Syllabus--English 376                                                                  Professor Ferguson

African American Writers after 1920                                            Spring 2002

 

Students will read closely the writings of early twentieth- and twenty-first century African Americans and critically evaluate their literary, aesthetic, theoretical as well as, philosophical, and economic views.  The course also has the following goals, to:

 

            Identify and examine the types of genre used by these authors;

            Explore the stylistic features of their works such as character and theme;

            Examine social and political issues associated with later African

            American literature;

            Sharpen student ability to write organized, coherent, well-developed, and

            insightful essays.

 

Students will read closely and write perceptively about ongoing course readings, including introductions to assigned sections in your anthology.  Two 5-page course essays and midterm and final exams are also required.

 

Required Texts

 

Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary

Tradition).  Patricia Hill et al, Eds.  Houghton Mifflin, 1998

Parable of the Sower.  Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993

 

Tentative Reading Schedule

 

Jan.   14  Course Introduction

16     Booker T. Washington:  The Atlanta Exposition Address, pp.

681-684; W. E. B. DuBois, Souls of Black Folk, pp. 737-748 and

The Immediate Program of the American Negro, pp. 762-765

21    MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY

          23  Alain Locke: The New Negro, pp. 855-865; W. E. B. DuBois: Criteria of

      Negro Art, pp. 850-855 

          28  George S. Schuyler:  The Negro Art Hokum, (HANDOUT); Langston

       Hughes: The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, pp. 899-902

          30  Marcus Garvey: Speech Delivered at Madison Square Garden, March

               1924 (HANDOUT))

 Feb.   4  James Weldon Johnson: O Black and Unknown Bards pp. 870-871

               Countee Cullen:  Yet Do I Marvel, p. 915

  6  Rudolph Fisher: Miss Cynthie, pp. 973-982; Jean Toomer: Karintha,

      pp. 958-959; Claude McKay: The Harlem Dancer, p. 885; FIRST DRAFT OF

      FIRST ESSAY DUE

11    Walter White: I Investigate Lynchings, pp. 841-84; Anne Spencer, White      

      Things, p. 877; Claude McKay: If We Must Die, p. 883

         13  Richard Wright:  Big Boy Leaves Home (HANDOUT)

         18  Zora Neale Hurston: Sweat, pp. 949-955; Ann Petry: Like

               a Winding Sheet, pp. 1028-1037

20    Robert Hayden: A Letter from Phillis Wheatley, pp. 1141-1142; Melvin Tolson: Dark Symphony, pp. 1123-1126; FIRST ESSAY DUE

         25  Langston Hughes: The Weary Blues, 8891-8892, A Good Job

               Gone (HANDOUT)

         27  Margaret Walker: For My People, 1157-1160; Gwendolyn Brooks:

               the mother, p. 1168

Mar.   4  Ralph Ellison: Prologue, pp. 1274-1283; REVISION OF FIRST ESSAY DUE

          6  MIDTERM EXAM

        11  SPRING BREAK

        18  Ralph Ellison: Battle Royal ( from Invisible Man, HANDOUT)

        20  James Baldwin: Everybodys Protest Novel, pp. 1316-1320

25     Martin Luther King:  I Have a Dream, pp. 1420-1425

        27  Malcom X: Speech to African Summit Conference--Cairo,

              Egypt, pp. 1417-1420; Larry Neal: The Black Arts Movement, pp. 1450-

      1458

 Apr.  1  Amiri Baraka: Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note, Black Art,

             pp. 1501-1502; Haki Madhubuti: Two Poems, p. 1541

         3  Etheridge Knight: The Idea of Ancestry, pp. 1481-1484; Nikki Giovanni:

             Ego Tripping, pp. 1559-1560; Dudley Randall: Ancestors, p. 1146

         8  bell hooks: Black Women Shaping Feminist Theory, pp. 1844-1852; Barbara

             Smith: Toward a Black Feminist Criticism, pp.1815-1827; FIRST

             DRAFT SECOND ESSAY DUE

       10  Ntozake Shange: somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff, pp. 1829-

             1832; Gayl Jones: Ravenna, pp. 1834-1835

       15  Toni Morrison: Recitatif, pp. 1776-1786; Alice Walker, Everyday Use,

             pp. 1797-1802; SECOND ESSAY DUE

       17  James Alan McPherson: Private Domain (HANDOUT)

       22  Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower

       24  Butler, Parable of the Sower

29     Butler, Parable of the Sower; REVISION

      OF SECOND ESSAY DUE

May  1  Yusef Komunyakaa: Missing in Action, pp. 1926-1927

         6  Melvin Dixon: From Vanishing Rooms, pp. 1944-1947

         9  FINAL EXAM, 3:30 PM-6:30 PM

 

Evaluation

 

The course grade is determined by two 5-page essays that count for 25% each or 50% of the final grade; a midterm exam that counts for 20%, and a final exam that counts for 30%.  Students will prepare a first draft, a formal draft, and a revision of each essay.  The first draft of each essay is evaluated but not graded and may be written by hand (but skip a line); all other drafts are graded and must be typed.  The essays must have a clear thesis that addresses a specific issue such as character, structure, plot, theory, or theme.  The topics for both essays are assigned.  Make-up exams are rare, except for medical emergency for which the student provides documentation.  Grades are administered as follows: A= 4.00; A- = 3.7; B+ = 3.3; B = 3.00; B- = 2.7; C+ = 2.3; C = 2.00; C- = 1.7; D+ = 1.3; D = 1.00; D- = .7; F = 0; WF = 0

 

Attendance

 

Students with more than four unexcused absences will be dropped from the class, a task that is becoming easier to do with newer UNCG software.  Tardiness will not be tolerated and the classroom door will be closed at 3:30 PM.  Please do not open it after class has begun.

 

Office:  111 McIver Bldg.

Office Hours:  M: 4:45 PM-6:30 PM and by appointment

Office Phone:  334-5484

E-Mail: shfergus@uncg.edu