Step 1: Start by reading Angela Davis’s “I Used to

Step 1:

Start by reading Angela Davis’s “I Used to be Your Sweet Mama,” a chapter from Blues Legacies and Black Feminism.

Step 2:

Watch my short, 19-minute lecture on this African American female blues singers and the Harlem Renaissance.

Here’s the link to watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGAcjvSDPFM

Step 3: Inspirational History!

Watch this excellent video about Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star.

Step 4:

Watch my online lecture combing a discussion of the Great Depression and World War II.

Part 1: 

Here’s the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/xMGKfQu08mQ

Part 2:

Here’s the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/igcymFAjYio

Guiding questions:

As always, take notes during the online lectures. These questions are here to guide you through the main ideas, to help you focus. You do not have to answer all of them as you go (there are a lot this week, I realize), but answering them will help you do better on the qui.z! 

1. How did Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and other women blues artists challenge the gender roles of the 20’s? In what ways did blues contradict and challenge the mainstream ideological notion that a women’s “place” was in the domestic sphere?
2. What did blues musicians like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey say about sexuality in their music? What do their songs tell you about lesbianism and homophobia in the black community?
3. Why did hostility toward working women increase during the Great Depression?
4. In what ways did the New Deal policies of Franklin Roosevelt’s administration institutionalized gender and race-based discrimination?
5. What was UCAPAWA? What was Mexican American women’s role in UCAPAWA?
6. How did women who served in the military during World War II challenge traditional gender and sexual norms?
7. How did the employment of white women in factories during World War II compare to that of women of color?
8. How did the zoot suit subculture influence the lives of young Mexican American women during World War II?
9. Lastly, how were the lives of Japanese American women disrupted during World War II?

Bonus Content:

This is a good short video describing Iconic Pachuca Looks, which I talk about in my lecture on World War II.

Here’s a song by Bob Dylan dedicated to George Jackson, who I reference in my short lecture on blues music.

Lastly, here are a few books about the experiences of Japanese American women (and men) during World War II. I know it’s time consuming and you’re all very busy, but you could also get extra credit for reading these.

Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone is a memoir about her experiences growing up Japanese American in Seattle in the 1920s and 1930s, and her experiences being sent to an internment camp during the 1940s.

Silver Like Dust by Kimi Cunningham Grant. In this memoir, as the author, who is biracial — Japanese and White — is trying to understand her Japanese heritage better, she asks her Japanese American grandmother, Obaachan, about her experiences being interned during World War II. 

Citizen 13660 by Miné Okubo is a graphic memoir about about what life was like in the internment camps. It was originally published in 1946, the year after the end of World War II.

Answer this one question making sure, as always, to cite all of the required content (reading, blues lecture and lecture on the 1930s-1940s).

What did you find particularly exciting, interesting, or challenging about the assigned content this week? 

Again, please remember to cite all of the required content.

Your initial discussion post should be at least 250 words, you should answer all questions, and your responses to the discussion should be thoughtful and not too brief — i.e. “me too” and “I agree” do not suffice as adequate responses. Your responses should be at minimum 50 words.