A History of Black People as Readers: A Genealogy of Critical Literacy

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 24.02.08

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Part 1: Teaching Objectives and Historical Background
  2. Part 2: Unit Execution and Rationale
  3. Readings for Students
  4. Bibliography for Teachers
  5. Classroom Resources
  6. Appendix on Implementing District Standards
  7. Notes

Self-Evident and Self-Contradictory: Black Readings of the Declaration of Independence

Matthew O. Schaffer

Published September 2024

Tools for this Unit:

Notes

1 Rakove, The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, 77

2 Banneker, “To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker, 19 August 1791,” 

3 Douglass, Life and Writings

4 King, “I Have a Dream”

5 Douglas, Life and Writings

6 Bell, “Reading, and ‘Misreading,’ the Declaration of Independence.”  71

7 Jefferson, Writings 1500

8 Locke, Two Treatises,193-194.

9 Ibid., 202-203.

10 Steinmetz-Jenkins, “Charles Mills Thinks Liberalism Still Has a Chance”

11 Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary imagination. (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1992,) 38

12 Jefferson, Writings, 22

13 Davis, Was Thomas Jefferson an authentic enemy of slavery, 170

14 Colonial and State Records of North Carolina. Vol. 20. (Chapel Hill, NC: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2008.) 20

15 “Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation”

16 Crow, “Liberty to Slaves”

17 Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol X., p. 21-22

18 Ibid.

19 Rakove, The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. 69

20 Ed. Richard Newman, Black preacher to white America : the collected writings of Lemuel Haynes, 1774-1833, p. xI

21 Ibid., 18

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid., 23

25 1779 Petition to the New Hampshire Government for the Abolition of Slavery by Prince Whipple & 18 Other "Natives of Africa"

26 Locke, Two Treatises, 202

27 1779 Petition to the New Hampshire Government for the Abolition of Slavery by Prince Whipple & 18 Other "Natives of Africa"

28 See suggested readings for students for copies of these petitions.

29 Sinha, The Slave’s Cause, 1

30 King, “More than slaves”

31 Hattem, Memory of ’76,

32 Garrison, Declaration of Sentiments

33 Easton, Treatise, 30

34 Rediker, The Amistad Rebellion, 190

35 Easton, Treatise, 33

36 Douglass, Life and Writings

37 Ibid.

38 Report of the Woman's Rights Convention, held at Seneca Falls, New York, July 19th and 20th, Proceedings and Declaration of Sentiments, 7

39 Ibid.

40 Sarah Grimke, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes , 98

41 Ibid., 42

42 Ibid.

43 Grimke, Journals, 66

44 Cornelius, We Slipped and Learned, 60-61

45 William, Self-Taught, 22

46 Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, 147

47 Bingham, Columbia Orator, preface

48 John Aikin, in The Columbian Orator, 242

49 Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, 158

50 Blight, Yale and Slavery, 198

51 Ibid., 116

52 Image from The American anti-slavery almanac, for 1839 : being the third after leap-year, and the 63d of American independence : calculated for New York : adapted to the northern and middle states. Image is in the Public Domain, made available by the Cornell University Library.

53 College for colored youth : an account of the New-Haven city meeting and resolutions : with recommendations of the college, and strictures upon the doings of New-Haven, 22

54 Ibid., 23.`

55 Blight, Yale and Slavery, 152

56 Lincoln, Abraham, Pres. U. S. Gettysburg address delivered at Gettysburg Pa. Nov. 19th, . n. p.   n. d. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.24404500/.

57 Douglass, A Friendly Word to Maryland, 12

58 King, “I Have a Dream”

59 Ibid.

60 King, ” Speech on the Emancipation Proclamation During the Centennial of the Civil War,” published online via the National Park Service. Original speech was delivered in 1962

61 Malcolm X, “Message to the Grass Roots” in  Malcom X Speaks, 7

62 Malcolm X.,”A Declaration of Independence” in Malcom X Speaks, 22

63 Malcolm X., “The Ballot or the Bullet” in Malcolm X Speaks, 25

64 Smith, “Declaration”

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