Session Materials

Assigned reading:

Du Bois, W.E.B. 1903. “The Forethought,” and “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” In The Souls of Black Folk, Global Grey (pp.1-10)
Harris, Cheryl. 1993. “Whiteness as Property” Harvard Law Review (select excerpts)

The lecture will cover the introduction and main arguments of the chapter. You are only responsible for reading the following pages from Section II.D and Section III (pp. 1737-1756) Screen Shot 2022-04-08 at 4.29.15 PM.png

Things to look for/take away from the reading:

W.E.B DU BOIS: In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Du Bois examines the Reconstruction period in the US in the early years following the Civil War (1865-1877). You have access to only required to read the preface ("Forethought") and first essay ("Of Our Spiritual Striving," pp 1-10), the first two essays in a much longer book that offers a window into race relations and everyday experiences in the US shortly after the end of the Civil War and is a seminal work to the discipline of sociology.

What to look for/take away from the reading:

The two assigned segments of the book are short but speak volumes to issues of race and racisms at a particular moment in US history. This is a good text to practice "close reading" skills
For "Forethought," focus on the first two paragraphs, combing over each line carefully to note what is explicitly stated in terms of the purpose and approach and think about what is implied or assumed in terms of the reader and their understanding of contemporary issues of race and racisms.
In contrast to Stuart Hall these concepts are not in bold or italicized as part of a well-developed discipline theory for studying race and racisms but rather at the forefront of forging the very field of study of race itself.
- For both "Forethought" and "Of Our Spiritual Striving," try to locate any ideas, concepts, or ways of framing issues of race and racism that seem to emerge and define them in your own terms.

CHERYL HARRIS

The reading is an example of the type of scholarship used in law school, so the objectives are to learn more about US history of legal segregation as well as get an idea of how legal scholars such as Harris use CRT as analytical lens.

As you read Section II.D, take notes on where and how Harris uses concepts from Du Bois to analyze race.
- How does she apply and build on those earlier foundational ideas?
- What does it add to your understanding about the relationship between race and property?
You will not be expected to know each specific term or details around specific case studies but may find it helpful to “map out” the article by creating an outline in your notes:
- Label each section from the assigned excerpts and skim through to highlight passages that you think might illustrate different elements of the main concept: “Whiteness as property” (we will cover the concept in more detail in class; ahead of time, try to "guess" what the concept means as part of Harris' main argument about the relationship between race and property. Some guiding questions:
  - What might her objective be in using this concept to analyze legal rulings on racial segregation?
  - How does Harris' analysis deepen our understanding of the role of race in law and society?
  - What might Harris' analysis add to our understanding around the limits of civil rights?

The slides and zoom recording from the meeting will be embedded on this page as soon as the Zoom recording is available (usually within 1-2 hours following our scheduled meeting).

.PDF of Lecture Slides: ANTH 21_F22_10_11_CRT FOUNDATIONS.pdf

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