Reflection of my Text Set

The literature that I chose to read about and focus my final project on is African American literature. There were many reasons as to why I chose to focus my study on this cultural group. The main reason for choosing African American literature is because next year I will be placed in either Mount Clemons or Detroit area school districts, both of which are predominantly African American students along with many other cultural groups. With this in mind, I thought it would be extremely beneficial to become educated with this multicultural group of study. Since I grew up in a small town, 99% being white population, I have never really been introduced to young adult and children’s literature from other cultures. Since African American is going to be predominant within my future school districts I wanted to read these books with the inside authors to gain more experience and knowledge working with this underrepresented cultural group. Since building a classroom library is crucial to my student’s academic career I need to gain a foundational knowledge of working with African American literature at both children and young adult literature level.
Another reason I chose this cultural group to study further because I wanted to become educated in the history of it as well. I believe I do not even come close in carrying a sufficient amount of knowledge about the history of African American’s, let alone what is an accurate and authentic portrayal of this underrepresented group. Through the professional article, I was able to gain a better understanding of it is not just about fulfilling one aspect of the group, it is about having a complete and overall correct portrayal and presentation without major discrepancies. Just through my text set I was able to gain more, but still not sufficient, information about this cultural group because never before have I been introduced or educated on what is a correct depiction of African Americans. For me, it is about carrying an overall correct image of what my students should be getting out of reading such literature and by doing this project I have been able to understand what African American literature entailed. I have a great length of research and investigation to go to be a sufficient provider of this type of literature to my students. It is not only for me, but I did this mainly for my future students so I am able to be a more sufficient and well-rounded teacher for all of my students, not just in one subject matter.
My text set contains a wide range of themes and purposes; when choosing these books I wanted to try and gain an overall image through using insiders’ points of views and perspectives of each of these subject matters. Each of the books relates to the authors own life in one way or another, and through that I am able to gain a deeper perceptive of the book and the meaning that goes on behind the text. A theme that seemed to be relevant in 3 out of my 4 books was historical fiction. Each of these books had some kind of history, or historical figure throughout the text. I believe the reason for choosing these historical pieces were a way to become educated in not just African American literature, but through the history behind it all as well. The history of slaves, Harriet Tubman, racism, jobs (cotton) and different historical figures/heroes that play a role in many lives throughout history has taught me that this an extreme weakness of mine and in being a future educator I need to buckle down and become knowledgeable in the different aspects that may be playing a role in all of my students’ lives. The book Visiting Day was also a great way to show the use of troubling issues within children’s text as well. Some children struggle with the lose of a family member and having to visit them in prison; I believe this book is a great way for students going through the same kind of situations to be able to relate to. Even though I thought there were some different stereotypes that played a role throughout the text, it still had an overall good theme of unconditional love for your family. Also since it was through an insider’s perspective, once reading the author’s note I was able to gain a better understanding as to why she included certain things within this text as well. When choosing my books I didn’t have in mind that I wanted to keep with up with the historical aspect of African American culture and literature, but reflecting on my text set as a whole I am able to see that I unconsciously chose books that centered around that theme and I believe I became more educated within this cultural group by doing so.
Overall, I believe my text set does an excellent job representing the African American culture, even with some common stereotypes here and there. In McLean’s article about homosexuality stereotypes he really brought out a good point that has stuck with me when thinking of stereotypes, “However, stereotypes frequently embody some truth and another fact is that some gays and lesbians do fit those stereotypic images” (McLean, pg 194) Even though this is about gays and lesbians, I believe it still fits with the idea that there is some truth behind stereotypes, and with that I was able to learn about the African American culture in that sense as well. I really enjoyed this project in realizing how much time and effort I need to start making in becoming more educated in different cultural areas so I am able to meet all of my students wants and needs within my future classroom.