Course Description
African American literature since 1773, particularly 1830 to the present: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Dorothy West, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and August Wilson, including diverse voices rooted in the folk origins for literary forms.
Athena Title
Develop African American Lit
Prerequisite
ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1103 or ENGL 1050H or ENGL 1060H
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1. Students will learn to read and think about African American literature as a living, growing, endeavor with origins on both sides of the Atlantic. 2. Students will learn to discuss African American literature, histories and cultures with comfort, elegance, and sophistication with their peers and with their instructor. 3. Students will gain an understanding of the historical forces that have shaped the cultural productions of African Americans. 4. Students will learn to write about African American literature in different ways and for different audiences.
Topical Outline
A sample course might consider the following themes: Historical Advance of the Folks and the Spirit Historical Source to Aesthetic Beauty: Lyricism of the African American Imagination Dilemma of the Thinker: Integration or Revolution Ritual of Death, Ritual of Love Using the following texts: Hill, Patricia, Trudier Harris, R. Baxter Miller et. al. The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon Jones, LeRoi. Dutchman and The Slave Wright, Richard. Native Son Such a course might also expect students to write personal or academic essays, to take regular examinations covering both the content and the forms of the African American literature that the course has covered, to respond in writing and orally to the comments of their peers and the instructor, and/or to write in more informal settings such as web-postings or letters (or email messages) to their peers.
Syllabus