"She just put us in back because we're niggers" (Hughes, p. 132).

All this talk of "nigger" in this chapter (XII, School) is really making me thing of the poets featured on the teaching literature blog. The use of the word nigger is appauling to me, now, after really breaking down the word the way in which each poet did (poetically :)). Although I previously used the term in a careless endearing sense, under certain social cercumstances, I have halted that practice. i thought that because I grew up in an all black neighborhood that I was entitled by entitlement to use the word. Likewise, I have been told by some that I can use the word with them, from time to time the term is used towards me in an endearing sense. It is a careless symbol of acceptance, I know prefer the terms BROTHER or SISTER on any day, which Hughes uses in later chapters and is a custom in the South. Nigger, symbolizes oppression, enslavement, and marginalization. Here we have the term used to describe the grandmother's kids as "a lazy nigger." This is in a sense taking ownership of the term, but you can also see how the term is associated with negative things like being lazy or being seated in the back of the classroom. I think this chapter could be very effectively used to read on its own, the first day of class in a mixed school. I was observing a class at McKinley High School last week and I noticed that even within the classroom the students were obviously segregated by race and gender. I was not surprised but I would want to facilitate the blending of these differences, a move towards acceptance. This chapter can be a discussion starter, similiar to the ones Gaughan used in chapter 7, for his female-male syllabus. I would have my students generate dialogues with students that may be sitting on the other side of the room. Just an idea.