Three African-American Authors
"The Negro. . ., born with a veil and gifted with a second sight in this American world,. . . —an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body,. . ." W.E.B. Du Bois4
Students will read and analyze the works of three authors for particular aspects of criminology, sociology and vernacular. The authors chosen for this unit are Walter Mosley, Barbara Neely and Chester Himes. Each of these authors has contributed to the art of writing a detective fiction series. They can be placed in the genre of hard-boiled detective fiction, unlike their writers' genteel counterparts. Nevertheless, even within the hard-boiled tradition, the main character, the African-American detective, shows distinct traits that are somewhat unlike those of Dashiell Hammett5 and Raymond Chandler. Mosley, Neely, and Himes have given their detectives a common wisdom. Through their use of varied subgenres, their detectives not only solve crime, they also answer overall questions posed by the communities in which they serve and live. Their detectives have a sense of community accountability beyond being responsible for solving crimes or even helping to control evil in their community. This fact, as experienced in the readings, sometimes necessitates the detective to cleanse the community of ideological as well as criminal corruption.
These three authors have masterfully crafted their detectives with Black folks in mind, as they mediate the perception of oneself as a second-class citizen due to African ancestry, both biological and cultural. These three writers lead the reader through a mythos of life and death and violence and redemption.6 These are the major principles of the genre.
Once this phenomenon is understood, then the African-American detective and other African-American characters in the imagined community can see themselves realistically as American citizens. The racial inflection of life afforded by these novels will be discussed and researched in the ELA classes at all levels. Students will have to link personal perspectives and those of family, and friends to that of the authors. Whose lens do I use? What color do I see? Who or what determined this viewpoint for me? Have I changed my view from last year to this? What has shaped my views? These will be the driving questions concerning racial discussions for personal exploration exercises. These questions will give order in allowing students to question the thinking of their peers and the authors.
This kind of discussion will also take place in the form of a TV panel show, using a moderator/host and a panel of famous African-Americans. Questions will be raised from the live audience (students who are not panel participants) of viewer participants. A short lesson on the perspectives of the particular famous African-American panelists could preface the show. The panel would speak about their understanding of chosen characters from each of the stories already read by the class. Two panels will be constructed, a male panel—Tavis Smiley, Kanye West, Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Don Cheadle—and a female panel: Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey, Aretha Franklin, Tyra Banks, and Queen Latifah. This TV panel will discuss the point of view of a character chosen from the reading. This show will give students an opportunity to consider varied points of view. This lesson will also allow students to talk about complicated themes and complex subplots taken from the texts, but in a discussion setting that is separated from their personal points of view. This discussion will enhance understanding of the subplots. This experience will in turn improve students' ability to respond critically to elements of literature deployed by the three authors. The questions developed for the show will have been previously composed by students, but teachers can also use developed questions from other classes. This will assist impromptu responses from panelists.
Walter Mosley
In reading Mosley, students will be aided in analyzing and understanding language by his use of African-American idioms and dialect. Students will also easily understand the geography and landscapes of his urban setting, which tend to be their own familiar settings. The challenge will be that Mosley's use of numerous characters in his Rawlins tales will require paying attention to a great many descriptions and interactions of characters within the urban scene, guiding readers toward finding the culprit or culprits: the person who committed a particular murder, together with the still more sinister characters responsible for many other crimes.
Mosley intertwines all oppressed people in his imagined communities, making them seamlessly one people, as well as one community working toward a common goal - the good of mankind. Students who become engaged in the Rawlins series will see how the common man can do well for himself, and for others if given the opportunity, while working just beyond the letter of the law. Mosley's Easy Rawlins is a Black male hero, heroic in a flawed way but in the way that Black men in America have to be. Students will connect to the sub-themes of manhood in Black America and how other groups determine the system for the African-American's gain.
In each of the novels, Easy Rawlins is requested or commanded to find someone in the Black community or to solve a series of deaths or murders. Rawlins always solves the mystery or crime/case. Easy has a trusty but violent partner, Raymond "Mouse" Alexander. "Mouse" is of the Black community and remains in the heartbeat of the community through the series. He has decidedly not looked to "The American Dream" to define his existence and worth. However, Mouse loves flashy clothes and having plenty of cash.
The first novel assigned will be Devil in a Blue Dress. In this novel, students are taken to South Central Los Angeles in the newly instituted Black neighborhoods of the late 1940's. Rawlins begins his employ in the community as a sleuth by searching for what seems to be a white French woman, after having been fired from his job at an aircraft company. Students will be led to uncover that Rawlins is a tough guy with a good heart, who combines moral realism with barely checked race rage.
The second novel students will be assigned is White Butterfly. This novel was chosen because of Mosley's use of the term "white" in the title. The plot continues in the hard-boiled tradition and is characteristic of Mosley's character descriptions and setting. Rawlins has now married, in the common law tradition, and has adopted two children. He is requested by the police department to investigate the separate murders of four women (three Black, one White). The police suspect they have all been killed by the same person. Rawlins has established himself as having access to the Black community that the police do not, and therefore they desperately need his assistance on this case. Mosley uses a color in all his Rawlins titles, some of them not easy to code. I will give students an Attribute Web7 for uses of color in the text. Students will have to interact with the graphic organizer concerning the traits of this or that particular character and what color might represent. They will be required to cite passages from the text in order to justify their ideas. I will develop a chart using the acronym: STEAL: S = Speech of the character: What does the character say and how does the character speak? T = Thoughts: what is revealed through the character's thoughts or feelings? E = Effect on others: how does the character affect other people and how do the other characters react to and/or feel about the character? A = Actions: how does the character behave or what does the character do? L = Looks: what does the character look like? How does the character dress?
The third Mosley novel is Black Betty. In this novel, students will find that again racial identity is part of the theme. Rawlins in this novel is hired to find a Black housekeeper who is missing after the murder of her employer. Rawlins continues to maintain his family relationships; this factor breaks from the conventional tradition of the hard-boiled detective.
Rawlins in the series reacts sensitively and insightfully to the racial oppression that he and others in his community incur. The other theme that threads the series is his various attempts to buy real estate while maintaining his status in the white world as a homeowner. When describing his attitude about owning property, Easy asserts his rights as a racial equal. On this model, students will articulate their own personal views of themselves in relation to Easy's sense of what makes him a man in society. I will ask students to create self-collages. They will use pictures, words, or symbols clipped from old magazines that represent what they enjoy doing, careers they desire, people they admire, and/or things they want to own. Students will put their names on the back of their work. The collages will be hung around the room at some point during the reading; I will ask students to guess which collage belongs to whom and state why they make that guess.
Finally, students will view the adapted film version of Devil in a Blue Dress; they will note editorial changes made for the adaptation. This film will not be viewed as a whole but by using clips. In conjunction with the viewing, I will point students toward parallel chapters in the book. Students will be asked: What happens in the scene? Where is the setting? What happened just before or after the scene? How does the scene fit into the text as a whole? Does the scene differ from the written text? How does the idea of color figure into the film? How can this movie be seen as showing both the best and worst of African-American society? Do you think the movie is an accurate portrayal of the text or is it "Hollywood hype"? For further use of the film in the classroom, look at lesson three of this unit: Adaptation of the Detective Tale.
Barbara Neely
Students will notice in Neely's work not only her skill in the classical form of detective writing, but also her emphasis on the implications of race in and outside of the Black community. Blanche White is an amateur detective who finds that she is sometimes pulled into helping others cope with a murder, or else stumbles upon a murder or a clue that something has gone terribly wrong. Blanche challenges the stereotype of the stupid Black maid while simultaneously addressing issues of race, color, and class-consciousness.8 She owes more than Easy Rawlins does to the genteel type of detective. Unlike the English aristocrats, however, she is a domestic worker. What she shares with them is their knack for solving crime because of her ability to decipher human behaviors. Also, at times there is a rural setting: Neely's first novel is set in the hometown of the sleuth, Farleigh, North Carolina.
Again, like the genteel type, she is a detached observer whose knowledge of the psychology of behavior helps her solve crimes. Blanche White shares with her readers the awareness that the shades of color within the Black community are yet another code of discrimination to negotiate. Students will further notice her scrutiny of the unceasing stereotype that the African-American is always the culprit. Furthermore, in reading Neely's work, students will delve into issues of gender and sexuality when considering the main character, Blanche White.
Reading in the Blanche series will begin with Blanche on the Lam. She escapes from prison after being jailed for bounced checks that she is prepared to pay. This will intrigue students from the onset. The first novel sets the tone of a far less crime-centered type of detective fiction. It focuses on the personal relationships arising from her detective work. She is hired by a White family only to stumble upon their many secrets. After she discovers a dead body, Blanche is the one who is suspected of the crime. Of course, she uncovers the real killer and goes free before landing in prison again.
The second novel is Blanche Among the Talented Tenth. I will provide students with the necessary background knowledge of the work of W. E. B. DuBois and other artists of the Harlem Renaissance era in order to recognize the racial identity dynamic included in the novel. Neely begins this novel with a quote from The Talented Tenth written by DuBois. Students will be asked to surmise the implications of this quote based on what is meant at the time when DuBois wrote it and the change in its implications at the present day. A great deal of this novel focuses on the issue of the varied colors of Black and how Blackness is defined; students will have to be guided throughout their reading. However, to offset this difficulty, students will find Neely's language comfortable and easily comprehends.
The third choice in the Blanche series is Blanche Cleans Up. There is some ambiguity in the phrase cleans up; students will have to consider its implication before reading the first word. It will be interesting to revisit students' notes on the title later on. In this novel, the distinct notion of the detective eradicating the poison that flows within the community is seen. In this book, Blanche must solve the death of a young Black man. While doing so, she deals with teen pregnancy, homophobia, spiritual cons, and environmental trickery. Students will be asked to identify positive characteristics of each type of person who endures prejudice in the novel.
These issues for some will be sensitive and may need to be facilitated in a teacher-led and student-friendly way. With this in mind, I suggest using groups of three or four students; arrange their seating in a circle. Each student will be given one to three minutes to speak in response to a question. While one person is speaking, others in the group must listen only - no responses or interruptions are allowed. I will give specific guidelines to the groups before beginning: A. it is a timed activity; B. students must speak from their own point of view; C. students will share only what is comfortable to them; D. they are allowed one pass if they need more time to think or don't want to respond; E. what is shared remains in the small group and this must be agreed upon prior to the start of the activity. I will say the questions aloud, one at a time, then I will model answering the first question only. I will repeat the question again, give students time to think about it and monitor groups' engagement in the activity. Possible questions can be: 1. What do you want to say about {the issue}? What is on your mind? 2. How are you feeling? 3. What would you like to do for our community or the world to address {the issue}? I will end the session asking students to write further questions or concerns they have about {the issue} or the interaction. I will collect their writings and save them for further study, depending on the responses.
Neely's novels have readers focusing on a female detective's thought processes. The art of intuition is brought to the forefront for students who choose to read the series. The art of intuition will be an important element to understand, as students grow acclimatized to the clues embedded in Neely's texts. Besides the aforementioned traits, Neely's Blanche novels usually end in an open-ended fashion. Blanche's success in solving the mystery comes from her ability to expose victimization and oppression. In addition, issues of gender will be approached in looking at the female detective. More importantly, students will learn to admire a female detective without a formal education who can solve mystery and murder for the good of both the Black and White communities. The Blanche novels will bring a woman's perspective and awareness to the Black perspective for students.
Chester Himes
Chester Himes will be the more difficult of these authors to study. Therefore, this section of the unit is reserved for seniors in the honors English Language Arts classroom. In this section of the unit, students will delve into the meaning of their "code of the street." In reading Himes' detective novels, students will be led to question whether withholding information can be justified, and, if so, on what grounds. I shall introduce the story of Oedipus the King here, and students will be encouraged to find parallels between the thinking of Himes' detectives and that of King Oedipus, which can help to illuminate the social psychology of Himes' work.
Himes' series focuses on the police procedural from the perspective of the hard-boiled tradition, with an interweaving of Black perspective and humor. Himes' detectives are ridiculously excited, foolish and exaggerated. Himes is a master at manipulating violence through creativity and artistry. Students will take into account his biography, relating his life's story to the series' sociological premises.
Himes' obsession with the absurd and abnormal will require students to investigate every angle of possibility provided to his readers. Himes works at the pinnacle of the genre when it comes to presenting social critique that demonstrates the effects of race and poverty in the urban scene. Although students will find his work interesting, they will have to question the ethical quality of the characters in relation to community values. Himes chose to render his characters as criminals, drug dealers, con men, and religious swindlers. Students will also notice Himes' representation of the ace detectives who are employed by the city's police force as everyday hard-working men.
Coffin Ed and Grave Digger are just average policemen you might find snooping around on any street who have gained the utmost respect from their community. They serve as a bridge between the black and white worlds of Harlem. Their being employed by the local police force has not lent itself to public ridicule or contempt. They can be considered tricksters or cons themselves. It seems they always have a do-good twist for the resolution of the mystery or case. Because this detective team is unable to do anything about the direct causes of poverty that motivate crime in the neighborhood, they are exceedingly self-conscious about their ambiguous roles. However, their Blackness gives special insight into the behaviors of the people in the Harlem communities. Students will correlate Himes' own life experiences with this component of his writing through scenario and dialogue.
Coffin Ed and Digger Jones are usually seen against a background of absurd dimensions. They begin their existence as police working within the White world who still have a passion to make right what has gone wrong in the Black community. As the series develops, they are less and less connected to the Black community. After all the "do- good" episodes, the novel series surprisingly ends with the detectives being pitted against each other. Seniors will contrast this absurdist thinking with the character Oedipus of Thebes. Oedipus, having killed his father and married his mother without knowing it, is forced to find that he himself is the criminal. Himes' detectives too have played a major part in the crimes of their community, despite the "Robin Hood" streak they possess throughout their careers. Himes stresses the similarities of the deviant to the normal person whom society has appointed to protect itself. Himes' ministers, women, and police characters are all good folks - plagued by the evil of their own society. These characters work along a thin line between order and disorder; of guilt and innocence, during the course of their efforts to search out the man, treasure or information.
Himes uses overpopulated, overpriced and dangerous Harlem as the setting for all his detective novels. This setting is the framework for his social and political statements. Seniors will be required to compare their own city's crime rate with the rate indicated in the novels of Himes. They will have to compare the motivation behind the crime or criminal with recent criminal activity in their own neighborhoods. While [they are] reading, I will bring these issues out with students through open class dialogues and small group discussions.
The first novel students will be reading is Cotton Comes to Harlem, the most recently written of the three. This novel has an accompanying film. It will give students a visual frame of reference. This novel is considered the best of the series. In this novel, a bale of raw cotton (the treasure) is filled with $87,000, which had been pimped from the Black community by a religious con man. This charlatan is imploring folks to purchase tickets in a back to Africa movement - meant to end racial disparity, separation of Black peoples, and segregation for Black people in Harlem (all this in allusion to Marcus Garvey). At the end of this novel, the detectives return all of the stolen money to the community.
Next students will read All Shot Up. Himes includes issues of homosexuality in a violent manner in this novel. Students will be assigned to describe and investigate hate crimes and their implications for the community at large. Also, students will explore homophobia and the homophobe's psychological traits. While interacting with this novel, students will recognize the detectives as having become heroes in the community because of their previous adventures and success, which have established their reputations. The treasure in this novel is the stolen campaign funds of a local politician. The twist is that the politician is corrupt, and therefore the detectives never return the money to him. They donate it to an organization that provides vacations for poor children.
Finally, students will read Himes' first novel, For Love of Imabelle, also titled A Rage in Harlem. In Himes' style of impossible-to-believe incidents, Coffin Ed and Grave Digger must find a locked trunk that supposedly is filled with gold. Not. It is fools' gold. Interestingly enough, Himes introduces readers to Coffin Ed and Grave Digger in the eighth chapter of the book. He takes the time to set the tone in the community of Harlem and to describe the residents and their living conditions.
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