider. (I hope you will plan to actually send the letter when you have completed it a well as turning in my copy.)  Be bold and courageous.  Remember, as Audre Lorde says, "Your silence will not protect you."

Book Reports: Julia Alvarez (Dominican Am.), In the Time of the Butterflies (1994);  Tara Bahrampour.  (20th C. Iranian Am.). To See and See Again:  A Life in Iran and America. (1999); Melba Pattillo Beals. (African Am.) Warriors Don't Cry:  A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High. (1994); Demetria Martinez (Chicana Am.) Mother Tongue (1994); Agnes SmedleyDaughter of Earth (1929; 1987); Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences 1815-1897 (1898; 1993)

 Class 14 Tues. May 1 Last Class
Women Weaving Visions (utopias, fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction)

ALL READ:
Betsey Chamberlain (European Am. Working Class) "A New Society" (1840) 90-91 on WebCT C. L. Moore (European Am.) "No Woman Born" (1944) 236-288 on WebCT; 
 
GROUPS READ:

Group A: James K. Tiptree, Jr. (Eur. Am.) "The Women Men Don’Äôt See" (1973) http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree2/tiptree21.html ; Group B: Annie Denton Cridge, (European Am.) "Man’Äôs Rights or How Would You Like it?"(1870) 317-336 on WebCT; Group COctavia Butler (African American) "Speech Sounds" (1995) 89-110 on WebCT; Group D: Katherine Maclean (European Am.) "Contagion" (1950) 74-101 on WebCT; Group E: Ellen Klages (European Am. Lesbian) "Time Gypsy" (1998) on WebCT;  Group F:  Ursula K. Leguin "Sur" (1982) 1931-1943 on WebCT.

Book Reports:  Octavia Butler (African Am.) Dawn (1997); Nicola Griffith (European Am. Lesbian) Slow River (1995); Ursula K. LeGuin, (European Am.) Left Hand of Darkness (1969); Marge Piercy (European Am. Jewish) Woman on the Edge of Time (1993); Amy Thomson (European Am.) The Color of Distance (1995)

Final Tues. May  8

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Tues. May 8 -  Final ExamHmong Story Cloth Lu Vang family

Hmong Story Cloth Artist: Lu Vang family, Minneapolis, Minnesota   Medium: Textile  http://www.uwrf.edu/library/exhibits/storycloth.html