Intro to African American Literature

Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (film)

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Homework

Homework

• Watch Race: the Power of an Illusion, episode 3, “The House We Live In” (57 min) (access through SUNY Cortland libraries)
• Take notes on key dates, terms, and legislation
• How does this help us understand the historical context of A Raisin in the Sun?

Extra Credit Opportunity

• 1 extra credit point for attending
• 2 points if you post an event review to our class website

Writing & Discussion Prompt

What was one aspect of the film (a particular scene, character, setting, costume, relationship) that changed the way you understood something in the play? Be specific!

Facilitations: Grace and Derek

Acts II & III

Intro to African American Literature

Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

Race: The Power of an Illusion

episode 3, “The House We Live In”

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Homework

King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

• Look up historical context, references to things you don’t know, words that seem important
• Consider his arguments as well as his rhetoric (both what he’s saying and how he’s saying it)
• Identify connections to other things we’ve read this semester

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Housekeeping

• Ava and Jade’: blog comments have been graded

Housekeeping

• Please try to include students’ comments in your facilitation
• Help each other out with this: try to post comments the day before class if possible

Act III

Small Group Questions

• What stood out to you most from the film?
• How is race both an illusion and real?
• What is redlining?
• In what ways do we continue to live in a world structured by racist housing policies?
• What is “color blindness” or “colorblind racism”? In what sense can the idea of “color blindness” be understood as a form of racism?
• How can this documentary help us think about the historical context of A Raisin in the Sun?

Race impacts life paths and possibilities

• According to the CDC, Black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers
• According to the Washington Post and NBC News, Black people are twice as likely to be killed by the police as white people
• Similar disparities exist in educational access, employment, earnings, housing, and rates of incarceration

Small Group Questions

• What stood out to you most from the film?
• How is race both an illusion and real?
• What is redlining?
• In what ways do we continue to live in a world structured by racist housing policies?
• What is “color blindness” or “colorblind racism”? In what sense can the idea of “color blindness” be understood as a form of racism?
• How can this documentary help us think about the historical context of A Raisin in the Sun?

Redlining

• Refusing a loan or insurance to someone because they live in an area deemed to be poor and a financial risk
• The systematic denial of services to neighborhoods or communities, often associated with a specific race
• In practice, redlining prohibits people from specific racial and ethnic groups from accessing mortgages and other crucial resources

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Institutional or Structural Racism

• “the policies, programs, and practices of public and private institutions that result in greater rates of poverty, dispossession, criminalization, illness, and ultimately mortality of African Americans” (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, 8)
• The process by which racial oppression is imposed on subordinate racial groups by dominant groups through institutional channels (government organizations, schools, banks, courts of law, etc.).
• Examples include racialized police violence, mass incarceration, and inequalities in housing, education, income, healthcare

Small Group Questions

• What stood out to you most from the film?
• How is race both an illusion and real?
• What is redlining?
• In what ways do we continue to live in a world structured by racist housing policies?
• What is “color blindness” or “colorblind racism”? In what sense can the idea of “color blindness” be understood as a form of racism?
• How can this documentary help us think about the historical context of A Raisin in the Sun?

G.I. Bill Granted Loans to White Homeowners

• 1934-1962 $120 billion taxpayer dollars went to subsidizing homeownership
• 98% of that money went to white families
• Less than 2% went to non-white families
• Many white Americans accumulated home equity and passed that on to future generations
• Redlining in housing made illegal by Fair Housing Act (1968)
• This opportunity granted to white families racialized housing, wealth, and access to education and other resources for decades to come

Color Blindness (or Color-Blind Racism)

• “I don’t see race, I see people”
• The misconception that we live in a world where race doesn’t matter
• This makes it harder to address ongoing systemic and structural racism

Small Group Questions

• What stood out to you most from the film?
• How is race both an illusion and real?
• What is redlining?
• In what ways do we continue to live in a world structured by racist housing policies?
• What is “color blindness” or “colorblind racism”? In what sense can the idea of “color blindness” be understood as a form of racism?
• How can this documentary help us think about the historical context of A Raisin in the Sun?

• For every $100 earned by an average white family, how much do you think is earned by an average black family? (earned = take-home pay)
• $0-25
• $26-50
• $51-75
• $76-100
• $100+
• For every $100 in wealth accumulated by an average white family, how much wealth has the average black family accumulated? (wealth=value of assets you own such as money and property minus debt)
• $0-25
• $26-50
• $51-75
• $76-100
• $100+

• For every $100 earned by an average white family, how much do you think is earned by an average black family? (earned = take-home pay)
• $0-25
• $26-50
• $51-75
• $76-100
• $100+
• For every $100 in wealth accumulated by an average white family, how much wealth has the average black family accumulated? (wealth=value of assets you own such as money and property minus debt)
• $0-25
• $26-50
• $51-75
• $76-100
• $100+

Answer =

$57.30

Answer =

$5.04

Racial wealth gap

In 2021, the average Black, Hispanic, or Latino households earned about half as much as the average White household and own only about 15 to 20 percent as much net wealth (The Federal Reserve)

Racial wealth gap

Research has found it represents the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism.

“After the end of slavery and the failed Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, which existed till the late 1960s, virtually ensured that Black Americans in the South would not be able to accumulate or to pass on wealth. And through the Great Migration and after, African Americans faced employment, housing, and educational discrimination across the country. After World War II many white veterans were able to take advantage of programs like the GI Bill to buy homes — the largest asset held by most American families — with low-interest loans, but lenders often unfairly turned down Black applicants, shutting those vets out of the benefit. (As of the end of 2020 the homeownership rate for Black families stood at about 44 percent, compared with 75 percent for white families, according to the Census Bureau.) Redlining — typically the systemic denial of loans or insurance in predominantly minority areas — held down property values and hampered African American families’ ability to live where they chose.

The 2020 pandemic and its economic fallout had a disproportionate toll on people of color, and many expect that it will widen the gap in various areas, including wealth.” (Harvard Gazette)