COURSE OUTLINE
OLT 322 African American Literature
Course Description
African American literature has its beginnings in the oral literature that was kept alive in the
form of songs and narratives even under difficult slave conditions. These difficult conditions
mark the struggle of the African American writers to find solutions, in their works, to the main
question: Who am I? The course investigates the various ways African Americans have tried to
answer this question, incarnated in the Negro Spirituals, the Slave Narrative, the poetry of the
Harlem Renaissnace, the examination of blindness and invisibility in the post-Depression era, the
works of James Baldwin and finally the politically engaged works of Amiri Baraka and at last
the voicing of their own issues from African American writers. Of all the damage slavery
caused, robbing people of their identity, and thus their dignity and sense of humanity was the
worst, and as such the quest for identity and the development of a self-consciousness are at the
core of this literary exploration.
Objectives
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Know the sources of African Amerian literature.
Trace the historical evolution African American literature, in particular how each period
contributes to the developing identity and self-consciousness of African Americans.
Be able to discuss the forces oppressing African Americans, from outside and from
within themselves.
Be able to explain the imagery of violence, of freedom, and the themes of blindness and
invisibilty.
Course content
PART 1: FROM SLAVERY TO THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
Knowledge area 1
Introduction to African American Literature
• Who are the African Americans?
• The origins of African American literature
• The forces shaping African American identity
• The “Negro Spiritual”
Knowledge area 2
Frederick Douglass and the Slave Narrative
• Origins of the slave narrative
• Structure and patterns of the slave narrative
• Frederick Douglass
• Imagery in Douglass’ narrative
• Self-awareness and the quest for identity
Knowledge area 3
The Harlem Renaissance and its Poets
• Harlem and the North
• The forces shaping the Harlem Renaissance
• Garvey and black nationalism
• Claude McKay poetry
• McKay’s imagery and racial identity
• Langston Hughes
• Imagery in Hughes’ poetry
• Hughes’ use of language
• The development of African American self-consciousness
PART II: DEPRESSION TO NEW VOICES
Knowledge area 4
The Depression and its Authors
• The literary direction of the Depression authors
• Richard Wright: Native Son
• Native Son: Imagery, Symbolism, Identity
• Ralph Ellsion: Invisible Man
• Invisibility and blindness
• The continuing quest for African Americans’ identity
Knowledge area 5
James Baldwin
• An exploration of oppression
• Identity
• Love as a force of liberation
• Hatred is self-defeating
• The quest for self-awareness: the individual
• Go Tell it on the Mountain: themes
• The African American Church
• African Americans’ developing self-consciousness
Knowledge area 6
New Voices
• Amiri Baraka’s engagement in reality
• The Dutchman and its themes
• Violence and identity
• Feminist Literary Criticism
• The Challenges facing African American Women Writers
• Toni Morrison: Beloved
• Sisterhood
• Alice Walker: The Color Purple
• History and identity
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Criticism of African American men
The strengths of African American women
The evolution of African American self-consciousness
Topics explored include: 1. Slavery, race, self-­‐consciousness, the background and use of oral narratives, the meaning and use of the blues, negro spirituals, songs, autobiographies, violence, education for freedom, alienation and emancipation, the American dream, western civilization, black subjugation, the nature of master-­‐slave relationships. 2. Tracing the development of black consciousness as shown by the poets of the Harlem renaissance: Claude Mackay, Langston Hughes, etc. 3. Exploring the political and cultural rebirth of the black race as depicted by Marcus Garvey, Locke, Claude Mackay and Amiri Baraka. 4. Analysis of the thematic concerns in African American literature on issues of identity, violence, blindness, invisibility, discrimination, the Jim Crow laws, black escapism and the destruction of black manhood. 5. Examining the causes and impacts of fate, dread, hate, disillusionment, sadism and shame that characterize black people in the USA. 6. Studying/analyzing the concepts of love and Christianity as perceived by James Baldwin, Richard Wright and others. 7. Craftsmanship in the literary artistic works of Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, etc., and their use of: -­‐imagery, point of view, flashback, irony, satire, symbolism, etc., to portray their messages. LECTURES: Lecture 1. African-­‐American Literature: Introduction Lecture 2. The Slave Narrative Lecture 3. Frederick Douglass Lecture 4. The Harlem Renaissance Lecture 5. Claude Mackay Lecture 6. Langston Hughes Lecture 7. The Period of the Depression Lecture 8. Richard Wright: Native Son Lecture 9. Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man Lecture 10. James Baldwin Lecture 11. James Baldwin: Go tell it on the mountain Lecture 12. James Baldwin: Blues for Mr. Charlie Lecture 13. Amiri Baraka Lecture 14. Women Writers: Toni Morrison and Alice Walker’s feminist approaches to African American literature Assessment: Students are evaluated by two examinations. TEXTS Baldwin, James The Fire Next Time Penguin 1971 Go tell it on the mountain Black swan 1984 Benston, Roseann et al, eds. Steady Black Bridges: visions of Black women in literature Anchor Books 1979 Bebston, Kimberly Baraka: the revenge of the black mask Yale University Press 1976 Bone, Robert The Black Novel in America Yale 1971 Brooks, Gwendolyn Selected Poems Harper and Row 1963 Douglass, Frederick The Narrative of a Slave’s Life Ellison, Ralph The Invisible Man Penguin 1970 Jones, leroi The Dutchman and The Slave Morrow 1964 Morrison, Toni Beloved New American library 1987 Rosenblatt, Roger Black Fiction Harvard University Press 1968 Wright, Richard Uncle Tom’s Cabin Harper and Row, 1975 Native Son 1978 Walker, Alice The Color Purple Pocket Books 1982 In Search of our Mothers’ Gardens Harcourt, brace, Jovanovich 1983