English 150: Multicultural America
Schedule of Readings and Assignments--Fall 2006
Professor Gregory Jay
Course Description: The United States has always been a diverse society, composed of people from many
cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Yet too often the study of American history and literature has not
done justice to this diversity, or faced honestly the conflicts and challenges that it presents. Today, more
than ever, all of us need to expand our understanding of cultural differences and gain new skills in crosscultural communication.
This course will provide students with a candid look at race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism in America,
using literary texts as the primary tools for understanding. The study of literature will be placed in specific
historical contexts through units that focus on the experiences of America’s diverse groups, including
African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino/a Americans, and Native Americans as well as Americans
of European descent (Irish, Italian, Jewish, etc.). Students will also learn about Multicultural Milwaukee
through a Service Learning Experience.
Attendance is required and checked. Every class meeting counts as a full week of the course. Each student
is allowed one free unexcused absence; each subsequent unexcused absence lowers the final course grade
by one-half point on a four-point scale (for example, if your final course grade average is 3.5, a second
absence will lower your final course grade to 3.0, or from a B+ to a B; a third absence would knock it
down to 2.5, etc.) Learning will take place through frequent short writing assignments, in-class discussion
and group work, online reflections, and a final literary analysis paper.
This class fulfills UWM’s General Education Requirements in the areas of Humanities and Cultural
Diversity. It also serves as the Core Course for the Cultures and Communities Program. Students in past
semesters report that this course is more challenging than most other lower-division offerings, and more
rewarding.
Learning Goals (adapted from the Cultures and Communities Certificate Goals):
Students who successfully complete English 150 will learn to:
1. Reflect critically on their own cultural identity and background, connecting personal history to
larger social and historical forces.
2. Identify the major cultural groups in American history and discuss their distinct contributions and
principal conflicts, especially as these illustrate the impact of inequalities of access, resources,
wealth, and/or justice.
3. Distinguish between individual bias and structural oppression, with analysis of specific examples
involving diverse social and/or cultural groups.
4. Describe the basic components of globalization and how nations interact socially, politically, and
culturally.
5. Analyze critically the historical and social construction of categories such as “race” and
“ethnicity,” their relation to “white privilege,” and their impact on various dimensions of human
life, including how such constructions create systematic inequalities between the dominant and the
marginalized.
6. Collaborate productively and communicate constructively with people from diverse backgrounds.
7. Articulate principles and methods for community service in a pluralistic society, including how
such experiences can reinforce the values of democratic citizenship and cross-cultural
understanding.
1
Required Books:
American Mosaic, 2nd ed. Barbara Roche Rico and Sandra Mano
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan Johnson
Additional required readings online at our D2L website or at the Electronic Reserve site of the UWM
library.
Recommended:
A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, by Ronald Takaki (on reserve)
Readings: Dates indicate our Wednesday meetings. Assigned readings should be completed before class
on the day they are listed (otherwise you won’t know what we’re talking about!!)
Writing Assignments:
 Questions and Responses (Q&R’s) (250 words, typed) due most Wednesdays (see schedule): 30%
course grade (graded as portfolio)
 Short (1000-1250 words) Literary Analysis Paper on Kindred: 15% course grade
 Service Learning Assignment & Reflections (3 500 word postings): 20% course grade
 Final Literary Analysis Paper (1500-1700 words) Comparing Three Texts: 25% course grade
 Miscellaneous quizzes and tests: 10%
Service Learning Assignment: Approximately 15 hours outside of class working in a community site where
cross-cultural experience is featured. Possibilities include working with schools, tutoring, assisting
neighborhood organizations, etc. Placements designed and coordinated by the UWM Institute for Service
Learning.
Check the D2L course web site for updates to this and other assignments.
Schedule:
Date
Week
One: Sept.
6
Week
Two:
Sept. 13
Week
Three:
Sept. 20
Week
Four:
Sept. 27
Reading Assignment to be completed before that day:
Part One: The Social Construction of Identity and Difference
Handouts: “Do Americans Share a Common Culture?”; “Defining Race, Ethnicity,
and Nationality”; “Keywords and Concepts”; “Opening Questions About Cultural
Identity”; Q&R assignment sheet and tips; Questionnaire; screening, Angry Eye
 Discussion: Allan Johnson, Privilege, Power, and Difference
 Service Learning Presentation and Assignments
 *Q&R’s on Johnson due online Tuesday, Sept. 12 by noon
Part Two: Identity, History, and Remembrance: Octavia Butler’s Kindred
 Short Answer Test on Johnson book (30 minutes)
 Discussion: Kindred, p. 1-131
 *Q&R’s on Kindred due online Tuesday, Sept. 19 by noon
 Recommended: Takaki, “The Hidden Origins of Slavery,” pages 51-78;
“Slavery and Its Discontents,” pages 106-38
 Discussion: Kindred, 131-conclusion
 *First paragraph (200-250 words, typed, five copies) of Kindred paper due at
beginning of this class.
 Workshop Kindred paragraphs in small groups
2
Week
Five: Oct.
4
Week Six:
Oct. 11
Week
Seven:
Oct. 18
Week
Eight:
Oct. 25
Week
Nine:
Nov. 1
Week
Ten: Nov.
8
Part Three: American Indians and America’s Origins
 Mosaic, AMERICAN INDIANS section: “Setting the Historical and Cultural
Context,” p. 76-83; plus “Indian Removal Act”; Chief Joseph, “An Indian’s
View of Indian Affairs”; McNickle, “Train Time”; Silko, “Lullaby”; Welch,
“Plea to Those Who Matter.”
 **First Service Learning Reflection due online (500 words) Tuesday, Oct. 10 by
noon—will be shared and discussed in class.
 Recommended: Takaki, “The Racialization of Savagery,” pages 21-50, and
“Toward the Stony Mountains: From Removal to Reservation,” pages 79-105.
 Mosaic, AMERICAN INDIANS section: Erdrich, “Lipsha Morrisey”; Allen,
“Pochantas”; Ortiz, “The Language We Know”; Deloria and Lytle, “A Status
Higher Than States”; Hogan, “Crossings”.
 *Q&R’s on American Indian readings due Tuesday, Oct. 10 by noon
 ***5 page paper on Kindred due at beginning of this class
Part Four: European Immigrants and the Question of Assimilation
 Review Handout: “How to Analyze Im/Migrant Literature”
 Mosaic, POINTS OF ENTRY section: “Setting the Historical and Cultural
Context,” p. 4-9; plus Lazarus, “The New Colossus”; Bruhac, “Ellis Island”;
Adams, “The Epic of America,” AND
 Mosaic, EARLY IMMIGRANTS section, “Setting the Historical and Cultural
Context,” p. 160-64 plus “Bill of Rights”; Panunzio, “In the American Storm”;
Rolvaag, “Facing the Great Desolation”; Yezierska, “Fat of the Land”; Flynn,
“I Speak My Own Piece”; Pinsky, “Shirt”; plus online D2L Yezierska, “Soap
and Water”
 Recommended: Takaki, “Emigrants from Erin” [Irish Americans], pages 13965, and “The Continuous Journey to the Promised Land” [Jewish Americans],
277-310.
 *Q&R’s on European Immigrants due Tuesday, Oct. 17 by noon
Part Five: Early Chinese Americans—And After
 Mosaic, EARLY CHINESE AMERICANS section, “Setting the Historical and
Cultural Context,” p. 250-55 plus “Chinese Exclusion Act”; “Gold Mountain
Poems”; Sui Sin Far, “In the Land of the Free”; Shawn Wong, “Homebase”;
Kingston, “Grandfather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains”; Yu, “World of Our
Grandmothers”
 Recommended: Takaki, “Searching for Gold Mountain,”
 *Q&R’s on the Early Chinese due Tuesday, Oct. 24 by noon
Part Six: Africans in America—From Jim Crow to Civil Rights
 Mosaic, AFRICAN AMERICANS section: “Setting the Historical and Cultural
Context,” p. 334-42 plus “Constitution of South Carolina”; “Brown v. Board of
Education”; Hughes, “Theme for English B”; Thurman, “The Blacker the
Berry”; Ellison, “Invisible Man”; online poem: Langston Hughes, “Freedom’s
Plow”
 *Q&R’s on African American readings due Tuesday, Oct. 30 by noon
 Recommended: Takaki, “To the Promised Land: Blacks in the Urban North,”
340-372
 Mosaic, AFRICAN AMERICANS section: Gaines, “A Lesson Before Dying”;
Brooks, “The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock”;” Farmer,
“Tomorrow is for Our Martyrs”; King, “Birmingham Jail,” Malcolm X,
“Autobiography”
 *Second Service Learning Reflection due online (500 words)
3
Week
Eleven:
Nov. 15
Week
Twelve:
Nov. 22
Week
Thirteen:
Nov. 29
Week
Fourteen:
Dec. 6
Week
Fifteen:
Dec. 13
Finals
Week:
Dec. 20
Part Seven: Hispanic? Latino? Chicano? Nuyorican? The Borderlands of Identity
 Mosaic, PUERTO RICANS section: “Setting the Historical and Cultural
Context,” p. 432-36 plus “Foraker Act”; Colon, “Kipling and I”; Thomas,
“Puerto Rican Paradise”; Mohr, “The English Lesson”; Espada, “Mrs Baez
Serves Coffee on the Third Floor”
 Mosaic, CHICANOS section: “Setting the Historical and Cultural Context,” p.
554-60 plus “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo”; Chavez, “The Organizer’s Tale”;
Rivera, “Christmas Eve”; Mora, “Elena”; Islas, “Migrant Souls”
 *Q&R’s on Hispanic/Latino readings due Tuesday, Nov. 14 by noon
 Recommended: Takaki, “Foreigners in Their Native Land,” pages 166-90
 Mosaic, CHICANOS section: Cisneros, “Woman Hollering Creek”; Limon,
“Memories of Ana Calderon”; Salazar, “Border Correspondent”; Calderon,
“Reinventing the Border”; Rodriguez, “Go North Young Man”
 *Q&R’s on Hispanic/Latino readings due Tuesday, Nov. 21 by noon
 Recommended: Takaki, “El Norte,” 311-39
Part Eight: Japanese Americans and the Internment Experience
 Mosaic, JAPANESE AMERICANS section: “Setting the Historical and
Cultural Context,” p. 482-87 plus “Japanese Relocation Order”; Sone, “Pearl
Harbor Echoes in Seattle”; Okada, “No-No Boy”; Yamamoto, “The Legend of
Miss Sasagawara”; Inada, “Concentration Constellation”; Hongo, “Kubota”;
Thornburgh, “Making Amends”; Pool, “Unconvering Internment Papers”;
Takaki, “Roots”
 *Q&R’s on Japanese Americans due Tuesday, Nov. 28 by noon
 Recommended: Takaki, “Pacific Crossings,” pages 246-76
Part Nine: All Mixed Up? New American Faces for the 21st Century
 Mosaic, THE NEW IMMIGRANTS section: “Setting the Historical and
Cultural Context,” p. 644-47 plus “Immigration and Nationality Act of 1980”;
Bulosan, “My Education”; Luu, “Hardships of Escape for Vietnamese
Women”; Romero, “Sumpul”; Mukherjee, “Visitors”; Song, “Easter:
Wahiawa, 1959”; Schuck, “Border Crossing”
 plus readings online about the Hmong and Wisconsin: Online D2L: Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel Series on the Hmong Journey to Wisconsin; online reserve,
Buley-Meissner, “Spirit of a People”
 *Third Service Learning Reflection due online (500 words) Also turn in Service
Learning Journal
Part Ten: Multiculturalism and Sexual Differences
 Online D2L: Rich, “Split at the Root”; Raphael, “Abominations”; Carter,
“Cat”; Baldwin, “Giovanni’s Room”; Lorde, “Zami” ; Monteagu, “Growing
Up Gay in Little Havana”; Dennis, “My Image of Myself”; Allen, “Raven’s
Road”; Pahe, “Speaking Up”; Tsui, “A Chinese Banquet”
 *Q&R’s on MC and Sexual Differences due Tuesday, Dec. 12 by noon
 *Opening paragraph of final paper due; five copies, typed, for workshop
discussion.
Final paper due at Prof. Jay’s office by 4:00 p.m.
4