INFLUENTIAL TEXTS
Listed below are a few of the most influential texts, and one song, that have had a real impact on me throughout my education. I mention a brief summary of each, but I also add what I was able to take away from each one.
Angelou, Maya. 1969. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Penguin Random House LLC.
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is an autobiography that describes the childhood and youth experiences of Maya Angelou. This coming of age story is not one that we often hear. It was not something that was glorious, it was often gut wrenching. However, her survival story is one that is truly beautiful. Learning about her wants, passions, and beliefs is something that truly allowed her positivity to shine through. Her love for the arts, specifically writing poetry as an outlet is something that is commendable. I read this book during my high school experience, but it was my first exposure to a deeper and mature form of writing. Angelou's dive into her emotional growth, while she was growing up and coping with physical/ sexual abuse, was something that fascinated me. As a high schooler this really struck me, because I was not much older than Angelou was in this story. It really put me in a place of noticing that not everyone has a life like mine. A safe home environment, support system, and knowledge of who to go to if anything ever happened to me, were all things that I took for granted before this reading. The emotional response that I had to this reading is one that I will never forget because it is the same feeling I get to this day when I learn about injustices.
Gordon, June A. 2002. “The Color of Teaching Revisited.” Multicultural Perspectives 4(2): 3–7.
The focus of “The Color of Teaching,” is on viewing students' ideas of going into the career of education. This study started in Seattle, Washington where 60 people of color were interviewed, but eventually travelled the United States to gather more information from 160 teachers of color. The participants included African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinxs. The 60 participants were asked why they believed there is such a low participation rate of educators of color, and the 160 educators of color were asked why they began teaching as well as what they think will be true of the rate of educators of color in the future. The key finding in this research is more often than not, people of color are not encouraged to go into education based on their racial communities views. Teachers of color often hold themselves to a high standard, that can almost be seen as unobtainable to students. It was also found that since many societies are lacking teachers of color things are not changing. This is being almost seen as a norm by many communities. The lack of racial diversity within the education field is a topic that I have explored many times. This article was the first of many that allowed me to explore the reasons this lack of representation exists. Understanding this socialization, and how the aspects of the role that has been represented can be intimidating is something that is very apparent in our society.
Ottesen, KK. 2019. “Activist: Portraits of Change”. Chronicle Books.
KK Ottesen brings together many different activists that have created a change
within our world through their leadership and tactics. This book is divided into chapters
with each one allowing the reader to learn about the leader, who they are, and what has led them to the work that they pursued. This read allowed me to learn specifically about individuals and their passion. Being a young activist myself, this read was beneficial to understand how others got their start and how their fire was lit. I find myself very interested in many forms of activism and social justice, so hearing how that drive led them to be one of the greatest is something that really allowed me to see that this could be anyone.
Skloot, Rebecca. 2010. “The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks”. Crown Publishing Group.
HELA cells are immortal. These are cells that keep multiplying and have had such an amazing effect on where our science discoveries are today, especially cancer research. HE stands for Henrietta and LA stands for Lacks. Henrietta Lacks went into the hospital, putting her trust into her doctors since she had no other choice. As a Black person it was a journey to be able to seek medical help and attention in a location that is close to your living space. She had to travel to a further hospital since another would not accept her and this was just one of the injustices of many in her story. Lacks’ cervical cells were swabbed for testing and were kept without her consent or knowledge. Later having died from cervical cancer, Lacks’ family discovers years later what these cells have done for medical research. This discovery is one that is a direct representation of how people of color can be treated in the United States. Years later, the Lacks family has not received compensation for their mother or grandmother's contribution to modern medicine, as they live in the lower class. This read was one that drove my interest in racial and gender disparities in our society today, but more specifically how those injustices can stem from authoritative or supposedly knowledgeable figures that we put our trust into.
Tressie McMillan Cottom. 2019. “THICK: And Other Essays”. The New Press.
This book describes experiences that Black women go through in our society today. These experiences and hardships included body image, lack of representation, labeling, defying the norms, etc. This read particularly taught me about the experiences that many Black women go through as a patient in a medical setting. Some of the experiences shared in this writing are hard to get through as it highlights the amount of dehumanization that is present when a Black woman is in pain. Black women are treated as uneducated to their own pain, and are viewed as though they are not experiencing pain at the same rate as a White woman would. It is as though they do not feel. Prior to this reading I had no clue just how much of an issue this was in our society, but hearing about these experiences allowed me to learn just another example of how our intersections come together and create our unique experiences.
Lamar, Kendrick. 2012. “Good Kid”. good kid, M.A.A.D city. Top Dawg Entertainment, Track 7 https://music.apple.com/us/album/good-kid/1440818890?i=1440818975
Kendrick Lamar is a well known artist in the Hip Hop and Rap genre. Lamar stands out in this genre due to his continuous contribution to calling out the injustices in our society. In this song “Good Kid”, Lamar describes how we need to change our mindset and understand that location can play a lot into the way someone acts. Where we come from, what we have, what we don’t have, is something that plays a huge factor in our lives. Lamar points out this idea that these are good kids that are just living in mad cities. This concept is one that I decided to learn more about, and in fact found an organization that is working closely with this concept. Good Kids, M.A.A.D City is an organization that is running in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington DC. This organization is for students of color, teens, and youth that feel as though they are under attack by their own city. Many of these members have been affected by gun violence in their lives, either with knowing someone who has been shot or have been shot themselves. This organization taught me how social justice can form through art and it can speak to the truths that are experienced in our day to day lives.
(For more on the organization Good Kids, M.A.A.D City: Twitter- @GKMC18 ; Facebook- @GKMC2018)
