Week 14 Project Action Plan: Baldwin

Topic: “Choose one short story or novel excerpt. Write a piece in which you explore the following: In what ways could this story be considered an artifact of history? What does this story teach us about history? How does a story teach us about a time or place differently than a history book”.

Reading: James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son” (735-750)

I am doing this one because it is a good reading to dive into this topic, history-wise. In this reading, we see a little bit of the history of racial discrimination. My reading notes on this story should help and that is why I choose this even with how recent of a story this reading we did was. I am doing this one because it terms of being an artifact of history, it can be considered one based on the link to historical events. This story teaches us about history through the feelings and clear connection to social and political events. This one teaches us differently because it gives more feeling than fact, even if fiction.

Social and political event:

1)      race riots that took over Detroit in June 1943

2)      African Americans were leaving the south in search of better freedom and welcoming cities to them

3)      Racial Discrimination

Some quotes that can be used (may not necessarily use when I write the project submission):

1)      “I declined to believe  in that apocalypse which had been central to my father’s vision; very well, life seemed to be saying, here is something that will certainly pass for an apocalypse until the real thing comes along” (737)

2)      “The only white people who came to our house were welfare workers and bill collectors. It was almost always my mother who dealt with them, for my father’s temper, which was at the mercy of his pride, was never to be trusted. It was clear that he felt their presence in his home to be a violation” (739)

3)      “I knew about the south, of course, and about how southerners treated Negroes and how they expected them to behave but it had never crossed my mind that anyone would look at me and expect me to behave that way. I learned in New Jersey that to be a Negro meant, precisely, that one was never looked at but was simply at the mercy of the reflexes  the color of one’s skin caused in other people” (740)

These quotes are good links to the time and the events that happened during this time.

Argument Attempt:

·         This story is considered an artifact of history because of the clear links to history and the feelings that it allows the readers to connect to.