justin adkins

ASSATA: In her own words (Syllabus)

I was honored to teach Black Studies 390, “ASSATA: In her own words” at Allegheny College in Spring 2018.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A study of the life and times of Assata Shakur, a political refugee currently living in asylum in Cuba. Students explore, in her own words, Shakur’s role in the Black Panther Party and US-Cuban relations through her autobiography, Assata: An Autobiography, published by Zed Books. This course explores COINTELPRO, the FBI’s counterintelligence program that targeted groups like the Black Panther Party and will also explore current proposed laws and policy targeting black revolutionary groups and the legal framework designed to criminalize black life in the United States. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students learn about liberation movements that Shakur was involved in such as the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. Through writings and film, students will explore how Shakur has become a key figure in the US attempts to normalize relations with Cuba.

CONTENT

Content Warning:

This course discusses the violent oppression of black women. Some descriptions are first-person accounts of violence, others are told in extreme detail from others. Descriptions of private and public violence will be read and watched. Topics included: police violence, racially motivated violence, sexual violence. Some language used will be offensive to many, it will not be edited out of readings, music or videos.

 

Required Text:

Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur

Readings on Sakai (also listed below)

Optional Text:

López Segrera, Francisco. 2017. The United States and Cuba: from closest enemies to distant friends. Latin American perspectives in the classroom. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Optional Course Soundtrack (for your listening pleasure):

https://open.spotify.com/user/glaze0101/playlist/5QQIVry7y8CmhPqL60WaxZ

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • Critical and Creative Thinking: thinking about ties between herstory and current events and how black bodies are discussed as disposable. Forming thoughts that cross between herstory, political theory, media studies with an intersectional lens centering the African Diaspora and blackness.
  • Research Methods: Using various forms of media and approaches to the telling of story.
  • Develop communication skills–writing, speaking, and listening–through journal writing, longer form papers, in-class discussion, and in-class presentations
  • Connect current movements with the Black Panther Party, the life of Assata Shakur and the centuries-old traditions of radical black freedom organizing.
  • Articulate the politics of black liberation movements and a current intersectional ethos; thus affording an opportunity to think critically about the overlapping nature of social categories such as race, gender, sexuality, and class. (* modified outcome from Professor Frank Leon Roberts “We Could Be Free”: Approaching the Black Lives Matter Movement course at NYU Fall 2017)

COURSE AGREEMENTS

justin Will:

  1. Follow the course syllabus
  2. Read and grade papers in a timely manner (5 days max)
  3. Use google docs and Sakai
  4. Attend class on time
  5. Be at Office Hours
  6. Come to class prepared. Meaning…. justin will READ everything and WATCH everything BEFORE class.  

Student’s Will*:

  1. Submit all assignments when due. Late papers will not be accepted.  Assignments are due via email by 11:59pm of the date listed.
    1. Students who must travel to a college-sponsored event or field trip, such as athletes who will play away games off campus, are responsible for submitting assignments in advance if they will not be in class on the date the assignment is due.
    2. Use google docs for all assignments
    3. Make sure both your name and my name are on each assignment in the header and that all pages are numbered, double-spaced with one-inch margins, and emailed.
  2. Attend class
    1. If you are absent (unexcused) for more than three (3) class hours, your grade will be lowered. If you are absent for more than five (5) accumulated class-hours (excused or unexcused) you may fail the course.
      1. Tardies: Students are expected to arrive to class on time. Students more than five minutes late to class, or those who spend our class time actively engaged in activities that do not involve class instruction will be counted absent.
      2. Exceptions: Students who must travel to a college-sponsored event or field trip, such as athletes who will play away games off campus, are responsible for providing me, in advance, documentation noting the dates of these events.
      3. Excuses: Excused absences are those incurred because of illness, hospitalization, a death of an immediate family member, or other valid and verifiable reasons. Students MUST present documentation on the first day of their return to class.  It is your responsibility to arrange for the completion, in a timely manner, of any work that is missed.
  3. Come to class prepared. Meaning…. READ everything and WATCH everything BEFORE class.  

 

GRADING/EVALUATION PROCEDURES

You are guaranteed a B if you:

  • attend class regularly—not missing more than 3 classes;
  • meet due dates and writing criteria for all major assignments;
  • participate in all in-class discussions;
  • complete all journal assignments;
  • sustain effort and investment on each draft of all papers;
  • make substantive revisions between the draft and final paper—extending or changing the thinking or organization—not just editing or touching up;
  • attend office hours with me to discuss drafts;

Thus you earn the grade of B entirely on the basis of what you do—on your conscientious effort and participation. The grade of B does not derive from my judgment about the quality of your writing. Grades higher than B, however, do rest on my judgment of writing quality. To earn higher grades you must produce writing—particularly for your final paper—that I judge to be exceptionally high quality. You can also earn a grade higher than B by improving the quality of your writing over the course of the semester.

About grades lower than B

I hope no one will aim for these grades. The quickest way to C, D, or F is to miss classes and not turn in assignments. This much is non-negotiable: You are not eligible even for a passing grade of D unless you have attended at least 23 of the 28 class sessions and completed 90% of the assignments. And you can’t just turn in all the late work at the end. If you are missing classes and behind in work, please stay in touch with me about your chances of passing the course.

NOTE:  Students not officially registered for this class will not receive a grade.

Journal:

You will produce a journal for roughly every week (10 total). Your journal can be in any of the following formats: video, poetry, art, written. Each journal entry is expected to reflect on the materials for the week and how they apply to your life or the present day.

Your journals will cite specific passages or materials assigned that week and expound upon their significance. You are not required to have answers to questions that arise in your reading, instead, you are expected to explore and question how the materials we explored apply to your life.

Journals will be submitted via e-mail and will be graded holistically. I will look for an understanding of the materials and the expression of a healthy curiosity about the material and how it applies to today.

 

Class Participation*:

You are expected to participate actively in this course. I will note participation for each student at the end of each class session. However, quality is better than quantity. You should arrive prepared by exploring all materials and keeping your journals up to date.  

 

Documented Papers*:

You will produce two 8-10 page papers that include at least three (3) scholarly sources and proper MLA documentation. Each essay is supposed to use the materials from class and connect the past to the present.

Papers must cite at least 3 scholarly sources, not including the book, Assata: An Autobiography.  

You must deliver a draft of the paper prior to the final due date (as listed on the syllabus.) I will return your draft with comments by the next class session.

Your draft, and final paper must be submitted using google docs (you must turn comments on, so I can comment.)

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

Date Readings/Materials Topics/Assignments
Week 1 Introduction to the course
1/16
  • Affirmation, a poem

Expectations

Read Affirmation

Teacher/Student Relationship
1/18

EXTRA optional viewing:

 Intersectionality and Black Liberation

What does “Revolution” mean?
Week 2 Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army
1/23 Overview of the Black Panthers
1/25 10 Point Program

JOURNAL 1 DUE
Week 3 Black Panther Party (BPP) and Black Liberation Army (BLA)
1/30 Women in the Black Panther Party
2/1
  • Research BLA and answer the following questions (be prepared to discuss in class)
    • What were the 3 principles of the BLA?
    • Who made up the BLA?
    • What was the Message to the Black Movement?
    • What was the basic fact that the BLA starts from?
    • What can we apply today?
 Who and what was BLA?

JOURNAL 2 DUE
Week 4 What happened in New Jersey?
2/6
2/8
  • Chapter 1
 JOURNAL 3 DUE
Week 5 Assata’s Early Life
2/13
  • Chapter 2
2/15

Extra Optional Reading:

It is our duty to fight for our freedom

JOURNAL 4 DUE
Week 6 Do you like Chinese food?
2/20 Jr. High and being moved
2/22
  • Chapter 6
 Do you like Chinese food? A.K.A. work and adulting

JOURNAL 5 DUE
Week 7 Pregnant and In Prison
2/27 Love and Freedom

Draft for Paper 1 11:59pm
3/1

Optional Exploration:
Week 8 Influences of the time
3/6
  • Chapter 10
  • I am not your Negro (Watch at IDEAS Center 2/28 7pm)

Optional Viewing:

 Influences of the time
3/8 JOURNAL 6 DUE
Week 9
3/13
3/15

Optional Reading:

 PAPER 1 DUE 11:59pm
3/17-3/25 SPRING BREAK ——————————–
Week 10 Underground
3/27 Going underground
3/29 JOURNAL 7 DUE
Week 11 Freedom
4/3
4/5 Black life as disposable

JOURNAL 8 DUE
Week 12 US Cuban Relations
4/10
4/12

Guest:

Professor Barbara D. Riess

 JOURNAL 9 DUE
Week 13 US Cuban Relations
4/17

Optional Viewing:

Hands Off Assata Shakur
4/19 Connection of “Black Extremism” Past and Present

JOURNAL 10 DUE
Week 14 Assata Taught Me
4/24

Extra Optional Viewing:

 Black Lives Matter

Draft for Final Paper 11:59pm
4/26 What does “Assata Taught me mean”?
Week 15 The Assignment Continues
5/1 No Class – Cook-Lahti Scholars Symposium
5/8 FINAL DUE FINAL PAPER DUE 11:59pm

 

ASSATA: An Autobiography read on YouTube:

Chapter 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmmJQqf3uj0&t=2s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_HvCbf1XNk

Chapter 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7ZcvaY4FrY

Chapters 6-11,12: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBUk2K2jePmzdHIj6sjmkO2NzRptHrQve

*Acknowledgments:

Thank you to Professors Valerie Prince and Barbara Shaw in their sharing of their syllabi from previous courses. With their permission, some of their language has been used in parts of this syllabus. Some of the grading ideas come from A Unilateral Grading Contract to Improve Learning and Teaching by Peter Elbow and Jane Danielewicz. I also acknowledge Professor Frank Leon Roberts from NYU whos syllabus for “We Could Be Free”: Approaching the Black Lives Matter Movement helped me think through the learning outcomes for this course.

About justin

justin adkins is an educator, consultant, and life-coach living in Williamstown, MA. He worked in higher education for 14 years, most recently as Associate VP for Student Affairs at The College of Wooster (2020-2021) Previously justin was Associate Dean of Students in charge of conduct and Director of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, Social Justice (IDEAS) Center at Allegheny College (2016-2020) and former Interim Director of The Davis … Learn More...

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“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up in mine, then let us work together.” -Lila Watson justin has over 15 years of experience in life coaching, consulting,  leadership and anti-oppression based education in non-profit, educational, and religious organizations. He has led multicultural social justice based trainings in a variety of settings including social service … Learn More...

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ho·lis·tic - adjective \hō-ˈlis-tik\ Characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole. I have been a life coach, primarily working with 15-24 year olds, since 1999. I believe that everyone needs someone to bounce ideas off of and part of thriving is working with others to discover your full potential. Looking at life from a holistic approach we can discover new … Learn More...