45 pages 1 hour read

Michael Eric Dyson

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017

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Essay Topics

1.

What key historical moments have been crucial to the racial struggle for equality? What does Dyson argue contributes to the persistence of racism today?

2.

Why does Dyson structure the text as a sermon? What does this structure reveal about the author and text’s intentions? How does it impact the conveying of Dyson’s key themes and arguments?

3.

According to the text, what is whiteness and how does it connect to racism and American identity? Why does Dyson separate whiteness from white humanity? Compare whiteness to the analysis of Blackness as illustrated by Dyson and identify their differences.