The Reader’s Journey, Volume 1
Syllabus
© 2010 Duke University Talent Identification Program Page 1 of 4
Lesson 1: Identity, Justice, Progress & Zeitgeist
Readings:
o “My Name” by Sandra Cisneros, from The House on Mango Street o Emancipation Proclamation o 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution
Lesson 2: The Literary Canon
Readings:
o Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain o Emancipation Proclamation o 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution
Lesson 3: Pre-reading & Characterization
Readings:
o Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain o “How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer Adler
Lesson 4: Engaging & the Literary Review
Readings:
o Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Lesson 5: Identity & Memoir
Readings:
o Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals o "The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock" by Gwendolyn Brooks o The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell
The Reader’s Journey, Volume 1
Syllabus
© 2010 Duke University Talent Identification Program Page 2 of 4
Lesson 6: Conflict & Progress
Readings:
o Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals o Uncle Toms’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe o “Black and Blue” by Louis Armstrong o “Hope Springs Eternal” by Anna Quindlen
Lesson 7: Family Influences, Setting & Summary
Readings:
o “The Copycat Syndrome” by Meghan O’Rourke o To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Lesson 8: Justice & Civic Duty
Readings:
o To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee o “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X o “Making a Fist” by Naomi Shihab Nye
Lesson 9: Group versus Individual Identity
Readings:
o To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee o “The Drum Major Instinct” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lesson 10: Bias, Point of View & Truth
Readings:
o To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee o Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
The Reader’s Journey, Volume 1
Syllabus
© 2010 Duke University Talent Identification Program Page 3 of 4
Lesson 11: Progress & Universal Suffrage
Readings:
o To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee o “Testimony Before the Credentials Committee” by Fannie Lou Hamer o “Declaration of Sentiments” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton o United States Declaration of Independence o United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Lesson 12: Ladies, Leaders & Hypocrisy
Readings:
o To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee o "[the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls]" by ee cummings o “Leaders and Revolutionaries” by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Lesson 13: Zeitgeist & the Economy
Readings:
o To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee o “Why I Live at the P.O” by Eudora Welty
Lesson 14: The Question of Progress, Part 1
Readings:
o To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee o “Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol, sung by Billie Holiday o "The Courthouse Ring: Atticus Finch and the Limits of Southern Liberalism" by
Malcolm Gladwell
The Reader’s Journey, Volume 1
Syllabus
© 2010 Duke University Talent Identification Program Page 4 of 4
Lesson 15: Defined by Dreams
Readings:
o A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry o “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes
Lesson 16: Justice, Power & the American Dream
Readings:
o A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry o “The Ballad of the Landlord” by Langston Hughes
Lesson 17: Foreshadowing Tragedy
Readings:
o Night by Elie Wiesel
Lesson 18: Justice at Home & Abroad
Readings:
o Night by Elie Wiesel
Lesson 19: Seeking Justice & Progress after Tragedy
Readings:
o Night by Elie Wiesel o “Praise Song for the Day” by Elizabeth Alexander o Nobel Prize acceptance speech by Elie Wiesel
Lesson 20: The Question of Progress, Part 2
Readings:
o “Address to the Women’s Rights Convention” by Sojourner Truth o “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes