University of North Carolina at Greensboro

8

Prof. Noelle Morrissette

Dept. of English

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Office: 3135 Moore Hall for the Humanities

Office hours: MW noon-1pm and by appt.

E-mail (best contact):

English 376: African American Writers after the 1920s

MWF 11-11:50, GRAHAM 424

Course description:

This upper-level course provides an examination of modern and contemporary African American literature, concentrating on novels, poetry, essays, and drama, and emphasizing gender and sexuality in relationship to race. Texts will be read through major historical periods of African American experiences and literary responses to them: the Depression and Realism and Modernism; Black nationalism and Black Aesthetics (the Black Arts Movement), Black feminism; and the “post” Civil Rights era and post-Soul aesthetics. We’ll consider whether there are distinct male and female experiences represented in the literature we read, and consider the development of interdependent and/or distinct black male and female literary traditions over the course of the twentieth (and twenty-first) century; we’ll also probe the ways that other categories, especially class and sexuality, intersect with the category of gender, sometimes troubling the very idea that there are actually “male” and “female” experiences at all. Topics for analysis include narrative and poetic strategies, major literary themes, and canon formation and genre practices. Visual art and film may accompany the introduction of texts.

Required texts (available at the University Bookstore in the Student Center):

Baratunde Thurston, How to be Black (for students with last names beginning with A-L); or

Joan Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost (for students with last names beginning with M-Z)

Hurston, Zora Neale, Their Eyes Were Watching God

Ann Petry, The Street (for students with last names beginning with A-L); or

Wright, Richard, Native Son (for students with last names beginning with M-Z)

Hansberry, Lorraine, A Raisin in the Sun

Walker, Alice, The Color Purple

Morrison, Toni, Sula

Wolfe, George C., The Colored Museum

Everett, Erasure

All other required readings available on Blackboard.

Note: students are required to bring a hard copy of Blackboard readings to class on the date they are discussed.

Course Requirements (please see below for description):

Participation as discussant (15%);

Reading Quizzes, In-class Writing, and/or Response Papers (5%);

Formal Essay (25%);

Midterm Exam (25%)

Final Exam (30%)

Course Objectives (Learning Outcomes):

Based on the description above, this course is structured to produce the following learning outcomes:

1.  Deepen students’ knowledge and appreciation of African American literary history through the careful analysis of representative texts and authors. Students will improve their understanding of the personal, cultural, and political experiences of African Americans as it is reflected in the literature of the period (20thand 21st centuries).

2.  Improve students’ knowledge and use of appropriate critical terminology used in the analysis of literary texts. This terminology will improve students’ ability to analyze and appreciate the formal and aesthetic qualities of literature and deepen their understanding of creative processes.

3.  Enhance students’ skills in oral and written expression of critical thinking. Students will practice thinking critically about both the literature they study and the interpretations they produce by questioning the key assumptions operating in the literary texts they read and those that inform their own interpretations of those texts. Students will develop their own hypotheses, theories, and interpretations of the literature they read. Students will improve their ability to frame questions, analyze specific images, symbols, passages, and scenes, and to present interpretations of literary work in both oral and written formats. In written communication, particular attention will be paid to writing clear, concise sentences and paragraphs, structuring original analyses and arguments in a clear and compelling way, and documenting arguments effectively through the use of outside sources, as required.

Pedagogical Method:

This course emphasizes discussion-based teaching, in which student participation animates the direction of the class material. Discussion will focus on facilitating a shared exploration of the meaning of the assigned texts through rigorous analysis of the text itself, consideration of it in relation to other authors, genre, periods, and theories surveyed in our readings. Students are expected to make these connections and foster discussion by addressing questions and comments to their classmates and by active listening.

Course Schedule (subject to change as per instructor):

M Aug 18th: Introduction to course materials and requirements. Partial screening, Marlon Riggs, “Ethnic Notions” (full version on Bb)

W Aug 20th: Discussion of Langston Hughes, “Who’s Passing for Who?” and Zora Neale Hurston, “What White Publishers Won’t Print”; Patricia Hill Collins, “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images” (Blackboard)

F Aug 22nd: Baratunde Thurston, How to Be Black and Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost; Robert Townsend, Hollywood Shuffle (film clip)

Definitions: Satire/ Post-soul

M Aug 25th: Baratunde Thurston, How to Be Black and Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost; Spike Lee, Bamboozled (film clip)

W Aug 27th: Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, chapters 1 through 9

Definition: Blidgungsroman

Definition: Blues/ vernacular

F Aug 29th: Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, chapters 10-conclusion

Distribution of paper topics, formal paper.

M Sept 1st: Labor Day holiday. Class dismissed; offices closed.

W Sept 3rd: Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

F Sept 5th: Richard Wright, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow” (Blackboard);

Wright, Native Son, Part One (“Fear”) or Petry, The Street, first half of novel

Definitions: Realism and Naturalism

M Sept 8th: Wright, Native Son, Part Two (“Flight”) or Petry, The Street, second half of novel.

W Sept 10th: Wright, Native Son, Part Three (“Fate”) (novel in entirety).

F Sept 12th: Ishmael Reed, “O.J. and Bigger” (Blackboard).

M Sept 15th: Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (in entirety)

W Sept 17th: Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

Due date: Formal Essay

F Sept 19th: Screening, “The Murder of Emmett Till”

M Sept 22nd: Gwendolyn Brooks, “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon”; “Lovers of the Poor”; “Kitchenette”; “The Mother” (Blackboard)

W Sept. 24th: Black Arts Readings: Amiri Baraka, “Black Art”; Larry Neal, “The Black Arts Movement”; Maulana Karenga, selection, The Afrocentric Idea ; Eldridge Cleaver, selection, Soul on Ice (Blackboard)

Definition: Spoken Word

F Sept 26th: Screen Black Power Mixtape (partial)

M Sept 29th: Black Arts Readings: Mari Evans, “I am a Black Woman”; Giovanni, “For Saundra” and “Beautiful Black Men”; June Jordan, “Poem About My Rights”; Carolyn Rodgers, “For Sistuhs Wearin Straight Hair” and “The Last MF” (Blackboard)

W Oct 1st: Screen Wattstax (partial)

F Oct 3rd: Morrison, Sula, in entirety.

M Oct 6th: Morrison, Sula, cont’d.

W Oct 8th: Morrison, Sula, cont’d.

F Oct 10th: In-class midterm. No make-ups.

Fall break, Sat. Oct. 11th through Tues. Oct 14th.

W Oct 15th: Smith, “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism” (Blackboard); McDowell, “New Directions for Black Feminist Criticism” (Blackboard); and Sula

F Oct 17th: Ntozake Shange, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

M Oct 20st: Ntozake Shange, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

W Oct 22nd: Audre Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic” (Bb); “Poetry is Not a Luxury” (Bb); Sapphire, “There’s a Window” and “in my father’s house” (Blackboard)

F Oct 24th: Walker, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” (Blackboard);

Definition: “Womanism” (Bb)

M Oct 27th: Walker, The Color Purple, through page 116

W Oct 29th: Walker, The Color Purple, page 117 through conclusion

F Oct 31st: Walker, The Color Purple

M Nov 3rd: Essex Hemphill, “Commitments” and “When My Brother Fell” (Blackboard)

W Nov 5th: Riggs, “Black Is, Black Ain’t” screening, part one

F Nov 7th: Riggs, “Black Is, Black Ain’t” screening, part two; discussion.

M Nov 10th: George C. Walker, The Colored Museum (in entirety); Riggs, “Confessions of a Snap! Queen”

W Nov. 12th: Walker, The Colored Museum

F Nov. 14th: Everett, Erasure part one

M Nov 17th: Everett, Erasure, in entirety.

W Nov 19th: Ellis, “The New Black Aesthetics” (Bb); Everett, Erasure, cont’d.

F Nov 21st: McGruder, selection from Boondocks (cartoon strip)(Bb)

M Nov 24th: McGruder, Boondocks (animated).

W Nov 27th through Sun Dec 1st: Thanksgiving Break

M Dec 1st: Last day of classes. Final remarks; review for final exam.

M December 8th, noon– 3pm: Final exam. No rescheduling and no make-ups.

Outline of Course Policy and Requirements:

You must complete all assignments, written and oral, to receive a passing grade for this class.

Participation as discussant: (15%);

Reading quizzes, In-class writing and/or response papers (5%);

Formal Essay (25%);

Midterm Exam (25%);

Final Exam (30%)

What you should know about plagiarism:

It is incumbent upon you, as a scholar, both to document the borrowings you make from the work of others and to report more general indebtedness to the people and books (and lectures, internet sources, et cetera) you have consulted in the course of preparing your papers. Plagiarism consists of intentionally misrepresenting someone else’s work, words, or insights as your own. Like any other form of intellectual dishonesty, plagiarism is a serious offense in an academic community. A paper that shows evidence of plagiarism will receive a failing grade of “F” and will lead to a failing grade of “F” for the entire course term. Every case of plagiarism will be reported to the University Honor Committee for disciplinary action, which may range from further reprimand to expulsion from UNCG.

Students are expected to adhere to the University Academic Honor Policy. See below.

Dean of Students Office:

The Dean of Students office oversees academic integrity at the university.

sa.uncg.edu/dean

On this webpage you will find the Academic Integrity Policy, which all students are required to uphold for this class and in the entirety of their studies at UNCG. Students are required to report violations to the policy to the appropriate instructor and the Dean of Students. Students who do not understand the academic integrity policy and/ or its application to a particular assignment are responsible for raising such questions with their faculty member.

Students are required to provide and sign the Academic Integrity Pledge on all exams and papers submitted in this class. The instructor will not grade your work until the signed statement is submitted. The instructor will not accept your work unless it is accompanied by the Academic Integrity Pledge. Any work submitted without the pledge will be returned and will be considered late.

Academic Integrity Pledge:

I HAVE ABIDED BY THE UNCG Academic Integrity Policy ON THIS ASSIGNMENT.

Student’s Signature ______Date ______

Learning disabilities:

If you wish to receive accommodations for a learning disability, you must formally work with the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services, formerly ODS:

ods.uncg.edu

Writing Center:

If you need additional help in writing your formal papers for this class, please consider visiting the University Writing Center. The WC offers online advising as well as face-to-face tutorials:

writingcenter.uncg.edu

Late work:

The course moves at a rapid pace, so all work must be completed on time. Late work will lower your final grade. Late written assignments will be penalized by one letter grade per day, with a maximum of two calendar days. After two days, you may not submit your work for a grade and you will receive a zero for the assignment.

Classroom deportment:

Our classroom is a space that fosters and supports respect and collaboration. Do not interrupt class with private conversations, note-passing, or late arrival to class. Cell phones, PDAs, Blackberries—anything with an on/off switch—must be turned off at all times. Use of computers is not permitted without prior permission from instructor.

Office Hours:

Every week I will be available in my office for consultation. Office hours are your opportunity to talk to me about the reading and writing process and the ideas that you develop on an individual basis. If you cannot make my office hours, you may schedule an appointment with me for another time.

·  Attendance:

Regular attendance and active participation is required. Attendance at all classes is required. Latecomers will be counted as absent. I will accept valid doctor’s notes and advance notification of religious observances only as excuses for absences. If you miss more than two classes, I will inform your academic advisor of your unsatisfactory standing in the class and your final grade will be lowered by one full letter grade per absence, starting with the third absence. If you miss more than four classes, you will receive a failing grade for the course.

·  Participation:

You must keep up with the readings in order to fulfill your obligation as a member of the class and a participant in the ongoing discussion. Your participation will be graded on the basis of the on-time completion of reading assignments. Our class is a seminar, not a lecture: your participation in classroom discussions is not only welcomed—it is required. I expect thoughtful comments and questions and active listening.

Participation as discussant (15%):

During the first week of classes, a sign-up sheet will be circulated, and each registered student will be required to sign up for four dates as a discussant. A discussant may raise questions or introduce observations about the assigned reading for the day. He or she is required to make a significant, thoughtful contribution to the day’s class discussion based on the assigned readings in entirety for that class meeting. There are no make-ups for these dates of discussion. It is the student’s responsibility to sign up for four meetings and to keep track of which dates he or she has chosen. If you miss your designated dates as discussant, you will automatically receive a failing grade for the assignment (15% of your final grade).

·  Written work:

Informal writing assignments (5%), including in-class writing, impromptu quizzes, and response papers at the discretion of the instructor, comprise 5% of your final grade. No make-ups will be given for these assignments.

Formal Paper (6-7 pp.; 25%):

Note: Papers that are not properly documented will receive a zero and will lead to a failing grade in the class.

Your essay will present your interpretation of a literary text through the practice of close reading—that is, using the primary text (most often in direct quotation) to reinforce, elucidate, and develop your assertions. The essay’s original argument should be defined by linking it to a larger critical issue that we have discussed over the course of the semester (for example, but not limited to, black masculinity, black feminism, black queer studies). Moreover, your essay must demonstrate breadth of research in the critical issue you identify. A successful essay will position the author’s original critical argument in relationship to theory and criticism addressing the topic and/ or text you have chosen to analyze. Your essay must adhere to the paper format requirements outlined on Blackboard. For all other questions of citation, consult the MLA Handbook, available in online and in Reference at the UNCG Jackson Library.