In our modern society, debates surrounding issues of social justice often play out in virtual spaces like Facebook and Twitter. But in the absence of threads, likes, and Twitter beefs, how might someone from the nineteenth century begin to address social problems? This course invites students to analyze the ways diverse social issues like slavery, poverty, imperial expansion, gender roles, and scientific development were taken up not only in public-facing media like newspapers and periodicals but also literary genres like novels, short stories, and stage plays during this period. Possible texts include The History of Mary Prince, Related by Herself (1831), Hard Times (Dickens, 1854), and Heart of Darkness (Conrad, 1899), as well as works by William Cowper, Hannah More, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and George Bernard Shaw. Students will gain familiarity with common publication practices, historical debates, and social norms of the Victorian era, in order to consider how literary plots, characters, themes, and stylistic techniques were mobilized to help authors—and the reading public—grapple with the most pressing social issues of the day.