Go There To Know There

My name is Julie L. Lester. I am an Assistant Professor of African American Literature and Composition at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis, Tennessee. My dissertation engaged the work of Zora Neale Hurston and its influence on Caribbean writers of Speculative and Science Fiction, the inimitable Nalo Hopkinson, and Erna Brodber. I graduated with my Ph.D. in African American Literature from the University of Memphis in 2011 under the sage guidance of Dr. Reginald Martin, Ph.D. Being very evidently Caucasian, one of the first, and (obviously) unavoidable questions my students ask me is why I chose African American Literature as my specialty. My response is that I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. My parents, John and Willene Lester, both educators in their own rights, grew up in Neshoba County, Mississippi. As a young person, I grew up relishing the aroma of fresh cornbread and turnip greens, fried chicken, pole beans, boiled peanuts, collards, fresh corn, molasses,...

On April 25th, 2012, I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying my English 2650 (African American Literature) class from Southwest Tennessee Community College, on a field trip to the National Civil Rights Museum located at the historic Lorraine Motel. We were able to tour the museum, which included the hotel room shared by Dr. Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy shortly before King's assassination on April 4, 1968. Below are a few photographs I took of the event.  One of the most iconic signs of African American--and American History. My students, Yram Sikes and Holly Melcalf. Lauren and Holly meeting me at the Museum. Stacy Scott, Terrika Finnie, Holly Metcalf, Tamarly Eatmon, Patricia Tia, Van Taylor, Lauren Rose, Nakisha Vaxter, Yram Sikes, Whitney Phipps, and Marvin Mcneal.  Lauren Rose. A perfect, candid moment. Wreath that marks the site where Dr. King was murdered. Jaqueline Smith continues her protest against the b...

Wait till I light up my coal-pot and I'll tell you about this Zigaboo called Jelly. Well, all right now. He was a sealskin brown and papa-tree-top-tall. Skinny in the hips and solid built for speed. He was born with this rough-dried hair, but when he laid on the grease and pressed it down overnight with his stocking-cap, it looked just like that righteous moss, and had so many waves you got seasick from looking. Solid, man, solid! His mama named him Marvel, but after a month on Lenox Avenue, he changed all that to Jelly. How come? Well, he put it in the street that when it came to filling that long-felt need, sugarcuring the ladies' feelings, he was in a class by himself and nobody knew his name, so he had to tell 'em. "It must be Jelly, 'cause jam don't shake." Therefore, his name was Jelly. That was what...

English 2650 Section 201 Spring 2012 African American Literature Essay I So far this semester, we have read and discussed some of the key literary and creative productions of African Americans in the New World. We have encountered the trickster figure and the ‘signifying’ functions of the African American folktales and songs; the spiritual and gospel forms that provided solace and masking functions for the slave and his descendants; and we have looked at examples of early African American biography’s antecedents in the Slave Narrative, beginning with Olaudah Equiano. These texts convey to us many of the prevailing themes and preoccupations that attended the African American struggle for freedom, recognition, and civil rights in the years leading up to the turn of the twentieth century. For this first formal essay, you are to choose at least one text that we have covered so far, and analyze that text in accordance with one (or two) of the themes we have covered. Your essay should be ...

Clotel, Or The President's Daughter by William Wells Brown is the author's fictionalized account of Sally Hemings, the woman alleged to have borne children to President Thomas Jefferson. The novel imagines the plight of Hemings whose fictional counterpart is Currer and her daughter Clotel. While the novel exposes many of the systemic hypocrisies and injustices of slavery, as well as the plague of prejudice that infested the northern, free states at the time, Clotel examines many of the social conventions and practices that attended the Peculiar Institution. Among these and most apparent is the dramatic scene of the Slave Auction, where many a family was torn apart. Older slaves were transformed in appearance to give the impression of youth and vitality to a potential buyer; mothers were separated from children; and young "Quadroon" women were in high demand by white males to become 'seamstresses,' 'laundresses,' and 'governesses,' while suf...

Students: If you are interested, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has an excellent website called Documenting the American South . At this site, you can access full-text of Frederick Douglass's narrative, My Bondage and My Freedom . Here, I have excerpted a portion from the Covey episode, pages 223-232. Thanks! CHAPTER XVI. ANOTHER PRESSURE OF THE TYRANT'S VICE. EXPERIENCE AT COVEY'S SUMMED UP--FIRST SIX MONTHS SEVERER THAN THE SECOND--PRELIMINARIES TO THE CHANGE--REASONS FOR NARRATING THE CIRCUMSTANCES--SCENE IN THE TREADING YARD--AUTHOR TAKEN ILL--UNUSUAL BRUTALITY OF COVEY--AUTHOR ESCAPES TO ST. MICHAEL'S--THE PURSUIT--SUFFERING IN THE WOODS--DRIVEN BACK AGAIN TO COVEY'S--BEARING OF "MASTER THOMAS"--THE SLAVE IS NEVER SICK--NATURAL TO EXPECT SLAVES TO FEIGN SICKNESS--LAZINESS OF SLAVEHOLDERS. THE foregoing chapter, with all its horrid incidents and shocking features, may be taken as a fair representation of the first six months o...

Remember that if you are interested in earning extra credit, you may earn up to ten additional points on your First formal essay if you elect to speak. If you would like to read a short poem or excerpt from a larger work, let me know and I will pass that on to the coordinator. THE TWENTY-THIRD NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN READ-IN SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FEBRUARY 20, 2012 Southwest Tennessee Community College will host the African American Read- In at 12:00 noon on every campus. Please contact the campus coordinators if you wish to volunteer to do a reading! Let’s make this a great success! Please encourage your students to participate. This is a come-and-go or drop-in event so join us as we listen to students and faculty read excerpts from the works of their favorite African-American writers and speakers. Thank you! ***COME TO THE LIBRARY FOR RESOURCES***  Ron Claxton: Gill Center, Library-X5970 rclaxton@southwest.tn.edu  MaLinda F. Wade: Union, Parri...