Introduction to African American Literature (266-0-01)

Instructors

Justin L Mann

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-415: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

In this survey of African American literature, students will read across four centuries of literary and cultural production to understand the relationship between Black culture and freedom struggle. Students will engage topics in Black study—including questions of freedom, fugitivity, nationalism, and racial justice—as well as literary and cultural history to analyze and explain the development of Black letters in the U.S. Our course will move quickly through four periods in black literature and cultural production: enslavement, Emancipation, and Reconstruction, Jim Crow and segregation, Civil Rights and the Black Arts Movement, and multiculturalism and the 21st century. Throughout, will read a range of sources including poetry and prose, and long- and short-form works to understand the ideas and imaginaries that inhere in Black literature. We will also listen to Black music, including, the Blues, jazz, and Hip Hop and view television and films that have been important entries in the cultural history of Black life.

Class Materials (Required)

Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun 978-0679755333
Shange, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuff 978-0684843261
Whitehead, The Nickel Boys 978-0345804341

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity