Summer 2006

AFR f374 • 3-AFRICAN AMER LIT, 1940-PRES

Course Description

This course will explore the significance of key historical, cultural and political events in terms of their influence on movements and developments in African American Literature and Culture. We will begin with Langston Hughes's autobiography in 1940, with its hallmark reflection on and synopsis of the Harlem Renaissance, and consider Gwendolyn Brooks exploration of gender, identity, reproduction, and class in the life of Maud Martha, while moving forward to explore relevant poetry and criticism from the Black Arts Movement to the elegiac and musically inflected lyricism of the contemporary poet Cornelius Eady. Our course will particularly examine how the themes of memory, music, and death surface and shift in various African-American authors works. We will develop our capacities for critically reading, writing and analyzing poetry, prose, music and film.

Grading Policy

Active Class Participation, including in-class writing 20% Poem or Prose Memorization and Recitation 10% Group Class Presentation 15% Critical Essay Review (4-5 page) 20% Final Exam 30%

Mandatory class attendance. Two or more unexcused absences will significantly lower your letter grade. Four or more class absences guarantees the student will fail the class, *regardless* of the graded assignments completed for the course. No late papers or assignments will be accepted. Failure to complete any of the class assignments will significantly lower your letter grade.

Texts

Langston Hughes, The Big Sea; Gwendolyn Brooks, Maud Martha (selected chapters); Randall Kenan, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead (selected stories); Michael Harper, Dear John, Dear Coltrane; Sarah Webster Fabio, (selected essay); Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls; Cornelius Eady, You Don't Miss Your Water

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