This class will focus on the genre of African American protest literature. In this seminar we will examine the literary history of African American protest literature by interrogating pamphlets, short stories, plays, and novels. We start class by reading Pamphlets of Protest: An Anthology of Early African American Protest Literature, 1790 – 1860 and then move to the poems of Phyllis Wheatley to examine how the very act of writing itself is a form of protest used to establish the humanity of African Americans. We will continue with Frederick Douglass’s novella The Heroic Slave and My Bondage and My Freedom. To continue our discussion of slave narratives we will turn to Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. To further our discussion of abolitionists narratives we will read other nineteenth century narratives such Martin Delany’s Blake and David Walker’s Appeal to Colored Citizens of the World. From there we will move to W.E.B Du Bois’s often overlooked symbolic novel The Dark Princess before moving to Richard Wright’s Native Son and more contemporary manifestations of African American protest literature such as Ann Petry’s The Street, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Alice Walker’s Meridian, Sam Greenlee’s political satire The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Leroi Jones’s play Dutchman & The Slave, Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice, and George Jackson’s Blood in My Eye. The goal of this course is to come to terms with how the political dimensions of African American literature have shifted over time in relation to different political struggles such as the abolitionist movement, the civil rights movement, and the feminist movement.
Learning outcomes
-Provide students with an overview of African American protest literature
-The ability to write scholarly articles & essays
– Professional development (writing abstracts and conference presentations)
Possible Assignments
-Conference style presentation (1 or 2 depending on class size).
-A final paper 15 to 20 pages in length that incorporates at least 15 sources
Readings
Newman, Richard. Pamphlets of Protest: An Anthology of Early African-American Protest Literature, 1790-1860 ISBN-13: 978-0415924443 (Publisher: Routledge)
Walker, David. David Walker’s Appeal. ISBN-13: 978-1406527827 (Publisher: Dodo Press)
Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom. ISBN-13: 978-0300190595 (Publisher: Yale University Press)
Douglass, Frederick. The Heroic Slave: A Cultural and Critical Edition ISBN-13: 978-0300184624 (Publisher: Yale University Press)
Cooper, Anna. A Voice from the South. ISBN-13: 978-0847684083 (Publisher: Roman and Littlefield)
Harper, Francis. Iola Leroy ASIN: B008AJH0QK (Publisher: Penguin Classic)
Griggs, Sutton. Imperium in Imperio ISBN-13: 978-0812971606 (Publisher: Modern Library)
Delany, Martin. Blake or The Huts of America ISBN-13: 978-0807064191 (Publisher: Beacon Press)
Wells, Ida B. The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader ISBN-13: 978-0143106821 (Publisher: Penguin Classics)
DuBois, W.E.B. The Dark Princess. ISBN-13: 978-0878057658 (Publisher: University Press of Mississippi)
Wright, Richard. Native Son ASIN: B00HTJSTXA (Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
Walker, Alice. Meridian. ISBN-13: 978-0156028349 (Publisher: Harcourt; 1 edition)
Petry, Ann. The Street: A Novel ISBN-13: 978-0395901496 (Publisher: Mariner Books; unknown edition)
Jackson, George. Blood in My Eye ISBN-13: 978-0933121232 (Black Classic Press)
Cleaver, Eldridge. Soul on Ice ISBN-13: 978-0385333795 (Publisher: Delta; Sixteenth Printing edition)
Greenlee, Sam. The Spook Who Sat by The Door ASIN: B00Y4QIPZI (Wayne State University Press)
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun ISBN-13: 978-0679755333 (Publisher: Vintage)
Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time ISBN-13: 978-0679744726 (Publisher: Vintage)
Coleman, Jefferey. Words of Protest, Words of Freedom: Poetry of the American Civil Rights Movement and Era (ISBN-13: 978-0822351030) (Publisher: Duke University Press Books