English/African American & African Studies 3598W:
Tuesday, Thursday, 11:15-1:10
Nate Mills: mills175@umn.edu
50C Lind Hall
Office Hours: Thursday, 2:30-3:30
African American Literature and Culture II: African American Culture and the Era of the Great
Migration
Perhaps the most significant event in twentieth-century U.S. history was the gradual yet large-scale
migration of African Americans out of the rural south to cities in both the south and the north. Between
approximately 1915 and the 1970s, large numbers of African Americans left southern states governed by
Jim Crow rule, ordered by white supremacy and racist terror, and plagued by economic decline. This
movement fundamentally changed the character of African American culture and politics, as well as the
manner in which race and race relations were understood in the United States. For all of American
history prior to the Great Migration, most African Americans had been concentrated in the south, lived
in rural environments, and worked in agricultural labor. 90% of African Americans lived in the south in
1910; in 1970, only 53% did, and approximately 80% of African Americans in the U.S. lived in cities. This
shift from the south to the north and west, and from rural communities to urban environments, is
reflected in a variety of ways in twentieth-century African American literature, culture, and politics. In
this course, we’ll survey twentieth-century literature and culture by foregrounding four major themes
shaped by the Great Migration: attempts to reimagine the culture and experiences of the traditional
rural southern black folk from the perspective of modern black life; the influence of anti-racist and anticapitalist modern politics and necessities of literary protest on African American writing; efforts to
represent the complexities of whiteness as a racial ideology and identity and to diagnose interracial
relations; and the late twentieth-century emergence of African American historical fiction that seeks to
understand the continued legacies and traumas of slavery in the present age.
Required Texts (Available at UMN Bookstore)
Jean Toomer, Cane
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Richard Wright, Native Son (1940 or “Abridged” Edition)
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Dutchman
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Additional required texts, as well as all course documents and assignments, will be available as electronic
files on Canvas.
Additional university and department policies that apply to this course can be found in the Additional
Classroom Policies document on Canvas.
Assignments and Grading
Discussion, Participation, Attendance: 10%
Micro-Essays: 30%
Paper #1: 30%
Paper #2: 30%
All grades on your individual assignments will be letter grades. For
the numerical ranges and equivalents of the letter grades, see the
Letter Grades document on Moodle.
Discussion, Participation, Attendance
This is a discussion-driven course. I’ll expect you to come to each class session not only having completed
all the assigned reading, but ready to explore, debate, and work through the reading’s key issues in
conversation with your peers. Active participation entails being prepared for each class session (you’ve
brought your copy of the readings with you, you’re taking notes as appropriate); speaking in class
discussions in an informed, thoughtful, and respectful manner; closely following and responding to the
ideas of your classmates; and engaging in any small group work or other class activities.
You will earn a B for this portion of your grade provided you participate regularly (at least once a week)
and productively in class discussion and in class activities. If you fall below this level of participation, your
grade will be lower. However, if you exceed it (for instance, if you participate in discussion frequently
and substantially, and consistently demonstrate your dedication to analyzing the readings and bringing
up subjects for discussion in class) your grade will be higher. At midterm, I will provide you with an
estimate of your final participation grade based on your performance to that point.
The ability to contribute to class requires, of course, your attendance in class. You should attend every
class meeting on time and remain in class for the duration of the period. You may miss two class
meetings, for whatever reason, without penalty. If you have more than 2 absences, your participation
grade will be automatically reduced by 1/3 (for example, a C+ to a C, a C to a C-) for each additional
absence. 3 or more unexcused absences beyond your first allowed 2 may result in your overall course
grade being reduced. 3 unexcused tardies will be counted as one unexcused absence. If you feel that an
absence or tardy warrants being excused due to extenuating circumstances, you must arrange to discuss
it with me immediately. Please see also the “Makeup Work for Legitimate Absences” policy in the
Additional Classroom Policies document.
Use your two free absences wisely: outside of rare circumstances, absences are not “excused.” Save your
absences in case you find yourself unable to make it to class one day, accidentally miss a class due to
changed travel plans, and so on.
Micro-Essays
At three points during the semester, you will write a 2-page analysis of a specific passage or textual
feature from one of the course texts. Further directions and prompts for these essays will be provided.
Toward the end of the semester (see course calendar), you will have the option to submit a fourth microessay. If your grade on that micro-essay is higher than your grade for any of the previous three, the
lower grade will be replaced with your grade on the fourth essay.
At the end of the semester, your three grades will be averaged to determine this component of your
final grade.
Papers #1 and #2
You will write 2 5-7-page papers (one near midterm and one at the end of the semester) in which you
will defend and develop an original argument about an issue or problem raised in the course readings.
You will be given a set of topic-based prompts from which you will choose the particular subject and
series of questions your argument will engage. Further directions for each paper, as well as a list of
topics, will be provided as deadlines approach.
Course Policies
Plagiarism
Plagiarizing an assignment may result in you receiving no credit on that assignment. Additionally, it may
cause you to automatically fail the course, and may lead to further punitive action. Please see the
“Student Academic Integrity and Scholastic Dishonesty” policy in the Additional Classroom Policies
document.
Cell Phone and Laptop Use
Please put away your phone during class. You may use laptops to take notes and access PDF materials in
class, provided your use doesn’t distract you or others from actively participating.
Recording Devices
You may not use any devices to record any class proceedings, unless you have a documented
accommodation that would require it. If you do require such an accommodation, be sure to let me know
at the start of the semester.
Religious Accommodations
If you have to miss class or need to make other arrangements for religious observances, please let me
know as soon as possible.
Disability Accommodations
The University of Minnesota is committed to providing equitable access to learning opportunities for all
students. The Disability Resource Center (DRC) is the campus office that collaborates with students who
have disabilities to provide and/or arrange reasonable accommodations. If you have, or think you may
have, a disability (e.g., mental health, attentional, learning, chronic health, sensory, or physical), please
contact the DRC at 612-626-1333 to arrange a confidential discussion regarding equitable access and
reasonable accommodations. If you are registered with the DRC and have a current letter requesting
reasonable accommodations, please contact your instructor as early in the semester as possible to
discuss how the accommodations will be applied in the course. For more information, please see the
DRC website: https://diversity.umn.edu/disability/
Sensitive Nature of Course Content
As twentieth-century African American literature explores the complexities and full extent of anti-black
racism in the United States, the internal workings of racist ideologies and racist stereotypes, and the
multiple forms of trauma racism has inflicted on African American life (such as economic marginalization
and sexual violence), this course necessarily deals with sensitive and often painful material. The issues it
covers are also by no means relegated to the historical past, but continue to shape present-day
experiences of all individuals living in the United States. While you will be required to engage with such
materially fully and in-depth, you must do with care, thoughtfulness, respect, and particular
attentiveness to the perspectives African American literature provides on U.S. history and society.
Course Calendar
Readings and other assignments are due on the date for which they are listed.
Specific page numbers for reading assignments will be provided over the course of the term.
9/3: Introductions, course policies, etc.
9/5: W.E.B. Du Bois, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk (1903); George
Schuyler, “The Negro-Art Hokum” (1926); Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial
Mountain” (1926)
After Migration: Looking Back at the South and the African American Folk
9/10: Jean Toomer, Cane (1923)
9/12: Continue Toomer MICRO-ESSAY ONE ASSIGNED
9/17: Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
9/19: Continue Hurston; MICRO-ESSAY ONE DUE
9/24: Continue Hurston
9/26: Margaret Walker, from For My People (1940): “For My People,” “Southern Song,”
“Lineage,” “Molly Means,” “Bad-Man Stagolee,” “Kissie Lee,” “Big John Henry.”
Literary Protest and Modern Politics in the Urban North
10/1: Richard Wright, Native Son (1940)
10/3: Continue Wright MICRO-ESSAY TWO ASSIGNED
10/8: Continue Wright
10/10: Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952) MICRO-ESSAY TWO DUE
10/15: Continue Ellison PAPER #1 ASSIGNED
10/17: Continue Ellison
10/22: Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
10/24: Continue Hansberry
10/29: In-class viewing: Sorry to Bother You (2018, dir. Boots Riley)
10/31: Finish viewing / discuss PAPER #1 DUE
The Ways of White Folks and The Ethics of Race Relations
11/5: Langston Hughes, from The Ways of White Folks (1934): “Cora Unashamed,” “The Blues
I’m Playing”
11/7: NO CLASS
11/12 Lorraine Hansberry, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (1964)
11/14 LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Dutchman (1964) MICRO-ESSAY 3 ASSIGNED
11/19: In-class viewing: Get Out (2017, dir. Jordan Peele)
11/21: Finish viewing / discuss MICRO-ESSAY 3 DUE
11/26: TBA
11/28 – THANKSGIVING BREAK - NO CLASS OPTIONAL REWRITE OF PAPER #1 DUE THIS WEEK
Seeking the African American Past Within the Present
12/3: Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987) OPTIONAL MICRO-ESSAY (#4) ASSIGNED
12/5: Continue Morrison
12/10: Finish Morrison; Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations” (2014) OPTIONAL MICROESSAY (#4) DUE
PAPER #2 DUE DURING EXAM WEEK (TBA)