Evolution of a Prophecy: From Baldwin to Coates, and since George Floyd *In-Person* *NEW*

With critical reading and discussion of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, we will investigate how the prophecy of a racial reckoning in the United States has evolved over generations, and since the summer of 2020. How is Baldwin present in Coates’ words? Are we moving toward or away from a new Reconstruction or a form of Redemption? We will explore how each author’s meditations on the relationship between power, suffering, and beauty help us understand both contemporary racial reckoning and racial backlash. Required book: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Instructor: Joshua Frank

Sections

Instructor

Joshua Frank has worked as an educator for twenty-nine years--as a teacher, an administrator and a trainer. He has designed and implemented innovative, data-based programs for at-risk middle and high school students, helping them to set and reach specific academic goals. He completed his Bachelor’s degree at UMass/Amherst, and Master’s degrees from UMass/Boston and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His areas of interest include working with at-risk students, fostering positive, effective teacher-student relationships, and promoting cultural competence and equity in schools. Josh’s 2007 Education Digest article, “When White Educators Discipline Students of Color,” was republished as a “classic” in the August 2015 Connections: The Journal of the National School Reform Faculty.