Creating Black Americans By: Nell Irvin Painter

Creating Black Americans: African American history and its meanings, 1619 to present. “Ranging from life in Africa before slavery to today’s hip-hop culture, this magnificent account of African-American history examines a past rich in beauty and creativity, but also in tragedy and trauma. Writing for a new generation, eminent historian Nell Irvin Painter blends a vivid narrative based on the latest research with and array of artwork by African-American artists, adding a vital dimension to the story and a new depth to our understanding of black history. (Oxford University Press, 2005) We ask that you choose the book you read based on two primary criteria: (a) Select a book that will support you in locating in history the origins of the hierarchical sorting of people that has led to oppression, domination, power, and privilege. (b) Select a book that will enable you to learn about the history of oppression in the United States. Lead in-class conversations on how the history they have read informs social work assessments at the individual, family, group, community, and organizational level. • Provide an overview of one or two historical incidents from the book and explain why the author includes it. What is the author trying to show? • How can we see echoes of these events or this tendency in the modern U.S.? Silberman School of Social Work updated Spring 2020 5 • How does social work either confront or actually perpetuate these tendencies? • How do your own biases, preconceptions, and history factor into your understanding of the historical content you have read and your perception of whether or not echoes of this content or this tendency are present in the modern U.S • Concluding remarks: how will you use this history to inform your social work practice?