Cross listed with BL_STU 3400

Cross listed with BL_STU 3400-01

Canonically, the history of the American literary tradition has been told through a narrative that foregrounds successful conquest and civilization. It is a narrative which charts white American rebellion against Europe with footnotes about chattel slavery and Native genocide that are quickly resolved by an idealized concept of American freedom. This course is invested in upending and unsettling the neatness of that canon, exploring the American literary tradition, instead, through its relationship to Black revolt.  Through readings of early African American writers, this course traces the contours of rebellion. As a class, we will ask “How do Black engagements with and against the law disturb American fantasies of freedom? How do they counter stereotypes about Blackness and complacency?” Whether through violence, legal opposition, spirituality, poetry, fugitivity, or marronage, we will consider the different forms revolt takes, ultimately unearthing the radical history of Black rebellion which underpins the American literary canon. Some authors may include: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Wilson, Harriet Jacobs, Frances Harper, and Charles Chesnutt.