Left to do
Assignment Guide with Timeline
A resource list
Make a library appointment
Academic Warnings
Dear Students!
For your project, you are required to choose a shared text with your group. The book must
deal with issues surrounding your group T.O.I. Obviously a lot of these issues intersect so
there are some books that will work for multiple topics. You will supplement the text with a
variety of readings that you find on your own and articles and essays that I will provide. I
based these suggestions on several things, including price and availability. I also conducted
some Internet research on amazon.com. I also read some book reviews on nytimes.com and
other news sources like The New Yorker. I also googled some of the authors and looked for
interviews. These are things that I strongly suggest you do before choosing your book/topic.
Please choose wisely, this topic and this book is something that you will be living with for
several weeks.
Book choices are due October 4th. You must have the book by October 11th. If you do not buy,
borrow or steal the book, you cannot participate in a group and must do the project on your
own. Please be responsible. And don’t steal the book. That was me trying to be clever.
Topic of Interest – Getting More Specific
Social Justice Projects
Race and Equality
Race As a Social Construct-The History of Race in America
What is race? Why did American society create race? Why does it matter?
Books:
Race-A History Beyond Black and White Marc Aronson
The History of an Idea in America Thomas F. Gassett
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Race, the work place and the Economy
What access do people have to jobs, housing, management positions and business
ownership? What role does race play in these areas? Why does it matter?
Book Suggestions:
The American Dream and the Power of Wealth by Beth Johnson
Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race and Family Life by Annette Lareau
Honky by Dalton Conley
Nigger by Dick Gregory
Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth and Social Policy in America by Dalton Conley
Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh
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Race in Education
Who has access to the best education? Who goes to college? Who graduates from college?
Who does not? What role does race play in access? Who is at fault for lack of access? Why
does it matter?
Bad Boys: Public Schools and the Making of Black Masculinity by Ann Arnette Ferguson
Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol
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Race and Justice (policing, imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, etc.)
Why do people go to prison? Who is in prison? What crimes are they in prison for?
Who is on death row? Who are the judges, lawyers and jurors? What role does race play in
who is prosecuted, who is indicted, who gets lesser sentences, etc. Why does it matter?
Books:
Punishment and Inequality in America by Bruce Western
Race, Incarceration and American Values in the Age of Colorblindness by Glenn C. Lowry
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Race: Exploration of Whiteness/Caucasian Issues surrounding race and class
How are we to understand race in terms of whiteness? What does it mean to be white in
America? What is white culture? What is white privilege?
The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter
Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race by Matthew
Frye Jacobson
Honky by Dalton Conley
The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class by David R.
Roediger
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Gay Rights and Issues
Gay Youth-bullying, homelessness, suicide
What are the specific challenges that gay youths face? How do schools and other
organizations support gay youths? Why does it matter?
Free Your Mind, the Book for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth and their Allies by Ellen Bass
and Kate Kaufman
Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest by Will Fellows
Boys Like Us by Patrick Merla
How I Learned to Snap: A Small Town, Coming-Out and Coming-of-Age Story by Kirk Read
Gay Rights Movement (Marriage, adoption)
What are the specific challenges that gay men and women face because of their sexual
orientation? How are they treated? What sorts of ways does our society justify not including
gay men and women? Why does it matter?
Making Gay History: The Half-Century Fight for Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights by Eric Marcus
Hear Us Out! Lesbian and Gay Stories of Struggle, Progress and Hope by Nancy Garden
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
Gender Issues
Feminism, Women Issues, Women’s Body, Women’s Work
What jobs do women do? How do women balance family and work? How does our society
support the needs of women? Do women receive equal pay? How are women treated in the
work place and what job positions do they hold? When you add race, how do the answers to
these questions differ?
Full-Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters by Jessica Velenti
He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut and The Other 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know
By Jessica Valenti
Feminism is for Everybody! By bell hooks
No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women by Estelle Freedman
The Essential Feminist Reader by Estelle Freedman
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks
Women, Race and Class by Angela Y. Davis
Immigration
Undocumented vs. Illegal
How are undocumented people characterized in the media? What are the widely accepted
beliefs about undocumented citizens? What is the reality? What are our policies toward
immigration? How have those policies changed over the years? Why do people immigrate to
America? What are their lives like when they are here? How do they contribute to our
country? Do Americans need to be more sympathetic to the plights or immigrants, both “legal
and illegal?
Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail by Ruben Martinez
The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants and Citizens and the Nation by Leo R. Chavez
Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Immigrant by Douglas
S. Massey
Illegal People: How Globalization Cheats Migration by David Bacon
What Did I Miss?
Notes: