The song inspiring this theme of the course and this webpage comes from the 1994 classic in the soundbar above: "U Will Know" by Black Men United. The NeoSoul musician/magician, D'Angelo (who we lost on October 14, 2025 at only 51 years old), wrote and produced the song.
Rest In Power, Soul Brotha!
Rest In Power, Soul Brotha!
Issues To Familiarize Yourself with/ Watch as Much as You Like:
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This political lens of this week is closely connected to the Black feminist fugitive practices we examined in the previous theme. Like with BlackGirlMagic, this themes comes from the viral sensation of BlackBoyJoy as a way to connect larger, Black counterpublics to education, schools, and classrooms.
You should always remember that a close scrutiny of gender and sexuality-- at whatever end of the continuum you situate yourself-- comes solely from feminist theory and activism. Black feminism adds intersectionality to the mix and relentlessly and restlessly reminds you that there is no construct of gender and sexuality that can ever be removed from white supremacy, racial capitalism, and colonialism. Black feminism is a critical point of origins for ev'rybody.
In this theme, we continue to examine what Alexander Weheliye* calls “black cultural archives that typify different manifestations of enfleshment” (118). Since the “sexualized ungendering of the Black subject” (Weheliye 108) has played a pivotal role in the making of modernity, we will reject any notion that our keen focus on Black boys and men can ever be typically patriarchal like the white, western geographies that have been violently mapped onto the world.
*See Weheliye, Alexander G. Habeas Viscus: Racializing Assemblages, Biopolitics, and Black Feminist Theories of the Human. Duke University Press, 2014.
You should always remember that a close scrutiny of gender and sexuality-- at whatever end of the continuum you situate yourself-- comes solely from feminist theory and activism. Black feminism adds intersectionality to the mix and relentlessly and restlessly reminds you that there is no construct of gender and sexuality that can ever be removed from white supremacy, racial capitalism, and colonialism. Black feminism is a critical point of origins for ev'rybody.
In this theme, we continue to examine what Alexander Weheliye* calls “black cultural archives that typify different manifestations of enfleshment” (118). Since the “sexualized ungendering of the Black subject” (Weheliye 108) has played a pivotal role in the making of modernity, we will reject any notion that our keen focus on Black boys and men can ever be typically patriarchal like the white, western geographies that have been violently mapped onto the world.
*See Weheliye, Alexander G. Habeas Viscus: Racializing Assemblages, Biopolitics, and Black Feminist Theories of the Human. Duke University Press, 2014.
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This documentary is available on Peacock. Feel free to watch this in place of an article reading. This documentary can replace of one of your two required readings.
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What We're Reading...
There is no, single MANDATORY reading. For this week, chose any two readings from the list below. For a great connection to our theme, you might consider reading: "Centering Black Boys: Theorizing Humanity, Play, and Joy in Contemporary Children’s Literature" by Anthony L. Brown, Keffrelyn D. Brown, Nathaniel Bryan, and Saba Khan Vlach (listed below). For an educational overview of teaching, you might consider a chapter from: Black Male Teachers : Diversifying the United States' Teacher Workforce, edited by Chance W. Lewis and Ivory Toldson, an available ebook at the library with a representative chapter in our list of texts (https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/tcu/detail.action?docID=1170009). A few of these chapters are represented in the list below. Choose TWO of these...
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Our Black |
Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity by Ann Ferguson
Black Male(d): Peril and Promise in the Education of African American Males by Tyrone C. Howard Harlem on Our Minds: Place, Race and the Literacies of Urban Youth by Valerie Kinloch Reading for Their Life: (Re)building the Textual Lineages of African American Males by Alfred Tatum A Search Past Silence: The Literacy of Young Black Men by David Kirkland The Trouble With Black Boys: ...And Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education by Pedro Noguera |
