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Classroom Discuss ion Guide LEGACY: BLACK & WHITE IN AMERICA

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IF THE HOUSE IS TO BE SET IN ORDER, ONE CANNOT BEGIN WITH THE PRESENT;

HE MUST BEGIN WITH THE PAST.

—John Hope Franklin

INTRODUCTION This Discussion Guide is designed for high school 11th and 12th grades and for colleges and universities. It is intended to provide teachers with an outline for orchestrating a conversation that helps to clarify the central points made in the film. These points concern what the racial divide reveals about the nature of American democracy and what the presidential victory of Barack Obama represents in our evolution as a nation. As an 80-minute film, Legacy can only explore the relevant issues in so much depth, so bibliographic resources are also provided here to assist a more thorough examination.


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WHAT IS OFTEN CALLED THE BLACK SOUL IS A WHITE MAN’S ARTEFACT.

—Frantz Fanon, “The Fact of Blackness”

I . WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT RACISM IN AMERICA?

• Regarding the causes? See 51 mins., 12 secs.—55 mins.,14 secs. Discuss what Kerry James Marshall, Ira Berlin, Joseph Ellis, David Brion Davis, John Hope Franklin, and Hank Willis Thomas say about the economics and politics of slavery and the tension within democracy between self-interest and social justice.

See 56 mins., 8 secs.—58 mins., 38 secs. Discuss what David Brion Davis, David Driskell, and Orlando Patterson say about the dualism in Western civilization between the Apollonian and the Dionysian, the mind and the body, and the tension between the law of nations and natural law.

See 58 mins., 45 secs.—1 hr., 34 secs. Discuss what Dorothy Height and Kerry James Marshall say about the role of Blacks as scapegoats for our worst impulses.

• Regarding the impact on black life, culture, the family, and identity? See 10 mins., 35 secs—14 mins., 54 secs. Discuss what Benjamin Muhammad, Deborah Roberts, Marian Wright Edelman, Condoleezza Rice, Collin Powell, Andrew Young, Beverly Daniel Tatum, and Floyd Flake say about the Black family and community under Jim Crow segregation.

See 14 mins., 55 secs.—16 mins., 42 secs.; 24 mins., 35 secs.—mins. Discuss what Deborah Roberts and Earl Graves say about the effect of low expectations and what Madam Madon says about the culture of failure, especially in the context of desegregation.

See 33 mins., 4 secs.—39 mins., 36 secs. Discuss what Orlando Patterson, John Hope Franklin, James Horton, Wynton Marsalis, and Joseph Lowery say about the survival mechanisms that African-Americans have adopted in the face of humiliating discrimination.

See 40 mins., 25 secs.—40 mins., 41 secs. Discuss what Chuck D. says about music as an outlet for anger.

See 1 hr., 2 mins., 17 secs.—1 hr., 5 mins., 40 secs. Discuss what Marian Wright Edelman, Dorothy Height, James Cone, David Driskell, Wynton Marsalis, Allison Samuels, Bill T. Jones, and Manning Marable say about “double consciousness” and the paradox for African-Americans of having to integrate into a culture shaped by racial exploitation, a culture of duplicity that preaches color blindness and individual human worth while practicing something very different.


Selected Bibliography

Asim, Jabari, The N Word (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007).

Bay, Mia, The White Image in the Black Mind (New York: Oxford University Press 1999).

Berlin, Ira, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1998).

Cone, James H., The Spirituals and the Blues, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2005).

_____, “Strange Fruit: The Cross and the Lynching Tree” (October 2006 speech at Harvard University).

Davis, David Brion, inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

Du Bois, W. E. B., The Souls of Black Folk (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903).

Fanon, Frantz, Black Skin, White Masks (New York: Grove Press, 1952).

Ellis, Joseph, Founding Brothers (New York: Random House, 2000).

Franklin, John Hope and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (New York: Knopf, 2000).

Fredrickson, George, M., The Black Image in the White Mind (Wesleyan: Wesleyan University Press, 1971).

Harris, J. William, Society and Culture in the Slave South (London: Routledge, 1992).

Johnson, James Weldon, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (New York: Dover, 1912).

Jones, Leroi, Blues People (New York: HarperCollins, 1999).

Jordan, Winthrop D., The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974).

Maccoby, Hyam, The Sacred Executioner: Human Sacrifice and the Legacy of Guilt (London: Thames & Hudson, 1983).

Murray, Albert, The Omni-Americans: Black Experience and American Culture (New York: Da Capo Press, 1970).

, South to a Very Old Place (New York: Random House, 1971).

Patterson, Orlando, Rituals of Blood: Consequences of Slavery in Two American Centuries (New York: Basic Books, 1998).

Stausbaugh, John, Black Like You (New York: Penguin, 2006).

Tatum, Beverly Daniel, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? (New York: Basic Books, 1997).


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WE FELT THAT… OUT OF A COMING TOGETHER OF ALL OF THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF A

PEOPLE WE WOULD CREATE A NEW SOCIAL ORDER.

—Andrew Young

I I . WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

• Regarding the origins of the movement? See 17 mins., 27 secs.—21 mins., 6 secs. Discuss what Andrew Young, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Manning Marable Condoleezza Rice, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Roger Wilkins say about how the Black bourgeoisie and America’s founding documents influenced the values and goals of the movement and how racial integration was understood.

• Regarding the attitudes, values, and goals of the movement? See 5 mins., 51 secs.—8 mins.,14 secs. Discuss what Dorothy Height, Marian Wright Edelman, Earl Graves, and Andrew Young say about the role in their upbringing of family, community, education, achievement, sacrifice, compassion, and faith. Discuss this in the context of differences between the Black and White middle classes.

See 8 mins., 14 secs.—10 mins., 24 secs. Discuss the lessons that Rev. Joseph Lowery learned from his mother.

• Regarding the successes and disappointments of the movement? See 5 mins. into the film up to 5 mins., 35 secs. Discuss the generational transformation recounted by Deborah Roberts.

See 21 mins., 6 secs.—30 mins., 47 secs. Discuss what Orlando Patterson, Lonnie Bunch, Madam Madon, and Manning Marable say about the advancements for the Black middle class, the polarization of the Black community, and the obstacles to racial integration.

See 40 mins., 41 secs. into the film up to 51 mins., 12 secs. Discuss what Dorothy Height, Donna Brazile, Floyd Flake, Ted Shaw, Earl Graves, Marian Wright Edelman, Hank Willis Thomas, and Kerry James Marshall say about the breakdown of the Black family and Black community and the increase of violence and corruption.

See 48 mins., 10 secs.—51 mins., 12 secs. Discuss the demoralizing impact of the assassinations in the sixties as recounted by Hank Willis Thomas, Dorothy Height, and Kerry James Marshall.

See 1 hr., 1 min., 11 secs.—1 hr., 2 mins., 18 secs. Discuss what Bevery Daniel Tatum, Ted Shaw, Dorothy Height, and Roger Wilkins say about re-segregation today and the illusions of the movement.

See 1 hr., 5 mins., 38 secs.—1 hr., 7 mins., 53 secs. Discuss what James Cone, Manning Marable, Roger Wilkins, and Dorothy Height say about the emergence of Black pride in the sixties.



Carson, Clayborne, ed., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: Warner Books, 1998).

Cone, James H., Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare (New York: Orbis Books, 2007).

Edelman, Marian Wright, Lanterns: A Memoir of Mentors (Boston: Beacon Press, 1999).

Franklin, John Hope, Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006).

Grier, William H. and Price M. Cobbs, Black Rage (New York: Basic Books, 1968).

Height, Dorothy, Open Wide the Freedom Gates (New York: Perseus Books, 2003).

Lewis, John, Walking in the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement (San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1998).

Vivian, Octavia, Coretta: The Story of Coretta Scott King (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2006).

Washington, James M., ed., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: HarperCollins, 1991).

Young, Andrew, An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America (New York: HarperCollins, 2004).

X, Malcolm and Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Penguin Classics, 2001).


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ANY FOOL CAN SEE THAT THE WHITE PEOPLE ARE NOT REALLY WHITE, AND THAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT BLACK.

—Albert Murray, The Omni-Americans

I I I . WHAT ARE THE LESSONS FROM THE FILM?

• Regarding what it means to be Black in America? See 55 mins., 13 secs.—56 mins., 8 secs. Discuss how Dr. Height and Hank Willis Thomas define what it means to be Black in America, how this distinguishes African-Americans from all other ethnic groups in America, and what this suggests about the persistence of pre-modern attitudes today and about the limits of change.

• Regarding democracy in America? Discuss whether slavery and democracy are compatible, the idea of slavery as a “necessary evil,” and what relative role self-interest and the public interest should play in democracy. Compare Barack Obama’s views on partisan interest versus the public interest in democracy with those of President George W. Bush and those of Thomas Jefferson. Discuss the role that this tension has played in the rise of America as a global superpower and the role that it plays today in a world of growing social, economic, and environmental stress and instability. Also discuss how the two cultures of power and powerlessness epitomized by the White/Black divide have been changing with the evolution of race relations and what all of this says about our progress as a democracy and as a nation. Consider the power versus powerlessness distinction in the context of what the American Revolution was about.

• Regarding the Civil Rights Movement and Barack Obama? See 1 hr., 7 mins., 58 secs.—1 hr., 9 mins., 56 secs. Compare the statements by Barack Obama and Martin Luther King, Jr. and discuss the parallels and differences between the views of the two men, particularly regarding the need for social, political, and cultural change, overcoming partisanship in the name of the common good, and the role of dialogue, compromise and consensus. Also discuss these two men regarding the relative responsibilities of a preacher versus those of a politician in connection with the Police song, “Spirits in the Material World,” which is included in the film. Discuss what is Black about Barack Obama, what is American about Barack Obama, and what the difference is between the two.

• Regarding what it means to be an American? See 1 hr., 9 mins., 55 secs.—1 hr., 14 mins., 39 secs. Compare the character of Songha in the film with that of Barack Obama regarding the postmodern idea of identity as amalgam (racial as well as gender amalgam). Also discuss the evolution of racial consciousness in America in the context of the dialectic of history and what this says about how much we have been changing as a nation.


• Regarding the future of race in America? Discuss the contrasting trends in America today: the advancements represented by the rise of the post-Civil Rights Generation of Black leaders and the retrenchment represented by the re-segregation of American public schools along with persisting racial disparities in wealth, health, education, crime, and incarceration.

• Regarding what can be done to move race relations forward? Discuss the sensibility of the film itself, what is new and different about this sensibility, how it is connected to the ethos of Barack Obama, and whether it provides a new framework for understanding, discussing, and addressing the racial divide.


Dent, David J., In Search of Black America (New York: Touchstone, 2000).

Dyson, Michael Eric, The Michael Eric Dyson Reader (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2004).

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2005).

_____, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man (New York: Vintage, 1998).

_____ and Cornel West, The Future of the Race (New York: Vintage, 1997).

Graves, Earl G., How to Succeed in Business Without Being White (New York: HarperCollins, 1997).

Greil, Marcus, The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006).

Ifill, Gwen, Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama (New York: Doubleday, 2009).

Mabry, Marcus, Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and her Path to Power (New York: Modern Times, 2007).

Niebuhr, Reinhold and Robert McAfee Brown (ed.), The Essential Reinhold Niebuhr: Selected Essays and Addresses (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987).

Obama, Barack, Dreams from my Father (New York: Random House, 2004).

_____, 2008 Presidential Campaign Speeches By Barack Obama (New York: Classic House Books, 2008).

Patterson, Orlando, The Ordeal of Integration (New York: Basic Books, 1997).

Powell, Colin, My American Journey (New York: Random House, 1995).

Samuels, Allison, Off the Record (New York: HarperCollins, 2007).

West, Cornel, Race Matters (New York: Random House, 1993).

Williams, Juan, Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America—and What We Can Do About It (New York: Crown Publishers, 2006).


__________________________ IV. WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF THE FILM’S FORMAT?

• Regarding the symbolism of the dinner gathering and Dr. King’s concept of the Beloved Community? Discuss the diversity of the dinner participants and of the people featured in the vignettes in regard to the diversity that is indispensable to any community.

• Regarding sampling, collage, and levels of perception in African-American music and art? Discuss how sampling (e.g., in Hip Hop music) and collage (e.g., in the art work of Romare Bearden) relate to the Black experience in America and how these forms are relevant to the Legacy film.

• Regarding the fact that this is a film about dialogue that features voiceovers of self-reflection? Discuss the racial divide as a reflection of internal, psychological ambivalence.

• Regarding the fact that this is a film made by a white male about African-Americans? Consider whether, or in what ways, the race and age of the filmmaker is evident in the film and what this says about racial and generational differences.


Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, The Double (New York: Vintage, 2007).

_____, The House of the Dead (General Books LLC, 2009).

Fanon, Frantz, Black Skin, White Masks (New York: Grove Press, 1952).

Fredrickson, George, M., The Black Image in the White Mind (Wesleyan: Wesleyan University Press, 1971).

Jordan, Winthrop D., The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974).

Patterson, Orlando, Rituals of Blood: Consequences of Slavery in Two American Centuries (New York: Basic Books, 1998).

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