Higher Learning: African American Studies, Pedagogy, and Stealing the Knowledge

Discussion Questions for Williams, Painter, and Multi-media:

1. What issues does Williams expose in her essay?
2. What are the road blocks to teaching African American Studies?
3. How do the perceptions of students affect the learning process in African American Studies courses
4. What’s in a name? (e.g., “Rho, Rho incident”)
5. What environment do you think is optimal for learning and discussion of difficult topics unfamiliar (or familiar) to students?
6. What did Painter experience at Princeton?
7. What examples does Painter provide about the “state” of African American Studies? What problems does the field face? How are these problems connected to teaching and learning?
8. After reading the three essays about the field, what stands out as most important to you? Did it make you think of the field and yourself as a student in a different way?



1. What does the clip propose about the importance of education and achievement?
2. What does the clip propose about perceptions of race and education?
3. What might the clip propose about what one can learn/gain from African American studies texts?
4. Is information power? How so?