Shaunteka L. Curry

Introduction and Rationale 

Poetry has long been a vessel for resistance, survival and liberation–especially within Black literary traditions. From the griots of West Africa, who served as communal historians and storytellers, to contemporary poets, oral and written traditions have carried forward knowledge, memory and legacy. This unit responds to a question raised by Alice Walker in her essay from In Search of Our Mothers Gardens: “ How was the creativity of the Black woman kept alive, year after year and century after century, when for most of the years Black people have been in America, it was a punishable crime for a Black person to read or write?” (1)

Aya: Poetry as a System of Resistance explores how Black poets across generations have used language to challenge oppression, reclaim narrative and transform poetry into a tool for freedom. Anchored in Afro-Cosmological traditions and guided by the Adinkra symbols Aya–the fern, representing endurance, resilience and self-determination– this unit traces the lineage of poetry’s radical legacy from the Harlem renaissance and the Black Arts movement to spoken word, hip-hop and slam poetry. (Willis 1998)

At the heart of this exploration is womanist poetics, a critical framework rooted in the literary and cultural contributions of Black women. Coined by Alice Walker, womanism centers on the holistic well-being and survival of Black communities and affirms Black women’s creative traditions as essential to cultural and political resistance. As Walker writes, “Black women are called into the folklore that so aptly identified one’s status in society ‘the mule of the world’ because we have been handed the burdens that everyone else refused to carry.”  

Womanist poetics honors spiritual, emotional, and ancestral legacies. Drawing from syncretic spirituality–blending Indigenous knowledge systems, African traditions, and Christianity–this framework aligns with the foundations of Afro-Cosmology (2) and celebrates Black women as powerful agents of cultural continuity and transformation. 

Through close readings, discussions and performances, students will analyze how language operates both as a critique of systemic oppression and as a space for self and communal discovery. They will examine how poets use counter-narratives to challenge social norms, disrupt linguistic hierarchies, and affirm the lived experiences of Black people– fostering inclusion and belonging in the classroom. (3)

Labels of “disruptors” and “agent of chaos” were inherently placed on male writers to maintain the dominate narrative. However, voices of transformation have often been women, particularly Black women, who have challenged oppressive systems and reclaimed narrative power through poetry. In this unit students will explore how language has been weaponized against marginalized communities and how poetry serves as a tool for reclamation and innovation.

Audre Lorde and Morgan Parker’s work can be used to examine the ways in which language structure and syntax have been used to disrupt traditional forms and celebrate diverse aspects of human experience.

“The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady & The Dead & the Truth” by Morgan Parker pays homage to the Charles Mingus masterpiece, “The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.” Mingus’s album was a combination of jazz, classical and African music all rolled into one. This merging of styles and genres challenged musical boundaries conveying themes of resilience and identity. Parker’s poem mirrors this innovation by dismantling traditional poetic forms and centering themes of resistance and self-definition. (4)(5) Students will come to see poetry as a bridge between the personal and the political, the historical and the contemporary. They will recognize themselves as both inheritors and creators of literary resistance. Through critical engagement and creative expression, this unit will empower students to see their own stories within a long-standing tradition of radical poetics, equipping them to use language as a force for justice and self-affirmation. (6)

Ultimately, Aya: Poetry as a System of Resistance invites every student—across identities and experiences—into a space where their cultural backgrounds are reflected and honored. By connecting poetry to universal themes of resilience, liberation, and identity, the unit fosters a sense of inclusion, belonging, and transformative possibility.

Demographics

I teach History at a magnet high school in Tulsa Oklahoma, on the city’s north side, blocks from the historic Greenwood District, home to Black Wall Street and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Our school serves a richly diverse student body: 29% Black, 25% Hispanic, 30% White, 3% Asian, 3% Native American, and 10% multiracial. Nearly half (49%) of our students are economically disadvantaged. As one of only two International Baccalaureate schools in the state, our school has the opportunity and responsibility to offer rigorous, inclusive, and culturally reflective education. 

This unit is designed to center Black history, identity and creative expression through the intersecting lens of womanism and Afro-cosmology. Celebrating the cultural makeup and lived experiences of our students, this unit honors narratives that historically sit in the margin. Poetry, specifically iterations like hip-hop, spoken word and slam, speaks to the youth of today making it accessible and an impactful medium for self-expression and critique.

More than a study of literature, this unit will bridge the gaps in the traditional curriculum. Research shows that less than 9% of classroom teacher time is spent on Black History, and when it is, it often centers a narrow list of figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman, overlooking the more complex and diverse contributions of Blackness to American culture and life. (7)

By incorporating historical and contemporary Black Poetics, this unit not only supplements what has been historically excluded –it transforms the classroom into a space of empowerment. It gives students, particularly those from underrepresented communities, the opportunity to critically analyze systems of oppression, reflect on their own identities, and imagine futures rooted in liberation and self-determination. (8)

This work then becomes communal, mattering not only to our students but to the entire community. Strengthening the social fabric of Tulsa and beyond is enhanced by the cultivation of informed, empathetic critical thinkers. When students see themselves and their stories reflected in the curriculum, they are more likely to become active participants in shaping a better tomorrow. (9)

Unit Content

Essential Questions

In the face of oppression… 

  • How does poetry serve as a tool for resistance and liberation? 
  • How does language shape our understanding of identity, culture and history? 
  • How do historical and cultural frameworks, such as Afro-Cosmology and Womanism, influence the creation and interpretation of Black poetry?
  • What is the role of resilience in the community fostering self-awareness and societal transformation through poetic expression?

Resilience and Resistance as Thematic Foundations in Black Poetry 

This unit will explore how Black poetry embodies resilience and resistance, drawing from the interconnectedness of the physical and spiritual as articulated in Afro-Cosmology. To ensure students have all the information needed for this unit, I would begin the learning with an Intro to Afro-Cosmology, (10) (11) West African Adinkra symbols, and how the foundations and principles connect to the global diaspora—using class time to familiarize students with the language of Adinkra. (12) Building foundational learning would take 2-3 class sessions, depending on the school schedule. The Adinkra symbol Aya (“the fern”) serves as a metaphor for enduring hardship and the confidence and internal resistance that comes from analyzing systems of oppression. Through this lens, students will examine poetry as a tool for survival and defiance, understanding how language and artistic expression sustain communities against socio-political forces. To illustrate poetry’s role in resistance, students will analyze “In Those Years” by Staceyann Chin (13) or “We Know this Place by Sunni Patterson. Chin’s poetry is rooted in autoethnography and highlights the resilience of black queer identity against colonial legacies and gender-based oppression, extending to students an opportunity to explore how personal narratives intersect with collective struggle. Deeply rooted in the traditions of spoken word and ancestral reverence, Sunni Patterson’s work offers a spiritual and historical mapping of Black survival. (14) Engaging with Patterson’s rhythmic invocations, the students will examine how the oral tradition preserves cultural identity and affirms communal resilience. These initial texts will help students recognize poetry as a form of artistic defiance and a living archive of black resistance and spiritual endurance. 

Language as a Vehicle for Historical and Societal Critique

Building on Audre Lorde’s assertion in Sister Outsider (15)that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,” this section delves into how poets use language to critique 

societal structures and historical inequities. Language has historically been weaponized for the benefit of control and intentional manipulation of narratives that affect marginalized communities. (16) Examining Lorde’s essay will help students understand that language and how language is used should not be the way in which marginalized communities identify themselves. However, through womanist poetics, students will examine how poets reclaim language as a means of subversion, reclamation, and empowerment.

To examine how language challenges dominant narratives and amplifies marginalized voices, students will engage with select poems from Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Nights by Morgan Parker, Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni and ‘Dark Thing’ by Ashley Jones. Parker’s work is particularly useful in illustrating how contemporary poets use irony, cultural critique, and personal narrative to confront the -isms and commodification of black culture. (17) Nikki Giovanni’s poetry is known for being a radical love-centered form of activism; her intimate use of language will explore how poetic language fosters personal and political liberation. (18) Ashley Jones’s poetry challenges poetic form in this collection by deconstructing the traditional poetic form of sonnets, hailed as the finest kind of poetry. Jones challenges the rules of academia by intentionally breaking form. (19) Parker and Giovanni’s work connects historical movements, such as civil rights and Black art, to contemporary social justice issues, including media representation. Ensuring that each section builds on the next, students can analyze Chin, Patterson, and Parker’s work as an embodiment of Giovanni’s radical love-centered activism. 

Poetic Expression through Communal Interconnectedness 

Poetry as a medium of expression provides a pathway to self-awareness and understanding one’s place in society, grounding itself in the Afro-cosmological belief of individuals and their communities being one. This concept encourages students to explore poetry’s function beyond self-expression, positioning it within a communal and historical continuum. In Search of Our Mother’s Garden by Alice Walker and Dictionary: A Collection of Poems by Sharea Harris are critical texts exploring how poetic language encourages personal reflection and deeper appreciation of cultural heritage.(20) Students will examine how these authors use poetry to bridge personal narrative with communal storytelling, understanding poetry as a reflection of individual experience and broader social dialogue.(21) Walker’s essays and poetry serve as foundational readings on the intersection of black womanism and spirituality, illustrating how individual expression ties to collective communal healing. Harris’s work, with its in-depth exploration of linguistic deconstruction and reimagining of language, challenges traditional poetic forms while remaining deeply rooted in Black cultural memory. 

Interconnectedness 

This unit is designed to do more than introduce students to Black Poetry- it provides them with a framework for understanding how language functions as resistance, critique, and cultural preservation. Authors and writers like Walker, Harris, Chin and many more, provide examples of poetry as a reflection of lived experiences and a tool for change. With close readings, discussions and creative writing exercises, students will analyze poetic form and work to develop their voice and style of writing within the black literary lineage. This unit at its core is built on the principles of womanist poetics, to challenge societal norms, deconstruct systems of oppression and preserve cultural memory by nurturing a personal and communal understanding. Teachers guiding this unit should approach it with a strong grasp of these foundations, ensuring that students not only study poetry but also experience its power.

Theoretical Frameworks for Resistance Poetics

1. Womanism/Africana Womanism (Walker, 1983) (Weems, 1993) 

Womanism centers the experiences and literary activism of Black women, emphasizing communal care and radical love as forms of resistance. Alice Walker defines womanism as a social theory deeply rooted in the racial and gender-based oppression of Black women. It extends beyond feminism to include the cultural, spiritual, and emotional well-being of the entire community. Poets like Nikki Giovanni exemplify this through poetics that advocate for radical love as a communal force. This framework encourages students to explore how Black women’s literature serves as a site for cultural reclamation and empowerment. (22) (23) (24)

2. Afro-Cosmology (Mbiti, 1970) (Karenga, 1994) 

Afro Cosmology is the study of African Spiritual traditions, their systems of belief and understanding of the Universe, and one’s place within it. (25) African Spiritual traditions emphasize the interconnectedness of all things, a reverence for nature, and the cyclical nature of time. This theoretical framework calls for a balance between one’s collective identity (communal) and responsibility as a member of society (Who we are in the community) and one’s personal identity (individual) and responsibility to the self (Who we are as a person). (26) These ways of being are evident in the oral traditions of poets like Sunni Patterson, who invoke ancestral memory and spiritual rituals in her work. By engaging in Afro-Cosmology, students will understand the spiritual and cultural dimensions of Black poetry as a means of resistance and self-defining.

3. Adinkra Symbolism: 

West African Adinkra symbols are visual symbols that originated from the Akan people of Ghana, that communicate proverbs, aphorisms and concepts relating to death, wisdom and human behavior. Integrating these symbols into the unit highlights the strength and perseverance of the Black poetic traditions. Adinkra is a visual connection to cultural past debunking the lack of written communication affirming the spirit of resilience. This framework reinforces the idea that poetry serves as a living archive of resistance and cultural heritage. (27)

4. Linguistic Reclamation (Lorde)

Linguistic reclamation is a method that examines how oppressed communities reclaim or take back language as a form of resistance. Discussions of the power dynamics in language and redefining the uses of language are at the foundation of Audre Lorde’s work. Poets like Morgan Parker and Sharea Harris employ non-traditional syntax to undermine language hierarchies to challenge societal norms. Examining these linguistic strategies will help students understand how language can be both a tool of oppression and a means of liberation. (28) (29)

Suggested Student Reading Bibliography

Stacey Ann Chin Other Side Paradise 

Morgan Parker Other’s People’s Comfort Keep Me up at Night

Audre Lorde The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House, Sister Outsider 

Nikki Giovanni Love Poems 

Alice Walker In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens

Sunni Patterson We know this Place

Sharea Harris Dictionary a Collection of Poems

Suggested Teacher Reading 

Audre Lorde The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House

Audre Lorde Uses of the Erotic

Alice Walker In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens

John Mbiti African Religions and Philosophy (Intro and Chapters 1-2)

Teaching Strategies 

Younger generations crave authentic learning experiences that challenge traditional classroom structures. In the information age, culturally relevant learning explicitly curated for the students in your learning environment allows for integration. There are plenty of methods and strategies available to teach this unit; however, for the highest success rate with student engagement, the following suggested strategies will incorporate the whole student experience while challenging their intellectual prowess: persona poetry, body as a site for resistance (30), and verse journalism.

Verse Journalism

Verse journalism is a method that fuses poetic structure with news reporting- giving each student a chance to thoroughly examine current events and build up their writing style. Born out of the Gwendolyn Brooks school of thought to offer respite to the feeling of apathy. This principle of engaging with social issues allows students to connect with factual information, trending/viral content and personal narratives, encouraging research, sensory and emotional reflection. Poetry as a form of journalism helps student interest by forcing them to think in new pathways of expression.

Body as a Site of Resistance 

“Without community there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary truce between an individual and their oppression….” Here Audre Lorde deeply embodies the remembrance that survival is not just a mental exercise. For those living outside society’s narrow definitions of acceptability, survival means learning to stand alone, to make meaning alongside others marked as “different,” and to turn our differences into collective strength. When Lorde delivered these ideas at The Personal and the Political conference, the term somatic memory theory had not entered into popular discourse. While memory and theory were familiar concepts, “somatic” was still largely confined to academic spaces, as scholars worked to connect movement and healing. Today, those once-separate ideas—body, memory, and learning—merge into an approach that sees the body not just as a vessel for knowledge, but as a site of resistance, storytelling, and truth-telling. (31)

This curriculum draws from a fusion of womanist theory, drama therapy, Theatre of the Oppressed, and somatic practices rooted in trauma research. At its core, it centers embodied learning, collective care, and cultural memory. It challenges the notion that knowledge lives only in the mind. In a classroom that interrogates oppression with the same vigor it uplifts liberation, students must be invited to think and feel with their whole selves.

Poetry as Embodied Witnessing: Performance poetry is introduced not as a spectacle, but as an act of witnessing—personal, historical, and communal. Students learn that voice, gaze, movement, and stillness have long been tools of resistance in Black, Indigenous, and diasporic traditions. In this classroom, poetry is a living archive. Each session begins with a grounding ritual—breathing, silence, or affirmation—designed to foster presence and trust. An affirmation like “My voice is the matter that gives my story power” honors griot traditions and the oral legacies of the Black church. These opening moments build rhythm, community, and intention.

The session closes with reflection or a gratitude practice, reinforcing shared space and emotional awareness. Students are encouraged to reflect not only on the content but how it moved through their bodies. Prompts such as “Where in your body do you carry anger? Joy? Liberation?” help students locate meaning in sensation, anchoring emotional experiences in physical awareness.

Creating a Culture of Care: To implement this framework effectively, educators must cultivate a classroom rooted in emotional safety, mutual respect, and shared responsibility. Vulnerability must be modeled. Use group-based creation before solo performance. Share your own story. Offer alternative modes of expression—gesture, drawing, music—for students who may not yet have the words to describe what they feel. These practices especially support young men of color, whose emotional expression is often policed or silenced. In this space, vulnerability is reframed as courage and leadership.

Performance as Power: As students build comfort, they begin to co-create. Group poems begin with a single line and grow into a community offering. “We Are” or “I am” poems allow each student to affirm their place within the collective identity. Performance options can be varied—seated, whispered, full-bodied, however the goal is to ensure that each student knows that space is being held for them in the moment of sharing. Assessment then prioritizes clarity, emotional depth, and intention over volume or memorization. Reflection is essential. Questions such as “How did it feel to be seen and heard?” and “What did movement help you understand?” shift students from judgment to awareness. These reflections are connected to cultural practices—Black church oratory, protest chants, ancestral mourning rituals—that use body and voice as vehicles for both grief and resistance.

A Radical Reclamation: This approach centers on womanist poetics, where community and care are non-negotiable. It counters the hyper-labeling students endure—hyper-masculine, hyper-feminine, hyper-emotional—by offering them tools to connect with their full humanity. For students, especially students of color, whose bodies are often sites of discipline or danger, this strategy helps reclaim the body as a site of power, memory and possibility. By integrating the physical with the emotional and intellectual, this teaching strategy makes room for the wholeness of our students.  To know that their experiences matter. That their stories hold power. And that resistance, like memory, lives in the body.

Persona Poetry

Persona poetry is a poetic form where the speaker or “I” in the poem is a fictional character or alter ego, rather than the poet’s own self. In Theatre persona poetry embodies the dramatic monologue, where the speaker is addressing someone or something outside of themselves. Using Persona poetry will promote indulgences into a large voice or perspective, meaning empathy and unique expression.

Classroom Activities

Verse Journalism 

Students will pick new stories of interest; this can be a national or global or local event, but it is far more effective when the topic is something the student feels personally connected to. Noteworthy examples include climate justice, political protest and social movements. Providing thematic guidance for the students narrows their focus encouraging them to choose; this can be done with one or two themes per week.

After selecting a topic, students will gather information from at least one source around their chosen topic: news articles, photo news, and short clips. The goal is for students to interact with multiple perspectives and learn something different from each source. Selecting reputable and varied sources, including mainstream news outlets, independent news outlets, or first-hand narratives increases the information students are exposed to, helping them develop a nuanced understanding of media literacy. Taking notes on a graphic organizer structures the student learning extending a visual for the recommended use of the 5 W’s: Who is involved? What is happening? When is it happening? Where is it taking place? Why is this event occurring? (What is the historical and political context?) How did it happen? (32) Comprehension of the facts opens the emotional and sensory dimensions of the event. It is essential for deep engagement with social-emotional learning and for journalistic information to transform the students’ ideas of what journalism is and what it can do.

After students have taken notes, prompts to engage the emotional weight of the events, the prompts will check for what has been observed from the sources, facts of what is there and what is missing. Prompts can be: How do the people affected feel? What emotions are experienced while researching and reflecting on an event? Persuading students to examine these emotions fosters empathy and allows them to create an authentic and layered response in their writing. Guiding students through a sensory analysis helps them bring the event to life. Consider asking them what this event might look like: What sounds would accompany this event? What emotions are physically felt? The details gathered can transform abstract news into vivid personal storytelling.

Structuring the narrative- students can begin crafting their verse pieces with research and sensory details in place. While poetry allows for flexibility in structure, setting clear expectations ensures students remain focused on blending factual accuracy with poetic expression and structuring the poems in limericks and sonnets using oxymorons or simile to enhance the language. This writing is personal therefore lived experience should tell the story. Students want to create thought provoking experiences that present immersive arguments. Use intentional word choice- each word should contribute to meaning, tone or emotion; if not all three. We want to develop our voice in this exercise. Students choose how to approach their perspective: for example, will they write from POV, take a direct and urgent tone, and balance emotion with factual info? These perspectives offer students inspiration and structural models to follow.

Finally, students will use the rewrite, revision, and performance methods. Once students complete the first draft, the revision process should focus on clarity in writing. Peer to peer feedback is a strategy that lets students engage with each other by providing constructive feedback based on selected prompts: “what figurative language or poetic device could be used to help the writing?” Introducing this learning strategy to students can foster deeper connections with critical thinking and media literacy while promoting social awareness. This strategy illustrates how literature, history, and contemporary issues can effectively intersect to create interdisciplinary classrooms.

Persona Poetry

Using this method, students will tell their stories and accept other people’s feelings, experiences, and worldviews. Restricting how and when to use “I” is a key component of this approach because it considerably helps ease visual interaction and more subtle narratives. This teaching activity encourages students to think critically about those in their lives. Those who’ve made an impact, said or done something to make them think differently. Poetry from Audre Lorde, June Jordan or work from any spoken word artist to provide examples. Require students to choose a character urging them to think of influential as someone inside their community to provide a counter narrative to influential people being outside of their immediate grasp. For example, a historical person, a news event participant, a teacher, a member of the religious community, a literary character, an inanimate object, or a natural force, all suitable to inhabit as subjects in persona poetry. Students will write about a personal experience from the chosen person’s perspective. The writing exercise can be a timed exercise during class to promote an authentic engagement with the work. After the writing assignment has been completed, presenting and reflecting on their experience builds the connection to the work and the people involved. Adding chaos to the presentation would be to allow students to present their poems by recitation, movement or dramatization. Removing the requirement to read poems engages student creativity and curiosity. How is it a poem if not written? The objective is to create a counter narrative to written form as poem/poetry challenging the narrative through methods of delivery. These methods and activities are noted extensively in the Body as a Site of Resistance. These teaching activities incorporate participation and cooperative learning circles that create community and circles of closure for all participants.

Adinkra Symbol Phrase Project

Students will create a unique personal phrase inspired by Adinkra symbols that reflects your own values, beliefs, or aspects of your cultural identity. This project will help you connect with African symbolic traditions while exploring what you stand for or want to represent. Students will review Adinkra symbols and meanings, noting meanings, origin and messages they convey and create a short phrase that encapsulates their chosen personal beliefs or values. Once students have chosen the symbols, they will explain why the symbol was chosen, how it connects to the values or beliefs and the significance to who they want to be. This project is designed to encourage students to reflect on their values and self-identity through the lens of traditional African symbolism.

Bibliography

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Cobb, Floyd, and John Krownapple. Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity: The Keys to Successful Equity Implementation. San Diego, CA: Mimi & Todd Press, 2019. https://www.allbookstores.com/Belonging-Through-Culture-Dignity-The/9781950089024.

Courpasson, David, Steven Vallas, Erynn Masi de Casanova, and Afshan Jafar. “The Body as a Site of Resistance.” In The SAGE Handbook of Resistance, 139–55. 55 City Road, London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957947.

Dalavai, V. R. “Maya Angelou: From Struggle to Strength – A Voice for Liberation.” Shodhkosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, 2022. https://www.granthaalayahpublication.org/Arts-Journal/ShodhKosh/article/view/1603/108.

Hammond, Zaretta L. Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Publishers, 2014.

Harris, Sharea. Dictionary. Baltimore, MD: Asherah House, 2016.

Hunt, Erica. “Notes for an Oppositional Poetics.” In The Politics of Poetic Form: Poetry and Public Policy, 13–28. New York, NY: Roof Books, 1986.

Karenga, Maulana. “Black Religions.” In Introduction to Black Studies, 3rd ed., 233–80. Los Angeles, CA: University of Sankore Press, 2002.

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Appendix for Implementing District Standards

African American Studies

AAS.1: Examine the origins and development of African Civilizations, including the impact of oral traditions, art, and written literature.

AAS.5: Analyze the Harlem Renaissance and the contributions of African American writers, poets, and musicians in shaping American culture.

AAS.7: Evaluate the impact of the civil rights movement on literature, music, and other forms of cultural expression.

AAS.9: Explore the contemporary role of African Americans in literature, music, film, and social activism.

U. S. History

USH.1.1: Analyze the social, political, and economic transformations that shaped America in the early 20th century, including the Harlem Renaissance.

USH.4.3: Examine how the Civil Rights Movement influences American society and culture, including the contributions of African American artists and intellectuals.

World History

WH.6.1: Evaluate the impact of imperialism, colonization, and decolonization on global societies.

ELA

Reading and Critical Thinking

10.3.R.7: Analyze how historical and cultural contexts influence literary works.

11.3.R.6: Evaluate how authors use structure, style, and rhetorical devices to convey messages and perspectives.

12.3.R.7: Analyze and evaluate how literature reflects and challenges social norms, cultural values, and historical movements.

Writing and Creative Expression

10.3.W.3: Write narrative and poems that convey personal experience, emphasize meaning and use figurative language.

11.3.W.4: Write arguments that analyze texts and articulate claims supported by evidence and reasoning.

Skills: Speaking, Listening and Performance

12.1.L.3: Deliver presentations using effective voice, eye contact, and gestures, appropriate for audience and purpose.

Notes

1.    Walker 1983

2.  Karenga 2002

3.  Cobb &   Krownapple 2019

4.  Parker 2018

5.  Hunt 1986

6.  Cobb & Krownapple 2019

7.  LaGarret 2017

8.  Hammond 2015

9.  Cobb & Krownapple 2019

10. Karenga 2002

11. Mbiti 

12. Adinkrasymbols.org

13. Chin 2019

14. Patterson 2023

15. Lorde 1983

16. Bryan/Penton-Herrera 2022

17. Parker 2019 

18. Giovanni 1997

19. Ruth 2019 

20. Harris 2016 

21.  Courpasson 2016 

22.  Weems 1993 

23. Lorde 1987 

24. Walker 1981

25. Karenga 1994

26. Mbiti 1969 

27. Willis 1998

28. Lorde 1981

29. Wyatt 2020

30. Boal 1974

31.  Lorde 1987

32.  Mar/HMH conference