Welcome!

Welcome to English 2650, African American Literature. This website is designed as a teaching aid for me, and as a rich resource for you to have access to information concerning the authors, eras, and movements we will be discussing this semester.

Over the course of our weeks together, I will be posting lessons, links to information, and online resources to class materials such as the syllabus, essay specifications, and notices to this website. I hope you will check in regularly, as you have open access to this blog, and it is your resource to learning. 

This fall, I have exciting plans for us that I hope will be enriching and rewarding for all of us. We will explore the nature of self-revelation in African American literature from the earliest slave narratives of Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass, to the 1970s return to folk culture initiated by Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Our coverage of the 20th century Civil Rights Movement will be complemented by a guided tour of the National Civil Rights Museum in November. In addition, we will explore the some of the directions that African American literature has taken due to the vibrant imaginations of contemporary African American--and Afro-Caribbean authors, such as Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson.

I look forward to a wonderful semester!

Syllabus

Textbook Information:
Gates, Henry L. et al. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. 2nd ed. New York: 
      Norton, 2004. ISBN: 0-393-97778-1