Reading Day/Socratic Dialogue Prep: Grimke, Truth. Stone

Prepare for a socratic dialogue on the literary contributions of Grimke, Truth, and Stone

Objective

• Overview of reading purpose/time period

• Literary Text Information

• Group assignments and discussion prompts

• Attendance Verification

Contents

Friday, March 10th

Overview

 

• Continuing our early-to-mid 19th century unit, we'll begin to explore specific calls for change. The speeches from Grimke and Truth represent the intersection between women's rights and abolitionism; the points of view do have parallels, though they represent two distinct approaches to the subject, especially given the points of view; Grimke comes from a place of privilege and uses that to inform her arguments and compel other women to do the same; truth re-defines what it means to be "educated" about the ways of the world and structures her logic through her experience of being enslaved. Her speech in particular is very memorable for the witty logic. 

• Lucy Stone will offer a few more perspectives on women's rights, particularly critiques of the logic of oppression (how it hurts both women and men), "American values", and the value and limitations of education.

Readings: Grimke, Stone, Truth

  This dialogue is based around speeches that address women's rights and the abolition of slavery--with Grimke and Truth combining these issues. We will look at their arguments, rhetorical appeals, and text structures in this socratic dialogue.

• Grimke: "Appeal to the Christian Women of the South" and Truth: "Speech to the Women's Rights Convention" are located in the 1820-1865 anthology. There are different versions of Truth's Speech, so we will need to use the one in the book, as it has been edited specifically from a larger collective of this speech.

• Stone: This is not in our book. The link has been posted in Blackboard and here: https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2017/03/09/disappointment-is-the-lot-of-women-oct-17-1855/

General Reactions: All Texts, All Groups

   Before getting into close reading and analysis, it is important to simply react to the text—reflect on your expectations prior to reading vs. your insight gained after. Bringing up points that engaged you (as well as confused you) are essential to setting yourself and others up for a more in-depth conversation. This is also a time to rely on the authors’ biographical text to give you some early insight. Were there any details about their experiences and writing that stood out to you in her biographical text and gave you a particular perspective on the texts?

​Students: Ella, Allen, Jay, Avery, Lucia

Prompt: The similarities and differences between Grimke and Truth's use of biology/physicality, religion, and intellect as key points in their arguments are…

​Group 1

​Students: Taylor, Garrett, Dillon, Lauren, Zane

The ways in which the use of scripture in literary texts evolved over the course of the 17  ^th, 18  ^th, and early-to-mid 19  ^th centuries are… (Begin with an assessment of how Grimke and Truth use scripture in their arguments, then refer back to the previous units)

​Group 2

​Students: Ryan, Justin, Matt, Zach, Sarah

Prompt: When pairing the tones/points of view of Bradstreet/Rowlandson with Grimke/Truth, the growth and change we observe is…

​Group 3

​Students: Connor, Lara, Autumn, William, Max

Prompt: What role does education play in Stone, Truth, and Grimke's texts; by considering the texts together, what insights do we gain about education and educational opportunity or lackthereof?

​Group 4

​Students: Sidney, Jaiden, Eliza, Emma, Bella

Prompt: What is something unique or interesting in Stone's argument that isn't addressed by Grimke or Truth?

​Group 5

Open Ended

What questions do you have about the prompts, texts, or Socratic dialogue? If none, type "no questions".