Did you know that with the publication of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl in the 1950’s, the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco sparked a poetic and political revolution that became the Beat Movement? Do you know about the ‘60’s free speech and civil rights movement that took place on the steps of Sproul Plaza at U.C. Berkeley? Or why the Black Panther Party began in Oakland? Did you know that San Francisco-born photographer Ansel Adams’ work was instrumental in galvanizing awareness and activism to expand our national parks, just as Dorothea Lange’s work was in exposing the injustice of Bay Area Japanese Americans’ internment? What do you know of The Grateful Dead’s impact on the Summer of Love and Haight-Ashbury or politician Harvey Milk’s impact on the LGBTQ community and the Castro-Mission Districts? 

Profoundly, Bay Area writers, artists and activists have long served as important catalysts for awareness and change locally and across America. This course will explore these individuals, questions and much more as we read novels, poetry, short stories, and essays; view and listen to words, music, art and film; and discover the history and impact of such changemakers in the Bay Area. We will consider the ways in which artists and their work have created and defined a counterculture and activist-spirit that continue to thrive today near the Golden Gate. 

Representative texts include Tommy Orange’s There,There, Rebecca Solnit’s Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s San Francisco Poems and Cathy Arellano’s Salvation on Mission Street. The class will meet once-per-week for Zoom sessions in the evening (either Mondays from 7-8 PM or Tuesdays 6:30-7:30 PM) and periodically for independent project sessions in small-groups throughout the course. Additionally, students are required to attend 3 to 5 planned in-person field outings on weekends to Oakland, Chinatown-North Beach, Castro-Mission, and more (TBD). 

  UC Approved: Interdisciplinary / English  

About the Instructor

James Hughes  – Marin Academy
James Hughes has been an English and Humanities teacher at Marin Academy for the past six years, where he has also served as the Director of Community Action and a co-teacher in the Transdisciplinary Leadership Program. A fifth-generation Californian, James is passionate about Bay Area and California history, and sees community engagement and experiential learning as essential components of his teaching. He completed his BA degree in English from the University of San Diego and MA degrees in both English and Education from Stanford University. He is also a published writer and musician and brings together his various interests and experitise in the design of The Golden Gate course.