Survey of African American Literature 1900-Present

Fulfills English Department Diversity Intensive requirement.

The dawn of the twentieth century saw the publication of two major and very different works of African American writing: Booker T. Washington's autobiography and blueprint for Black uplift Up from Slavery (1901); and W. E. B. DuBois's book of essays The Souls of Black Folk (1903), with its famous assertion that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." Beginning with the still relevant debate between Washington and DuBois, this class traces the history of African American literature through the present day: from the outpouring of poetry, fiction, and essays that characterized the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s; through the work of mid-twentieth century realists like Ralph Ellison and Ann Petry; to the politically charged atmosphere of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s; up to the present day, with its new openness to popular genres like science fiction. 

This body of writing necessarily addresses important issues regarding Black people in the United States, such as racism, the legacy of slavery, and the nature of what it means to be/become an American citizen. The class also, as an English course, provides an overview of Black aesthetic excellence in the field of literature, addressing among other things the movement of African American writing, over the period covered by the course, from the margins to the center of American literature.

Grades will be based on reading quizzes, in-class writing, and individual research projects.