Implicit Bias

For this blog entry, I want you to discuss the video you watched in class about implicit bias as well as the two implicit bias texts you took. In your blog reflection, please make sure to answer the following questions:

• What did I think of the video? Did I learn anything new? Were there any windows or mirrors?
• Which bias tests did they take. What were the results? Were they surprised by the results?
• How does this understanding of implicit bias relate to our work with If He Hollers Let Him Go?

Please submit this by the start of our next class.

For your reference, a link to the video is here and the link to the implicit bias tests is here.

The "Cover" Up

Our first novel for the new year in Literature of California is Chester Himes' If He Hollers Let Him Go (1945), which follows four days in the life of a black, Ohio-transplant who has come to California to work in the booming World War II shipyard industry. Whereas the cover of the edition that we are using in class is fairly subdued (Caucasian and black fingers intertwined with one another), we can see from the above images of previous covers of the novel, that the artwork was more provocative. For this week's blog post, I want students to take a hard look at these book covers and write a short reflection on what they think these covers say about the themes of the novel that they have encountered so far in their reading. Are these covers accurate? Problematic? Which one really stands out to you and why?