And the choir kept singing of freedom . . .

THE BIRMINGHAM BOMBING

September 15, 1963

Dynamite bomb placed by members of Alabama Ku Klux Klan explodes outside Sunday services at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing 11-year-old Denise McNair and 14-year-olds Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins, and injuring 20 others.

Due Wednesday, April 14, 2010

@ 12:00 Noon EDT

Post a comment assignment: Birmingham Bombing:

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/04/birmingham-bombing.html

Post a comment assignment: I HATE YOU, YOU F#@*&!% ____!!!!! (optional):

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-hate-you-you-f-optional.html

Read “Harlem” (also known as “A Dream Deferred”), by Langston Hughes:

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=640

Print out the poem and bring it with you to class on Wednesday, April 14^th.

Read “Incident,” by Countee Cullen:

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/9777-Countee-Cullen-Incident

Print out the poem and bring it with you to class on Wednesday, April 14^th.

Read “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (written April 16, 1963):

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

Print out the letter and bring it with you to class on Wednesday, April 14^th.

Read “Ballad of Birmingham,” by Dudley Randall (1969)

http://webinstituteforteachers.org/~vfjohnson/ballbham.html

Print out the poem and bring it with you to class on Wednesday, April 14^th.

Read the lyrics of “Birmingham Sunday,” written by Richard Farina:

http://www.answers.com/topic/birmingham-Sunday

Print out the lyrics and bring them with you to class on Wednesday, April 14^th.

Watch the video “Birmingham Sunday,” sung by Joan Baez (Richard Farina’s sister-in-law):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ0y-vO9QLE

Write a First Response to everything you have read/heard about the Birmingham Bombing.

Use the following writing prompts: What affected you most? Why?

Or free-write your own response.

Be sure to provide specific textual details and quotes to justify and/or explain your response. Remember, a first response is not a summary -- use 3-5 quotes from the materials and tell how the event affected you.

Guidelines for first response papers are at the following link:

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/03/first-response-paper-guidelines_6704.html

If you have any questions about the assignment, send me an e-mail at english102wcc@gmail.com, and allow up to 24 hours for a response (although I will most likely get back to you much sooner than that).

I HATE YOU, YOU F#@*&!% ______!!!!! (optional)

ONLINE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

DUE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2010

@ 12:00 NOON EDT

Have you experienced racism?  If your answer is “yes,” and you feel comfortable sharing: How old were you? How did it make you feel? How did you respond to your attacker?

Guidelines for "Post a Comment" assignments are at the following link:

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/03/post-comment-assignment-guidelines.html

Birmingham Bombing

ONLINE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

DUE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2010

@ 12:00 NOON EDT

Google "Birmingham Bombing" and/or "16th Street Baptist Church Bombing." Find one fact about the bombing (that has not already been posted) and post it below.

Guidelines for "Post a Comment" assignments are at the following link:

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/03/post-comment-assignment-guidelines.html

"The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Due Monday, April 12^th by 3:15 PM

Post a Comment: If I were a rich man . . .:

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/04/if-i-were-rich-man.html

Print out and read The Lottery (and bring printout with you to class on April 12th):

http://www.d.umn.edu/~csigler/PDF files/jackson_lottery.pdf

You may also follow along with an online audio version:

http://odeo.com/episodes/22188200-The-Lottery-by-Shirley-Jackson

You do not have to write a First Response Paper.

However, be prepared for an in-class quiz on April 12^th.

If you have any questions, send me an e-mail at english102wcc@gmail.com, and allow up to 24 hours for a response (although I will most likely get back to you much sooner than that).

If I were a rich man . . .

ONLINE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Due Sunday, April 11, 2010

@ 10:00 PM

What would you do with the money if you won the New York Lottery?

Be sure to put your first name and the initial of your last name on the post, or it will be rejected and we won't be able to enjoy your comment!

Three Poems

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Due Wednesday, April 7, 2010

@ 3:15 PM EDT

Read and become familiar with the following poems:

"The Man He Killed" (1902), by Thomas Hardy (page 434), or online at:
http://www.illyria.com/hardyman.html

"At the Cemetary, Walnut Grove Plantation, South Caroline, 1989" (1989), by Lucille Clifton (page 1223), or online at: (not available online)

"For the Confederate Dead," by Kevin Young (page 1226), or online at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9546137

You DO NOT have to write a response paper; however, be prepared to discuss the poems in class on Wednesday, April 7th.

"An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge," by Ambrose Bierce

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Due Wednesday, April 7, 2010

@ 12:00 Noon

A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama,

looking down into the swift water twenty feet below.

The man's hands were behind his back,

the wrists bound with a cord.

A rope closely encircled his neck.

It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head

and the slack fell to the level of his knees.

("An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,"

by Ambrose Bierce)

Post a Comment: Ambrose "Bitter" Bierce (1842-1914?):

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/04/ambrose-bitter-bierce-1842-1914.html

Post a Comment: The American Civil War (1861-1865):

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/04/american-civil-war-1861-1865.html

Print out and read An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (and bring printout with you to class on April 7th):

http://fiction.eserver.org/short/occurrence_at_owl_creek.html

You may also follow along with an online audio version:

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (audio)

Write a First Response to An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

Use the following writing prompts: What was your initial response to the first few paragraphs of the text? What was your first impression of Peyton Farquhar? Do you think he deserved his fate? What aspect of the work affected you most? Why?

Or free-write your own response.

Be sure to provide specific textual details and quotes from the story to justify and/or explain your response.  Remember, a first response is not a summary -- use 3-5 quotes from the story and discuss how it affected you.

Guidelines for first response papers are available here:

http://english102wcc01.blogspot.com/2010/03/first-response-paper-guidelines_6704.html

If you have any questions, send me an e-mail at english102wcc@gmail.com, and allow up to 24 hours for a response (although I will most likely get back to you much sooner than that).