ALBANY STATE UNIVERSITY
ENGL 3791.01 (MWF 11:00am-11:50am)
AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE II
SPRING 2013 3 CREDITS
Dr. Stephanie P. Hankerson
Office: 326 Criminal Justice bldg. (E219)
Phone: 430-4844 Email:
Office Hours: TR 8:30am-11:30am, F 8:30am-10:00am, and by appointment.
Class Web Page: http://new.schoolnotes.com
Course Description: This course is a study of African American literature from the Harlem Renaissance to contemporary times. Students will read various genres of African American literature including fiction, poetry, literary criticism, and personal narratives. Through close readings, journals, quizzes, exams, and critical papers, students will have a comprehensive knowledge of African American literature, history, and culture.
Required Materials:
1) Gates, Henry Louis Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay (General Editors) et al.
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, 2nd Editon. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2004. Print. (ISBN: 9780393977783)
2) Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Vintage, 2004. Print. (ISBN: 9781400033430)
3) Access to a computer/word processor for typed assignments and for web-based assignments.
Evaluation: Each item will be assigned points. Your total points at the end of the semester will determine your final grade.
150 Midterm Exam
150 Short Essay
200 Critical Essay
150 Final Exam
100 Quizzes
100 Oral Presentation
100 Article Review
50 Reflective Journals (1-5)
Grading: Each individual assignment will follow the basic formula of earned points/total points possible=% (100-90 A; 89-80 B; 79-70 C; 69-60 D; 59-0 F)
Your final grade will be based on your total amount of points earned:
A 1000-895
B 894-795
C 794-695
D 694-595
F 594-below
Essays and Article Reviews: All essays and reviews should be typed/word processed, unless noted otherwise (for example, an in-class essay). Essays should be turned in by the posted deadline. I do not accept late essays unless there is a documented excuse (illness or university related absence). If you do foresee a problem on an essay, please let me know before the essay is due so that other arrangements can be made.
Exams and Quizzes: Make-up exams and quizzes will only be allowed in the case of an excused absence (illness or university related absence) and will be administered at the instructor’s discretion. If it is not an illness, i.e. it is a foreseeable event, you should expect to take exams/quizzes early.
Class Website: Our class has a web page. I expect you to check it before we meet for class just in case there are any announcements (for example, if class is cancelled) or assignments. The page also will have our syllabus, study guides, and links to other websites. Assignments will be posted there and will be due as listed.
Oral Presentation: Each student will have to present a 5 minute presentation on an aspect of African American culture. Students will sign up ahead of time. The presenter will be expected to use a visual aid as a part of the discussion. In addition, the student will turn in a 1pg, single-spaced, typed statement explaining why the artifact is considered African American in light of Zora Neale Hurston’s essay, “Characteristics of Negro Expression.”
Reflective Journals: During the semester, students will be asked periodically to read an assigned text closely for certain themes and to respond in journal form. Journals will be assigned before the reading is to be discussed in class and will be due the day of the discussion.
Attendance and Class Decorum: Students are expected to attend class regularly and promptly. Poor attendance will have a negative effect on your grade, and if excessive, could result in a failing grade for the course. Lateness will also affect your grade adversely (Note: you will not be able to take a quiz if you arrive after it has been handed in; you will not be given extra time to complete a quiz if you arrive late).
Students are expected to be prepared for class and to be courteous to fellow students. Please silence any electronic devices like cell phones (No texting during class discussion, please.) or laptops, and turn off any portable music players. You may use a laptop for note taking. Once you arrive in class, please do not leave the class until you are excused by the instructor.
Please note: ASU RAMmail account is the university’s official means of electronic communication with students. Students are required to use the ASU website (www.asurams.edu) and RAMmail for important university’s official information on financial aid, current class schedule, registration holds, account balances, etc. In order to communicate with students by other means as needed, each student is required to provide the university with his/her current telephone number(s) and mailing address via BannerWeb.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the use of the work of another as your own. This act could be grounds for failure for the course and for disciplinary action by the University. If you are ever in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism, please see the instructor.
This section may use plagiarism prevention technology. Students may have the option of submitting papers online through a plagiarism prevention service or having the papers submitted by the instructor. The papers may be retained by the service for the sole purpose of checking for plagiarized content in future student submissions.
University Writing Reinforcement Policy
Writing is integral to teaching and learning in all disciplines. Writing in this course will be evaluated with rubrics established for the different online class activities. Writing activities in this course will be evaluated and may include in-class and out-of-class writing assignments and essay writing required on examinations. All written work must reflect good English composition.
Academic Honesty:
See Student Code of Conduct for policy on academic integrity (policy below).
SECTION 1. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY (UNDERGRADUATE)
The intentional misrepresentation of one’s work to deceive for personal gain, when in fact said work is not that person’s or assisting another to do the same. Academic Dishonest includes, but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, and fabrication.
SANCTIONS: Probation and a recommended grade of “F’ in the course, University suspension for not less than one year.
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA): If you are an individual with a disability who requires accommodations, please discuss this with the instructor during the first week of class (preferably, immediately after the first class period). It is your responsibility to inform Counseling and Student Disability Services (CSDS), in room 2-140 of the New Student Center, of your disability; the DSSP Coordinator can be reached at (229) 903-3610 main/430-1711. The instructor will, upon receipt of a letter from the Office of Disability Services, make the recommended academic accommodations for you:
Counseling and Student Disability Services
New Student Center – Office 2-140 in the Green
Telephone number: 229-903-3610 Main
Ms. LaHura Larkin, Student Disability Coordinator, 229-903-3611
Course Outline: (Please note that readings and assignments are due on the dates listed. This outline is subject to change.)
Week 11/7 / Introduction of course: What is African American Literature?
1/9 / “Introduction: Talking Books,” pp. xxxvii; “Harlem Renaissance: 1919-1940,” 953-962
1/11 / Schomburg, “The Negro Digs Up His Past,” 962; Locke, “The New Negro,” 983
Week 2
1/14 / Garvey, 995-1003; Schuyler, “The Negro-Art Hokum,” 1220
1/16 / Claude McKay, 1003: “If We Must Die,” “To the White Fiends,” “Africa,” “America,” “Home to Harlem,”1007-08 & 1010-16.
1/18 / G.D. Johnson, 993: “The Heart of a Woman” and “I Want to Die While You Love Me” 994
Week 3
1/21 / MLK Day. No Class.
1/23 / Hurston: 1022; “Characteristics of Negro Expression,” 1041
1/25 / Hurston, 1019: “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”; “The Gilded Six-Bits,” 1030
Week 4
1/28 / Fisher, 1224: “The Caucasian Storms Harlem,” 1236; Larsen, Quicksand, 1085.
1/31 / S. Brown, 1248: “Long Gone,” 1248; “Strong Men,” 1252; “Memphis Blues,” 1254; “Ma Rainey,” 1258
2/1 / Cullen, 1339: “Yet Do I Marvel,” 1341; “Tableau,” 1341; “Incident,” 1342; “Heritage,” 1347; “To John Keats, Poet at Spring Time,” 1350.
Week 5
2/4 / Hughes: “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” 1311; From The Big Sea, 1325.
2/6 / Hughes,1288: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 1291; “Mother to Son,”1292; “Weary Blues,” 1294; “I Too,” 1295; “Harlem,” 1308
2/8 / Toomer, 1168: Cane, 1170-1176 (through “Carma”); “Georgia Dusk,” 1177; “Fern,” 1177; “Portrait in Georgia,” 1186; “Blood-Burning Moon,” 1186; “Bona and Paul,” 1213; .Article Review Due
Week 6
2/11 / “Realism, Naturalism, Modernism: 1940-1960,” 1355.
2/13 / Wright, 1399: “Blueprint for Negro Writing,” 1403; “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow,” 1411
2/15 / Wright: “Long Black Song,” 1419; Short Essay Due.
Week 7
2/18 / Petry, 1496: “Like a Winding Sheet,” 1497; From The Street, 1504
2/20 / Himes, “To What Red Hell,” 1488
2/22 / Ellison, 1535: “Richard Wright’s Blues,” 1538; From Invisible Man, 1548.
Week 8
2/25 / M. Walker, 1617: “For My People,” 1619; Brooks, 1623: “kichenette building,” 1625; “the mother,” 1625; “a song in the front yard,” 1626; “We Real Cool,” 1630; “Malcom X,” 1640
2/27 / Baldwin, 1696: “Everybody’s Protest Novel,” 1699; “Sonny’s Blues,” 1728
3/1 / Midterm
Week 9
3/4 / Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, pp. 1725-1764 (up to Act II, Scene 2)
3/6 / Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, pp. 1764-1789
3/8 / Film: Scenes from A Raisin in the Sun
Week 10
3/11 / “The Black Arts Era: 1960-1975,” 1831; Fuller, “Towards a Black Aesthetic,” 1853
3/13 / Gayle, 1911: “The Black Aesthetic,” 1912
3/15 / Honor’s Day Convocation (Attend for extra credit); No Class.
Week 11
3/18 / Evans, 1850: “Status Symbol,” 1851; “I Am a Black Woman,” 1851; Rodgers, 2122: “It is Deep,” 2125; “For Sistuhs Wearin’ Straight Hair,” 2126
3/20 / Baraka, 1937: “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note,” 1939; “Black Art,” 1943
3/22 / Lorde, 1919: “Poetry is Not a Luxury,” 1924; “Coal,” 1922; “Litany for Survival,” 1923
Week 12 (Spring Break, March 23-29)
Week 13
4/1 / Sanchez, 1963: “Summer Words for a Sistuh Addict,” 1963; “homecoming,” 1964; “poem at thirty,” 1964; “for our lady,” 1965
4/3 / Giovanni, 2096: “For Saundra,” 2096; “Beautiful Black Men,” 2097; “Nikki-Rosa,” 2098
4/5 / Founder’s Day Convocation (Required to attend); No Class.
Week 14
4/8 / Film
4/10 / Film
4/12 / Film
Week 15
4/15 / “Literature Since 1975,” 2127 and Morrison:2210; Sula
4/17 / Sula; “Rootedness: The Ancestor of Foundation,” 2286
4/19 / Sula
Week 16
4/22 / Walker, 2425: “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” 2430; “Everyday Use,” 2437
4/24 / Butler, 2515: “Bloodchild,” 2516
4/26 / Hemphill, 2644: From Conditions, 2645; Critical Essay Due.
Week 17
4/29 / Reflections: What is African American Literature?
Final Exam / TBA
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