LibGuides: Enduring Texts: Civic Engagement

Ancient & Classical (up to 600 CE)

The Bible: Authorized King James Version by Robert Carroll (Editor); Stephen Prickett (Editor)
ISBN: 9780191610851
Publication Date: 1997-01-01
The Bible is the most important book in the history of Western civilization, and also the most difficult to interpret. It has been the vehicle of continual conflict, with every interpretation reflecting passionately-held views that have affected not merely religion, but politics, art, and even science. This unique edition offers an exciting new approach to the most influential of all English biblical texts - the Authorized King James Version, complete with the Apocrypha. Its wide-ranging Introduction and the substantial notes to each book of the Bible guide the reader through the labyrinth of literary, textual, and theological issues, using the most up-to-date scholarship to demonstrate how and why the Bible has affected the literature, art and general culture of the English-speaking world.

Primary Discipline: Religion
Secondary Discipline(s): Literature, Philosophy, History

The Bible: Authorized King James Version by Robert Carroll (Editor)

The Hebrew prophets were some of the first to imagine an ideal state at a time when they experienced social unrest and moral corruption. The Old Testament prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel envisioned a perfected earthly ideal devoted to the laws of Jehovah and where social wrongs would be abolished. Service to the less fortunate and punishments for neglect and refusal of help can be found: Amos (2:6-7), Jeremiah (5:27-28), Hosea (6:8-9), Isaiah (1: 21-23).

The Politics of Aristotle by Aristotle; William Ellis (Translator)
ISBN: 9781775566762
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
A treatise on political theory that discusses various forms of government, their strengths and weaknesses, the role of the citizen in the state, the importance of education, and the relationship between ethics and politics, ultimately arguing for a balanced form of government that combines elements of democracy and aristocracy, and emphasizing the importance of the common good.

Primary Discipline: Philosophy
Secondary Discipline(s): Political Science, Psychology

The Politics of Aristotle by Aristotle; William Ellis (Translator)

Explores the role of a citizen in a democracy. Students can explore ways to participate in a democracy with SL/CE with voter registration, volunteering on campaigns, working at the polls, etc.

The Qur'an by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (Translator)
ISBN: 9780191517778
Publication Date: 2005-05-01
Qurʾān, (Arabic: “Recitation”) also spelled Quran and Koran, the sacred scripture of Islam. According to conventional Islamic belief, the Qurʾān was revealed by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad in the West Arabian towns Mecca and Medina beginning in 610 and ending with Muhammad’s death in 632 ce.

Primary Discipline: Religion
Secondary Discipline(s): Philosophy, Literature, History
Non-Western Text

The Qur'an by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (Translator)

"The Holy Qur’an repeatedly emphasizes the dual nature of humankind’s obligations. For example, every verse that commands men and women to pray to God also urges them to pay zakat, the obligatory charitable contribution that every Muslim must pay to provide for those who are poor and in need. The social dimension of the pillar of zakat is clear: those who possess wealth should concern themselves with those who lack it ‑ 'to have is to share'. Moreover, zakat, as its Arabic root signifies, has a purifying aspect as well, for it cleanses the giver of greed and excessive materialism, promoting, at the same time, the general level of well-being and happiness in society. Looked at from another angle, the ummah (community) has a right and stake in whatever a Muslim owns ‑ a notion radically different from Western conceptions about individual ownership of wealth" (The Institute of Ismaili Studies).

The Republic by Plato by Benjamin Jowett
ISBN: 9781781669228
Publication Date: 2012-07-09
Plato's main concern in The Republic is the nature of justice and the just society. Through the main character of Socrates the reader is brought on a tour of any and all dimensions of the concept of justice, and along the way we see Socrates taking a deep dive into other areas of ethics, as well as into metaphyscis and epistemology. A hugely influential text in the Western philosophical tradition.

Primary Discipline: Philosophy
Secondary Discipline(s): Political Science,

The Republic by Plato by Benjamin Jowett

The first common read for all LBL and EQ classes is "The Allegory of the Cave" and that is the perfect time to introduce Service-Learning/Civic Engagement. There is a tendency for some students to feel that they are the enlightened one returning to the "cave" to assist those who are in difficult situations. Through class discussion and reflection assignments, students should be encouraged to think of SL and CE as an opportunity to come out of their own cave and gain awareness of other perspectives and unique experiences in their own community. These are shared experiences that are mutually beneficial to the student and the community members being served. This is a good place to begin considering what it is to be a citizen of a community and the corresponding rights and responsibilities that accompany that role.

The Thirteen Books of the Elements by Euclid; Thomas L. Heath (Editor); Thomas Little Heath (Commentaries by)
Call Number: QA31 .E875 1956 v.
ISBN: 0486600882
Publication Date: 1956-06-01
A foundational work in mathematics (especially geometry). Euclid begins with definitions, axioms, and postulates and from these deduces many theorems and develops many mathematical proofs. Probably the most significant and influential work in ancient Greek mathematics.

Primary Discipline: Mathematics
Secondary Discipline(s): Geometry

The Thirteen Books of the Elements by Euclid; Thomas L. Heath (Editor);

Options for tutoring math exist is all after-school programs, Hillside, Racist Algebra at Nottingham, and Northside Learning Center.

Contemporary (1940 to Present)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
Call Number: BP223.Z8 L57943 1992
ISBN: 0345379756
Publication Date: 1992-09-29
Malcolm X, original name Malcolm Little, Muslim name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, (born May 19, 1925, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.—died February 21, 1965, New York, New York), African American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam who articulated concepts of race pride and Black nationalism in the early 1960s. After his assassination, the widespread distribution of his life story—The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)—made him an ideological hero, especially among Black youth.

Primary Discipline: Autobiography
Secondary Discipline(s): African American Studies, History

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

SL/CE possibilities with 100 Black Men, Northside Learning Center, RISE, Racist Algebra Program at Nottingham, Syracuse Police Dept. Police Athletic League, Peace, Inc., Syracuse Peace Council

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" In The Unreal and the Real - Selected Stories by Úrsula K. Le Guin
Call Number: PS3562.E42 A6 2012
ISBN: 9781618730343
Publication Date: 2012-11-27
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is a 1973 work of short philosophical fiction by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. With deliberately both vague and vivid descriptions, the narrator depicts a summer festival in the utopian city of Omelas, whose prosperity depends on the perpetual misery of a single child.

Primary Discipline: Literature

Also available here: https://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/~ekeland/lectures/Mathematical%20Models%20in%20Social%20Sciences/ursula-k-le-guin-the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas.pdf

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" In The Unreal and the Real - Selected Stories by Úrsula K. Le Guin

Any community partner working to help alleviate the suffering of others would correspond to this short story. The Samaritan Center, The Rescue Mission, Northside Learning Center, RISE and others.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; Susan Massotty (Translator); Otto H. Frank (Editor); Mirjam Pressler (Editor)
Call Number: DS135.N6 F73313 1995
ISBN: 9780385473781
Publication Date: 1995-02-01
Anne Frank, in full Annelies Marie Frank, (born June 12, 1929, Frankfurt am Main, Germany—died February/March 1945, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, near Hannover), Jewish girl whose diary of her family’s two years in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands became a classic of war literature.

Primary Discipline: Autobiography
Secondary Discipline(s): History, Holocaust Studies, Jewish Studies

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; Susan Massotty (Translator); Otto H. Frank (Editor); Mirjam Pressler (Editor)

Syracuse Peace Council would provide opportunities to work for peace and social justice.

Letter from Birmingham Jail by King, Martin Luther
In Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963, King’s campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and in hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren. His supporters did not, however, include all the Black clergy of Birmingham, and he was strongly opposed by some of the white clergy who had issued a statement urging African Americans not to support the demonstrations. From the Birmingham jail, King wrote a letter of great eloquence in which he spelled out his philosophy of nonviolence.

Primary Discipline: American History

Letter from Birmingham Jail by King, Martin Luther

Civil Rights, peaceful protest, justice, rights and responsibilities. SL/CE possibilities with 100 Black Men, Northside Learning Center, RISE, Racist Algebra Program at Nottingham, Syracuse Police Dept. Police Athletic League, Peace, Inc., Syracuse Peace Council.

Modern (1450 to 1940)

Kayanerenkó:wa :The Great Law of Peace by Kayanesenh Paul Williams
ISBN: 9780887555565
Publication Date: 2018-10-26
The Great Law of Peace provides the foundation for the traditional government of the Haudenosaunee, and constituted by the original Five Nations of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, with the Tuscarora later joining as the Sixth Nation. Onondaga Nation still follows the traditional structure. The Great Law reads as part historical narrative, part governmental framework, with overlays of metaphysics in the message of the Peacemaker. It talks about the responsibilities, obligations, and powers of the chiefs and clan mothers, with a strong emphasis on community health and good authority.

Primary Discipline: History
Secondary Discipline(s): Political Science, Philosophy, Anthropology, Native American Studies
Non-Western Text

Kayanerenkó:wa :The Great Law of Peace by Kayanesenh Paul Williams

Students would find meaningful SL/CE opportunities with Shanonh Center and Onondaga Nation School. The Syracuse Peace Council Noon group has numerous volunteer opportunities that would emphasize friendship, cultural acceptance and peaceful coexistence. Work with environmental agencies, the Brady Farm, Syracuse Refugee Agricultural Program (particularly if the student is bilingual) would be good matches for these readings. Connections can be made between American Gov't and democratic practices of the Haudenausee with CE in voter registration and working at the polls.

Utopia by Thomas More; Jerry Harp (Afterword by); Clarence H. Miller (Translator)
ISBN: 9780300195224
Publication Date: 2014-02-25
More creates his vision of the perfect society on an isolated island. He coined the phrase Utopia from the Greek words "ou-topos" meaning no place and "eu-topos" meaning a good place. Many see this as a socio-political satire while others suggest it is a more serious depiction of a better society.

Primary Discipline: Political Science
Secondary Discipline(s): Philosophy

Utopia by Thomas More; Jerry Harp (Afterword by); Clarence H. Miller (Translator)

The idea of the perfect society invites students to explore their own role in their community. The requirement that all citizens of Utopia spend time in agriculture invites an emphasis on SL/CE in environmental and agricultural settings. Brady Farm, Syracuse Refugee Agricultural Program or programs to feed those with food insecurity, Community Care Hub on campus, Samaritan Center, Salvation Army good pantry, CNY Food Bank.

Discourse on Political Economy and the Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Christopher Betts (Edited and Translated by)
ISBN: 9780191610615
Publication Date: 1994-01-01
Censored in its own time, the Social Contract (1762) remains a key source of democratic belief and is one of the classics of political theory.

Primary Discipline: Political Science

Discourse on Political Economy and the Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Christopher Betts (Edited and Translated by)

Explores the role of a citizen in a democracy. Students can explore ways to participate in a democracy with SL/CE with voter registration, volunteering on campaigns, working at the polls, etc.

The Constitution of the United States
The Constitution acted like a colossal merger, uniting a group of states with different interests, laws, and cultures. Under America’s first national government, the Articles of Confederation, the states acted together only for specific purposes. The Constitution united its citizens as members of a whole, vesting the power of the union in the people. Without it, the American Experiment might have ended as quickly as it had begun.

Primary Discipline: Political Science
Secondary Discipline(s): History

The Constitution of the United States

Looking at the rights and responsibilities laid out in the founding documents is a good place for students to start considering what they can contribute to their own communities. Multiple SL/CE community partners would provide this opportunity.

Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was designed for multiple audiences: the King, the colonists, and the world. It was also designed to multitask. Its goals were to rally the troops, win foreign allies, and to announce the creation of a new country. The introductory sentence states the Declaration’s main purpose, to explain the colonists’ right to revolution. In other words, “to declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Congress had to prove the legitimacy of its cause. It had just defied the most powerful nation on Earth. It needed to motivate foreign allies to join the fight.

Primary Discipline: Political Science
Secondary Discipline(s): History

Declaration of Independence

James Madison's Collected Works by James Madision
James Madison, in full James Madison, Jr., (born March 16 [March 5, Old Style], 1751, Port Conway, Virginia [U.S.]—died June 28, 1836, Montpelier, Virginia, U.S.), fourth president of the United States (1809–17) and one of the Founding Fathers of his country. At the Constitutional Convention (1787), he influenced the planning and ratification of the U.S. Constitution and collaborated with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in the publication of the Federalist papers. As a member of the new House of Representatives, he sponsored the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, commonly called the Bill of Rights. He was secretary of state under President Thomas Jefferson when the Louisiana Territory was purchased from France. The War of 1812 was fought during his presidency.

Primary Discipline: Political Science
Secondary Discipline(s): History

James Madison's Collected Works by James Madision

Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
ISBN: 9781776512041
Publication Date: 2010-06-01
Wollstonecraft argues for the education of women.

Primary Discipline: Philosophy
Secondary Discipline(s): History, Women's History and Gender Studies

Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

Matilda Joslyn Gage Home and Foundation, Chadwick House and Salvation Army Women's Shelter would be good community partners with a focus on women.

The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution by Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, Susan B. Anthony, and M.J. Cage
Declaration of Sentiments, document, outlining the rights that American women should be entitled to as citizens, that emerged from the Seneca Falls Convention in New York in July 1848. Three days before the convention, feminists Lucretia Mott, Martha C. Wright, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mary Ann McClintock met to assemble the agenda for the meeting along with the speeches that would be made. The Declaration of Sentiments, written primarily by Stanton, was based on the Declaration of Independence to parallel the struggles of the Founding Fathers with those of the women’s movement. As one of the first statements of the political and social repression of American women, the Declaration of Sentiments met with significant hostility upon its publication and, with the Seneca Falls Convention, marked the start of the women’s rights movement in the United States.

Primary Discipline: History
Secondary Discipline: Women's Studies

The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution by Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, Susan B. Anthony, and M.J. Cage

SL/CE possibilities with Peace, Inc., Syracuse Peace Council. Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, Chadwick House, Salvation Army Women's Shelter.

Ain’t I a Woman by Sojourner Truth
Born Isabella Baumfree in New York, Sojourner Truth escaped slavery in 1827. In 1851, Truth delivered this speech at the Akron, Ohio Women's Rights Convention. The speech was transcribed and printed by Marcus Robinson, but Francis Dana Baker Gage printed and circulated a version in 1863 that gained more notariety. The speech speaks about the treatment of black women compared to their white counterparts, and can be seen as an early comparative text of women's experiences.

Primary Discipline: History
Secondary Discipline(s): African American Studies, Gender Studies, and Women's History

Ain’t I a Woman by Sojourner Truth

SL/CE possibilities with 100 Black Men, Northside Learning Center, RISE, Racist Algebra Program at Nottingham, Syracuse Police Dept. Police Athletic League, Peace, Inc., Syracuse Peace Council. Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, Chadwick House, Salvation Army Women's Shelter.

The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln by Lincoln, Abraham
Among American heroes, Lincoln continues to have a unique appeal for his fellow countrymen and also for people of other lands. This charm derives from his remarkable life story—the rise from humble origins, the dramatic death—and from his distinctively human and humane personality as well as from his historical role as saviour of the Union and emancipator of enslaved people. His relevance endures and grows especially because of his eloquence as a spokesman for democracy. In his view, the Union was worth saving not only for its own sake but because it embodied an ideal, the ideal of self-government. In recent years, the political side to Lincoln’s character, and his racial views in particular, have come under close scrutiny, as scholars continue to find him a rich subject for research. The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated to him on May 30, 1922.

Primary Discipline: History

The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln by Lincoln, Abraham

SL/CE possibilities with 100 Black Men, Northside Learning Center, RISE, Racist Algebra Program at Nottingham, Syracuse Police Dept. Police Athletic League, Peace, Inc., Syracuse Peace Council.

Collected Works of W.E.B. Du Bois by W.E.B. Du Bois
American sociologist, historian, author, editor, and activist who was the most important Black protest leader in the United States during the first half of the 20th century (Britanica online). His intellectual work is wide ranging and produced in a variety of forms. He both documented the sturggle for equality in the USA as well as took an active role in that struggle. This text is a sociological study of Black people in the US and set him apart from other Black intellectuals of the time like Booter T. Washington.

Primary Discipline: Sociology
Secondary Discipline(s): History

Collected Works of W.E.B. Du Bois by W.E.B. Du Bois

SL/CE possibilities with 100 Black Men, Northside Learning Center, RISE, Racist Algebra Program at Nottingham, Syracuse Police Dept. Police Athletic League, Peace, Inc., Syracuse Peace Council.

Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Fredrick Douglass
Published originally in 1845, this extremely influential autobiography by Frederick Douglass follows in the tradition of the American slave narrative. In it, he tells his own story of learning to read and write, his eventual escape from slavery, and his own work in the American abolitionist movement. Douglass is one of the preeminent abolitionists of the nineteenth century United States, whose work as an activist, public intellectual, writer, and publisher his work galvanized the abolitionist movement in the United States and abroad.

Primary Discipline: Autobiography
Secondary Discipline(s): Literature, American History, African American History

Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Fredrick Douglass

The theme of knowledge/perspective would pair well with tutoring in afterschool programs such as Hillside, the Racist Algebra program at Nottingham, RISE, Northside Learning Center, or if a student does not have transportation, the English Language Institute on campus.

The Negro by W. E. B. Du Bois; Robert Gregg (Contribution by)
Call Number: HT1581 .D8 2001
ISBN: 9780812217759
Publication Date: 2001-05-22
American sociologist, historian, author, editor, and activist who was the most important Black protest leader in the United States during the first half of the 20th century (Britannica online). His intellectual work is wide ranging and produced in a variety of forms. He both documented the struggle for equality in the USA as well as took an active role in that struggle. The Negro is a comprehensive history of the Black people in the US, from first stepping foot on the continent to the time in which it was published.

Primary Discipline: Sociology
Secondary Discipline(s): History

The Negro by W. E. B. Du Bois; Robert Gregg

SL/CE possibilities with 100 Black Men, Northside Learning Center, RISE, Racist Algebra Program at Nottingham, Syracuse Police Dept. Police Athletic League, Peace, Inc., Syracuse Peace Council.

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois; Jonathan Scott Holloway (Introduction by)
ISBN: 9780300213720
Publication Date: 2015-06-28
American sociologist, historian, author, editor, and activist who was the most important Black protest leader in the United States during the first half of the 20th century (Britanica online). His intellectual work is wide ranging and produced in a variety of forms. He both documented the sturggle for equality in the USA as well as took an active role in that struggle. This text is a sociological study of Black people in the US and set him apart from other Black intellectuals of the time like Booter T. Washington.

Primary Discipline: Sociology
Secondary Discipline(s): History

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois; Jonathan Scott Holloway

SL/CE possibilities with 100 Black Men, Northside Learning Center, RISE, Racist Algebra Program at Nottingham, Syracuse Police Dept. Police Athletic League, Peace, Inc., Syracuse Peace Council.