Help me give my students access to culturally relevant literature by enabling them to read comic books that tell of a fantastical Harlem Renaissance where characters hunt monsters that are literal and figurative.
I teach at a neighborhood high school on the Southside of Chicago. My students are bright, creative, and talented teenagers. In my classroom they engage in reading and writing activities that challenge them to interrogate the world around them and the established American literary canon.
My Project
Students learn best when they can utilize multiple means to access to the world around them. One of the best methods for students to access literature is through reading graphic novels and comics. I would like to provide my American Literature students with a new way of looking at the literature of the Harlem Renaissance by having them read "Bitter Root," a comic book set in 1920s Harlem about an African-American family of monster hunters.
Throughout this school year, my students have been exploring the idea of what it means to be American.
Bitter Root's main theme is identifying and fighting racism and the monsters that racism can make Americans become. As we've seen through the pandemic, the summer of social justice protests, and through the election, racism is a quality that is embedded in American culture. It would be amazing to be able to read relevant and engaging literature with my students.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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