Location: Wartburg Campus – Heritage Ballroom; 2nd Floor Student Center – Sept. 20, 27, Oct. 4, Oct. 25, Nov. 3; Castle Room Oct. 18 – Campus Map Link
Session Dates: Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30 p.m.; Sept. 20, 27, Oct. 4, 18, 25, and Nov. 1. No meeting Oct. 11.
Steering Committee: Andy Hansen; Lynda Abkemeier; Ann Henninger; Mary Ventullo; Kim Folkers
Contact Ann Henninger or Kim Folkers for more information: ann.henninger@wartburg.edu or kimberly.folkers@wartburg.edu.
Registration required to participate in in-person sessions– Click here to register
Co-sponsored by: Waverly Branch – American Association of University Women; City of Waverly Human Equity & Diversity Commission; Wartburg’s Multicultural Student Services; EMBRACE: An Organization That Celebrates Diversity in the Cedar Valley.
Full issue of the NY Times Magazine: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
Additional resources suggested by participants – Click here for Google doc to access resources or add to the list.
**********************************************************************
Assignments – Week 1, Tues., Sept. 20, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
1619 Project Community Read Wk 1 Slides 2022
Theme: “The Idea of America”
1) Read: Declaration of Independence at this link: https://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
2) “The Idea of America” by Nikole Hannah-Jones (pages 14-26 of full NY Times issue) – Click here to access: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
- A few questions will focus on pp. 16-17.
As you read this essay, think about the 2 questions below. Click here for a worksheet to record your responses.
1. How have laws, policies and systems developed to enforce the enslavement of Black Americans before the Civil War influenced laws, policies and systems, and oppressed Black Americans in the years since?
2. How has activism by Black Americans throughout U.S. history led to policies that benefit all people living in the U.S.?
3) “Chained Migration” by Tiya Miles (Pg. 22 of full NY Times; expanded reflections on pgs. 135-155 of book) – Click here to access: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
1.How was the expansion of the U.S. shaped and made possible by slave labor?
2.When did free black Americans begin to travel west, and why?
4) PODCAST – Episode 1: The Fight for a True Democracy, 44 minutes. (A good review of “The Idea of America”) – https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-new-york-times/nyt-1619/e/63412705
**********************************************************************
Assignments – Week 2, Tues., Sept. 27, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
1619 Project Community Read Wk 2 slides
Theme: “Capitalism and The Wealth Gap”
Full issue of the NY Times Magazine: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
1) “Capitalism” by Matthew Desmond (Pgs. 30-40 of full NY Times issue; pgs. 165-185 in book)
How does the author describe capitalism in the U.S.?
How did slavery in the U.S. contribute to the development of the global financial industry?
What current financial systems reflect practices developed to support industries that were built on the work of enslaved people?
2) “Mortgaging the Future” by Mehrsa Baradaran (Pg. 32 of full NY Times issue; not in book)
How are current banking practices in the U.S. influenced by bank administration and regulation practices that were developed to fund the Civil War?
How are bank regulation practices established after the Civil War connected to the 2008 economic crisis in the U.S.?
3) “Fabric of Modernity” by Mehrsa Baradaran (Pg. 36 of full NY Times issue; not in book)
How did increased production of cotton in the South through slave labor influence trade and business in the U.S., and around the world?
How have the laws and contracts developed before the Civil War to support the cotton industry influenced the financial documents we use today?
4) “Municipal Bonds” by Tiya Miles (Pg. 40 of full NY Times issue; not in book)
How did enslaved people contribute to the construction of northeastern cities like New York City?
How did banks and other financial institutions profit from slavery, even after it was abolished in the North?
5) “The Wealth Gap” by Trymaine Lee (Pgs. 82-83 of full NY Times issue; expanded reflections on pgs. 293-305 of book)
How does a person accumulate and keep wealth in the U.S.?
How have policy and exclusion from government wealth-building programs limited black Americans’ opportunities to accumulate wealth?
Does racial inequity, as described in these articles about the wealth gap, exist in our own community? If so, what could be done to address this inequality?
6) PODCAST – Episode 2: The Economy That Slavery Built, 33 minutes – click below: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-new-york-times/the-daily-10/e/63592019
Optional Wk 2 Reading: Prison Labor, Convict Leasing and Discrimination in U.S.
**********************************************************************
Assignments – Week 3, Tues., Oct. 4, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
(Reminder – No meeting next week – Oct. 11; resume Oct. 18 in Wartburg Castle Room, Student Center)
Theme: A Broken Health Care System & Medical Inequality
AAUW 1619 Mothers of Gynecology (Kathy Kratchmer)
Full issue of the NY Times Magazine: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
1619 Project Book connections: Some of this week’s NY Times Magazine readings are reflected in the book’s Ch. 12 – Medicine, pgs. 315-323.
1) “A Broken Health Care System” by Jeneen Interlandi (pages 44-45)
How have health care policies, city planning and other government systems in the U.S. limited who has access to health care services?
According to the author, what factors help diseases to spread in a community?
The author asks: Why doesn’t the U.S. have universal health care? She says the answer begins with policies enacted after the Civil War. Agree/Disagree?
2) “Medical Inequality” by Linda Villarosa (pages 56-57)
What inaccurate and unfounded assumptions have doctors made throughout history about the bodies of enslaved black people and how did they attempt to prove those assumptions?
How have racist medical procedures and attitudes influenced the medical treatment that black Americans have received throughout history, and continue to receive today?
3) “Tuskegee syphilis experiment” by Yaa Gyasi (p 68)
4) “Sgt. Isaac Woodard” by Jacqueline Woodson (p 69)
Does racial inequity related to health care, as described in Articles 3 and 4, exist in our own community? If so, what could be done to address this inequality?
5) PODCAST – Episode 4: How the Bad Blood Started, 40 minutes: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-new-york-times/nyt-1619/e/63898025
Optional Readings:
-Information (article/podcast) on book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: https://www.npr.org/2010/02/02/123232331/henrietta-lacks-a-donors-immortal-legacy
–1619 NEJM_Group_Racial_Disparities_in_Clinical_Medicine
-1619 Article Weathering Racism and Health
**********************************************************************
Assignments – Week 4, Tues., Oct. 18*, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Theme: Music
Different Location: Wartburg Campus – Castle Room, 2nd floor Student Center – directly above the Information Desk
Full issue of the NY Times Magazine: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
1619 Project Book connections: Some of this week’s NY Times Magazine readings are reflected in the book’s Ch. 14 – Music by Wesley Morris, pgs. 359-379.
1) “American Popular Music” by Wesley Morris (pages 60-67 in full issue of magazine)
2) Podcast: Episode 3: The Birth of American Music (35 minutes) https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-new-york-times/nyt-1619/e/63739639
Questions related to reading and podcast:
How have popular musical and performance trends throughout history used traditions and styles developed by black Americans?
How does the author describe black music and blackness in music?
3) Fiske Singers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylD4zvvN79Y
4) Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPdx3AxiCac
Resources shared by group at Session 4:
-Aretha Franklin Sings Opera at the Grammy’s: https://blog.strazcenter.org/2021/07/20/artists-we-love-when-aretha-sang-opera-at-the-grammys/?amp=1 Article includes a link to the YouTube of Aretha Franklin singing Nessus Dorma at the 1998 Grammy Awards and describes how she stepped in for Pavarotti without rehearsal at the live show.
-From Debbi Johnson-Ross:
What can reparations for slavery look like in the U.S.? One man has ideas : NPR
Author Francesca Royster on her new book, “Black Country Music” : NPR
Where are the Black musicians in the country’s largest orchestras? : Deceptive Cadence : NPR
**********************************************************************
Assignments – Week 5, Tues., Oct. 25, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Wartburg Ballrooms
Theme: Traffic, Undemocratic Democracy & Mass Incarceration
Full issue of the NY Times Magazine: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
1619 Project Book connections: Book page numbers noted for each reading below:
1.”Traffic” by Kevin M. Kruse (pgs. 48-49 in full issue of magazine; pgs. 405-410 in book)
-What policies contributed to neighborhood segregation in the U.S.?
-How have transportation systems reinforced segregation?
-Does racial inequity, as described in this article about traffic and urban renewal, exist in our own community? If so, what could be done to address this inequality?
2. “Undemocratic Democracy” by Jamelle Bouie (pgs. 50-55 in full issue of magazine; pgs. 195-208 in book)
-According to the author how do 19th century U.S. political movements aimed at maintaining the right to enslave people manifest in contemporary political parties?
3. “Mass Incarceration” by Bryan Stevenson (pgs. 80-81 in full issue of magazine; pgs. 275-283 in book)
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865, states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
-How have laws been written and enforced in the U.S. over the past 400 years to disproportionately punish black Americans?
-What are the “Black Codes”?
-How does Stevenson argue that the modern-day prison system acts as a continuation of slavery?
-What does racial inequity, as described in this article about mass incarceration, look like in our own community and state? How can this inequality be addressed?
Additional resources: (also posted on Google Doc of resources)
Bryan Stevenson TED Talk – Hard Truths about America’s Justice System (from Mark Lehmann)
Iowa Prisons – Race, Gender Disparity in Incarceration Trends (from Mark Lehmann)
**********************************************************************
Assignments – Week 6, Tues., Nov. 1, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Wartburg Ballrooms
Theme: Education Malpractice; Wrap Up and Next Steps
Reading Source for Week 6: Supplementary Broadsheet from the Times newspaper: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/18maglabs_1619_issue_shipped_0.pdf
1) “Why Can’t We Teach This?” by Nikita Stewart (Broadsheet from the New York Times, Aug. 18, 2019, pages 2-3; Book connections – see Preface/Origins – pgs. xvii-xxxiii)
-According to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s study, what are some of the ways in which U.S. history textbooks are “failing”?
-Why do students infrequently learn a full history of slavery in schools?
-What are some suggestions that appear in Stewart’s essay for improving education on slavery?
2) “History of Slavery 1455-1865” Curated by Mary Elliott, with text by Mary Elliott & Jazmine Hughes (Broadsheet from the New York Times, Aug. 18, 2019, pages 5-15)
a.1455-1775: Slavery, Power, and the Human Cost (pages 5-9)
b.1776-1808: The Limits of Freedom (pages 10-11)
c.1809-1865: A Slave Nation Fights for Freedom (pages 12-15)
-What information about slavery is new to you or differently presented from what you learned in school?
Optional Resource – Traveling While Black
3) Wrap Up & Next Steps –
**********************************************************************-Post-Community Read Ideas – Where do we go from here??
-Nikole Hannah-Jones event, Wed., Nov. 2
-Participant Contact List for future networking
-Continuing the readings; discussing how the readings relate to current social/political environment; watching a film/documentary series.
-Possible Keep on Learning sessions on 1619 – could include movies by Black filmmakers; or sessions led by key diverse leaders in the Waterloo community.
-Connect 1619 curriculum to IS 101 or IS 201 – Wartburg’s first-year course and required “diversity” course.
-Is there a traveling exhibit on 1619 or a related diversity issue that could be featured in the Wartburg Art Gallery?
-Find ways to be part of events where our discussion group could interact with groups and organizations that are predominantly black or whose purpose is to promote blacks and other minorities.
-Connect with Waverly Human Equity and Diversity Commission and their strategic plans. Attend their meetings regularly (2nd Tues. night of the month). Find out how to get involved in diversity issues in the Waverly community. Could there be follow-ups to the 1619 read by bringing Waterloo speakers to Waverly? Or taking Waverly citizens to sessions in Waterloo? Great Resources page. Commission Main Page.
**Strategic Planning Session – Nov. 8, 2022, 5:45 – Civic Center Council Chambers
-Add our 1619 Community Read website link to the Commission’s Resources page.
-Find ways to be involved in the politics of what curriculum is taught in our local community and/or state:
-Southern Poverty Law Center – Teaching for Tolerance becomes Learning for Justice
–Classroom Resources site – Learning for Justice
-Learn more about what poll observers can and cannot do. When is the line of intimidation crossed?
-Register for the Des Moines AAUW 1619 Project study of the full 1619 book on Zoom – Jan. 3-Mar. 3 – open to AAUW members only – (email kimberly.folkers@wartburg.edu for more info)
-Feeling like things are hopeless at times? Check out this resource suggested by Karen Lehmann: Steadiness in Turmoil (Dan Rather & Elliott Kirschener)
**********************************************************************
1619 Curriculum/Resource Links
Sessions 1-5: Full Issue of The New York Times Magazine, 1619 PROJECT: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
Session 6 – Supplementary broadsheet from the Times newspaper: https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/18maglabs_1619_issue_shipped_0.pdf
Waverly 1619 Project info including tentative readings for all 6 weeks: 1619 Project Waverly Fall 2022
Consolidated Reading Guide – 1619 Essays: Pulitzer Center Reading Guide for 1619 Essays
Optional Reading Guide – 1619 Creative Works: Pulitzer Center Reading Guide for 1619 Creative Works
Additional resources suggested by participants – Click here for Google doc to access resources or add to the list
**********************************************************************
Important notes as we engage in this process together:
-You will need to be a little bit patient with scrolling through the pages of the online version of the original NY Times Magazine format that is our primary resource. You may want to enter the page number you’re looking for in the top menu of your webpage/pdf file – that will take you directly to the assigned page(s) for each reading mentioned.
If you can’t or prefer not to read the material online, another option is to go to the Waverly Public Library and ask them to make a photocopy of the NY Times Magazine materials for you – the cost is $7.50.
-If you’re reading from the 1619 Project book, be aware that not all of the magazine readings are in the book. Also, some of the original magazine readings were expanded for the book, so are much longer versions of what you’re being asked to read. Weekly assignments on this webpage provide corresponding page numbers in the magazine and the book, when available.
–We are all learners in this process. This is not a lecture-based experience – we will be discussing the material that we’ve each read from the 1619 Project. Please keep in mind the group norms that were shared Week 1: Listen/observe for understanding; monitor your airtime; assume positive intent of all participants; be open to experiencing discomfort; come prepared; and be civil.
Community Read Background Information:
The Project: Telling the whole story matters. The 1619 Pulitzer prize-winning series by Waterloo, IA native, Nikole Hannah-Jones, is a vehicle to help us learn about slavery from the perspective of Black Americans and its impact on the many generations following. Not all history books are equal and much that has been written is from a white perspective, which is often not historically accurate or complete. This an important series of essays that helps to fill in many factual and experiential gaps left out by white historians and writers.
Community Reading of the 1619 Curriculum: While you can certainly read and listen to the materials on your own, conversation in community brings a richness and better understanding of the issues. Community conversation means you listen as much or more than you talk, which is almost always a good thing.
Join us as we engage in conversations of issues and topics raised in the New York Times 1619 project. Readings, poetry, podcasts and discussions will offer a profoundly revealing vision of the American past & present, contextualizing the systems of race & class: The Idea of America Capitalism & the Wealth Gap, A Broken Health Care System & Health Inequity, American Popular Music, Traffic, Undemocratic Democracy & Mass Incarceration, Education Malpractice.
Participants in the Community Study Group are provided with the links to readings and other material (see below). Discussion sessions will take place once a week for 6 weeks beginning Tues., Sept. 20, 2022, 7:00-8:30 p.m. on Wartburg’s campus. Location: TBA There is no charge for access to these materials or for participating in the Community Study Group.