“Emerging African American Voice” Unit
Learning Objectives:
 Understand how African American literature both echoes “traditional” literary themes, but also differentiates itself
with specific and distinct themes of its own
 Demonstrate knowledge of the major texts and periods in African-American literature, such as slave narratives,
the Harlem Renaissance, and Black Arts Movement
 Discuss social, intellectual and historical influences specific to the development of African-American literature
 Demonstrate critical skills and knowledge of literary conventions used to evaluate works of poetry, nonfiction and
fiction
Lit Terms:
 Autobiographical essay
 Tone
 Symbol
 Metaphor
 Simile
 Mood
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Structure
Theme
Rhythm
Figurative Language
Syntax
Paradox
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Local Color Realism
Point of View
Paradox
Mood
Syntax
Reading Comprehension: (Summary, Literary Devices, EAAV Patterns):
Fiction/Nonfiction:
 Historical Background: A New Cultural Identity (p. 916)
 The Author's Style: Langston Hughes (p. 938)
 How it Feels to Be Colored Me--Zora Neale Hurston (p. 950--LBA)
 What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?—Frederick Douglass
 Returning Soldiers—W.E.B. Dubois
 The Lesson—Toni Cade Bambara
Poetry:
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We Wear the Mask—Paul Lawrence Dunbar (p. 835--LBA)
Sympathy—Paul Lawrence Dunbar (p. 835--LBA)
I, too—Langston Hughes (p. 924--LBA)
Weary Blues—Langston Hughes (p. 924--LBA)
Harlem—Langston Hughes (p. 924--LBA)
Negro Speaks of Rivers—Langston Hughes
If We Must Die—Claude McKay (p. 945--LBA)
The Lynching—Claude McKay
We Real Cool—Gwendolyn Brooks
Life for My Child is Simple--Gwendolyn Brook (p. 967--LBA)
Primer for Blacks--Gwendolyn Brooks (p. 967--LBA)
Note—Italicized readings can be found online on the Course Resources Page: http://cavsenglish11.wikispaces.com/Course+Resources
(Scroll Down to the Emerging African American Voice Unit)
Honors:
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My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation—James
Baldwin (p. 959—LBA)
My City—James Weldon Johnson (p. 940--LBA)
Any Human to Another—Countee Cullen (p. 940--LBA)
Yet Do I Marvel—Countee Cullen
Skills:
1. Identify and discuss aspects of African American Literature
2. Analyze one piece of literature for patterns of African American Literature
3. Choose one pattern and discuss its development through multiple readings.