Students will develop a critical understanding of how the history and issues of the Black Atlantic have been represented in literature, by writers from the Caribbean, Africa, Britain, and America. Particular attention will be paid to writers of the African Diaspora. Students will become skilled at raising and discussing (in both written and oral forms) critical questions prompted by this literature. They will learn to read closely and think critically, to write stylistically sound prose, and to craft an argument grounded in textual evidence.

The course outline will vary from instructor to instructor. Topics covered will likely include the Black Diaspora, the Atlantic world, slavery, the slave trade, colonialism, and postcolonialism. A possible list of authors and texts might be as follows:
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince
Frederick Douglas, My Bondage and My Freedom
Claude McKay, Selected Poems
Aime Cesaire, A Tempest
Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy
Lorna Goodison, Selected Poems