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Lesson 1 (from Part 1, The Seer and the Seen, Section 1)

Objective

Part 1, The Seer and the Seen, Section 1

The author's introduction to this book of essays, articles, interviews and speeches lays out three major themes: literature, music (jazz/blues), and the complex relationship between the "Negro American subculture and North American culture as a whole." Through literature and music Ellison sought to find his own identity within the cultures of Negro America and the socio-political reality called America. No classroom conversation about the African American experience is simple. It is important at the beginning of studying "Shadow and Act" that no matter what the racial make up of the student body is, approaching the topic of race in America must be done with care. Ellison's introduction offers an opening, a hopeful call, to deep reflection and contemplation of the topic which he spends so much of his life thinking and writing about. The objective of today's lesson...

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