New Course Follows the History of Political Movements in Search of 'The Language of Protest'
September 2, 2016
Contact: Public Affairs
Phone: 410.837.5739
This fall, the University of Baltimore will introduce "The Language of Protest," a new course offering an intensive examination of the country’s history of protest movements, and how words, songs, stories, tracts and a host of related methods of communication have advanced a remarkable range of causes—and, along the way, evolved into something like a language of its own.
The course, led by Arthur J. Magida, author of several works of non-fiction and writer in residence in the Klein Family School of Communications Design, will be highlighted with appearances by several artists with a deep understanding of the power of protest—singer/songwriter Caleb Stine, and rap artist and Muslim activist Khalil Ismail. These performances, free and open to the public, are sponsored by the University's Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics. Details on each will be announced in the coming weeks.
Magida says the goal of the course is to show how conscience and ideology are advanced in American writing and music. "Since," Magida said, "this is a nation founded on protest—we call it our 'revolution'—outspoken activism is endemic to our culture. Not a day has gone by since 1776 that someone hasn't embraced a new cause, hopefully in pursuit of justice. It’s time to figure out why this is so, and what accounts for valuable and lasting protest."
From the early American pamphlets of Tom Paine, the utopian quests and the abolitionist crusades of the 19th century and the muckrakers of the early 1900s, to the homegrown communists and fascists of the 1930s, the John Birchers in the 1950s, the civil rights activists of the 1960s and today's Black Lives Matter movement—protests have been an essential part of the American experience. Magida says that "The Language of Protest" will show how effective protest tailors its tone, words and content to suit its intended audience.
Readings will include books, articles, poems and songs by Tom Paine, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Woody Guthrie, Thomas Merton, Allen Ginsberg and Muhammad Ali.
Learn more about Prof. Magida and the Klein Family School of Communications Design in the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences.
Read Magida's op-ed on Labor Day in The Baltimore Sun.
Learn more about the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the College of Public Affairs, the Merrick School of Business, the UB School of Law and the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences.