Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” addresses all the stifled and distorted narratives about the role of African Americans in U.S. history and culture (“You may write me down in history”) and, in a powerful act of resilience, pays tribute to the ability of blacks to overcome the many obstacles put in their way (“I rise / I rise / I rise”).
In this course, we will focus on representative texts by African American authors from the revolutionary period to the present because they, “too, sing America” (Langston Hughes). What contributions have black voices made to the genealogy of U.S. literature and culture in general? Which strategies, patterns, and specific genre elements seem typical of this important discourse within American literature? We will trace the genealogy of African American literature back to revolutionary poetry in the mold of Phillis Wheatley’s verse and the first ‘slave narratives’ (Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs). Special attention will be paid to the following phases: the genre of emancipatory black literature in the Reconstruction Era (Charles Chesnutt); the Harlem Renaissance (Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen); and Expatriate Literature (Richard Wright and James Baldwin). The course will end with a look at a classic of black postmodern literature (Toni Morrison). While mainly discussing poetry, autobiographies, and fictional texts (in the form of short stories and novels), we will also take a glance at key works of black non-fiction (Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois) and drama (Amiri Baraka).
Required Texts:
• Toni Morrison, Beloved (Vintage)
• A reader with primary texts will be made available at the beginning of the course.
