LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake, fall 2001
Student Research Proposal

Tara Edwards

For my research paper, I would like to develop further the idea of education in the African American works that I started in my mid-term assignment. I want to focus on the danger characters face in revealing their levels of education--both the advanced levels of education some have and the lack of education others have. I would like to focus particularly on the slave narratives of Mary Jenkins and Fredrick Douglas in the Classic Slave Narratives and on Precious in the contemporary novel Push.

There is great caution among the slaves in the Classic Slave Narratives in disclosing any education due to the danger of punishment they often face for their education. Even those slaves who are not punished directly for their education often face unique, subtler dangers because of their education. In addition to the dangers faced by their owners, slaves faced danger from society in general for revealing any signs of education. Precious in Push faces danger in revealing her educational level. In contrast to the slave narratives where the danger lies in disclosing any education, Precious initially feels danger in revealing her lack of education. Ultimately, however, Precious increases her level of education, and the danger shifts to having gained that education. She faces increased displeasure from her mother and becomes increasingly aware of her position within social institutions.

I would like to bring in the idea of education from the standpoints of both private education, such as the home taught education most slaves received as well as institutionalized education such as the process experienced by Precious. Even such different educational processes seem to connect to the idea of danger in disclosing both high and low levels of education.

One issue I'm struggling with is narrowing the works I'm using. There are many more characters in other pieces I could use, such as expanding my look at Corinthians in Song of Solomon. My instinct though is that adding any more works would be too much. Should I limit my paper to the works I have-the two slave narratives and Push?

Preliminary References:

Accomando, Christina. "'The Laws were laid down to me anew': Harriet Jacobs and the reframing of legal fictions." African American Reviewer Summer 1998:

229-245.

Blassingame, John. Slave Testimony. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University

Press, 1976.

Erickson, Ralph. "The laws of ignorance designed to keep slaves (blacks) illiterate and powerless." Education. Winter 1997: 206-209.

Royer, Daniel. "The process of literacy as communal involvement in the narratives of Fredrick Douglas." African American Reviewer Fall 1994: 363.

Sharpe, Jenny. "'Something akin to freedom': The case of Mary Prince."

Differences. Spring 1996: 31.

Dear Tara,

This is a well-thought out proposal, so I'll only mention that I admire the insight about Precious's being silent about education both before and after, and that I agree with your decision on limiting your texts. The example of First Corinthians offers a number of possibilities, including the relocation of the master-slave relationship from its model and the teacher-student and parent-child analogies in Push to the male-female relation in love there. So that's a possibility, but simplicity may be preferable, so stay with your plan unless you feel inspired and doughty.

For research purposes, you might review the articles on Education and Literacy in the Oxford Companion to African American Literature, including the bibliographies at the ends of the articles.

Good work. I look forward to seeing your continuation of this subject.