GREAT WORKS 2020 – SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME
DUBOIS AND BALDWIN: TWO CLASSIC BLACK AMERICAN VOICES*
* Part of UUCM’s Eighth Principle Project
This year’s Great Works program at UUCM examines two leading African American writers – WEB DuBois and James Baldwin.
Rev Scott, co-taught with UUCM member Becky Doggett*, along with the help of Intern Antonia and other colleagues, will facilitate an exploration of the timeless work of DuBois and Baldwin, highlighting why their work remains urgent for all Americans. In addition to exploring these great authors, we will also view well-researched documentaries that teach how slavery never fully ended with the passage of the 15th Amendment. As these truths are sadly not taught in most schools, we hope this course will not only open eyes but inspire ways of channeling our activism to produce needed change to dismantle systemic racism in our time. This class will be co-taught with other UUCM members, and is part of our Eighth Principle Project.
Class Meets on Six Consecutive Wednesdays, Sep 30 thru Nov 4 – 7pm – 9PM; Register on Realm – $10 administrative fee
TEXTS:
WEB DuBois – The Souls of Black Folk;
Slavery By Another Name – PBS film based on the book by Douglass Blackmon
Segregation by Design – film based on the book The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
Please obtain the books in advance of the class, and read the Forethought and the First Chapter, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” in The Souls of Black Folk before our first session. The books are available free online, as are the films. See the list below for links.
Slavery By Another Name (film)
*UUCM member Becky Doggett is a retired Senior Fellow of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ), a non-profit research and advocacy organization. While there, she helped establish the Essex County Construction Careers Program which successfully enrolled over 400 local residents into union construction trade apprenticeships. Prior to NJISJ, Becky was Special Assistant for Community Development to the Superintendent of the Newark Public Schools. She has also been Director of Business and Job Opportunity for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. While there she established the Regional Alliance for Small Contractors and other initiatives to promote small business development. Becky also went on loan to the New Jersey Department of Education to serve as Auditor General of the Newark Public Schools. She served as the first Director of Essex County Department of Citizen Services and has been involved in community development and education reform for many years.