Addressing Double Consciousness with Author of The Hate U Give
My students need a discussion with author, Angie Thomas, to discuss her novel The Hate U Give via Skype.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Jones's classroom raised $1,230
This project is fully funded
My Students
I work at a high school in New York City where we strive to create a school community that recognizes the multitude of experiences and talents that each student brings to the classroom.
They deserve the opportunity to share their stories and voice their concerns.
After all, the youth who are directly affected by our society's challenges have the creativity and the drive to imagine solutions.
And although they have drive and imagination, our students also have very adult responsibilities. They struggle economically and, in turn, academically. But they also have a profound understanding of their own experiences and extraordinary insight into the world around them. And their energy is the stuff that movements are made of.
My Project
My students are constantly struggling with the reality of juggling multiple identities. They struggle with being both Black and American, with being both Latino and American, with being both Asian and American, with being both Muslim and American. Some are immigrants and battle with maintaining their own language and culture while trying their best to adapt to a new language and culture. It's not easy for them.
So the least that I can do as their teacher is to acknowledge their struggle and offer literary voices that speak to that struggle.
Angie Thomas' new novel, The Hate U Give, is less about hate than it is about hope. Hope for young people who yearn to be comfortable in their own skin, and true to themselves despite traversing very different environments. It's a book that touches on W.E.B. Dubois' concept of Double Consciousness; the sensation of feeling as though your identity is divided into several parts. With Thomas' novel, I would like to engage my students in a dialogue about what it means to juggle multiple identities in a society where we are often pressured to choose only one.
We will spend the semester reading and writing about the novel, and analyzing it alongside essays by Dubois. After that, we will watch the movie adaptation of The Hate U Give. And finally, Angie Thomas (the author) has agreed to speak with my students via Skype. They will offer their perspectives and she will explain where her ideas for the book came from. Watching the news, my students are bombarded with images of hate. But hopefully, through our readings and discussions, they can begin to build for themselves a counter-narrative of hope. Where community, solidarity, and identity are sources of strength and cause for celebration.
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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