The essay “Teaching the N-word” is a story chronicling the life of Emily Bernard as a black college professor of African American Studies in Vermont. It is a very interesting story about the usage of the n-word in the past and present. She spends most of the essay just discussing the word itself and how many people are willing to even say it in class. The essay deals with Emily Bernard’s inner struggle as a black woman and how she wants to be seen in her career. Emily Bernard’s Teaching the N Word is about a professor who’s trying to get her class to become more comfortable with the word nigger and to discuss why it’s so hard to say this word. Emily reaches out to the 11 students in her class to discuss the barrier surrounding the “n word”.
