AA/EN 114A:
“If It Ain’t One Thing, It’s Five Others”:
Reading Multiplicity in the African American Canon
Fall 2012
M W 9:30 am – 10:50 am
Hathorn 303
Professor:
Email:
Website:
Office Hours:
Office Location:
Dr. Therí Pickens
tpickens@bates.edu
www.tpickens.org
M/W 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Hathorn 306, Juniper Door
Course Description: This course constitutes part one of a two-part course
designed to introduce students to African American literature. We start from the
premise that African American literature requires written, oral, and visual
literacies in order to engage the tradition. We will read a variety of authors that
participate in this tradition, ones that (in the words of Ralph Ellison), “slip the
yoke, and change the joke.” We will read canonical authors like Frederick
Douglass and Phillis Wheatley, and we will read less well-known authors like
Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Alice Dunbar Nelson. This class will require us to have
a nuanced, complicated discussion about what encompasses the African
American literary tradition.
Though our course will proceed chronologically, we will continue to return to
one particular idea: namely, that authors and critics create multilayered texts to
engage a range of social, political, and cultural issues. We will use the governing
theme of multiple layers as a point of departure to understand other ideas like
privilege, citizenship, intra-racial dynamics, gender & sexual dynamics and
political movements. We are unlikely to come to a consensus about these ideas,
but we will have a set of fruitful discussions that inform our own role as presentday inhabitants of this land. These are the guiding concerns of the course.
However, part of the course will rest in your hands since student interests and
observations determine the conversation (cf. Teaching Philosophy).
At times, this course may be difficult because it requires a new frame of reference
for American literature, history and politics. Though it is a 100-level course, our
topics might weigh on you more than other courses. I encourage you to be
patient with yourselves and your classmates as I firmly believe that your
continued effort and participation will greatly benefit you as readers and critics.
Course Objectives:
By the end of the courses students will be able to:
 Identify and describe major literary trends in African American literature;
 Identify major African-American authors and their contemporaries;
 Understand and explain the extra-literary concerns that shape the
development of African American literature;
 Explain the connections between African American literature and other
elements of American literature;
 Develop and sustain an argument regarding themes and texts in African
American literature.
Required Texts
Selections from Professor (available on Lyceum)
Frederick Douglass, Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass Written by Himself
William and Ellen Craft, Running A Thousand Miles for Freedom
Elizabeth Keckley, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty years a slave, and Four Years in the
White House
James Weldon Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Course Requirements and Grade Breakdown
Reader Response Journals 20%: You will be required to complete a journal that
reflects on the writing. Each entry should be in the neighborhood of 500 words
(no less and no more). It engages thoughtfully with your classmates’ ideas, the
text, class discussion, current events, or outside knowledge. These are not
emotive responses, but critical ones. Feel free to have unformed ideas, but do
veer away from unexamined ideas. You will need to complete five of these over
the semester. You must complete one for each unit (Folklore, Slave Writings,
Slave Narratives, Literature of Reconstruction, Renaissance Rumblings). Please
be mind of your writing netiquette, grammar and spelling. Your assessment will
rest on your thoughtful engagement in your initial responses as well as your
engagement with others. You do not have to have “right” answers, but rather
demonstrate that you are thinking critically about the materials. These are due at
the beginning of each class (depending on the texts to which you choose to
respond).
Take Home Midterm 20%: You will be required to complete a take home midterm.
You will be given one week to respond to two questions based on class
discussion. Your mid-term should be four to six pages total. Your goal is to have
a well-reasoned and thoughtful response that is blessedly free of grammar and
spelling errors.
Final Paper 30%: You will be required to complete one 6-8 page paper based on
the readings and discussions in the class. Your grade will be based on your
original thought, and clarity of argument. You must write the paper using MLA
style. You must also provide proof that you met with someone at Writing at
Bates. (A form will be available for you to fill-out on Lyceum.)
Participation/Attendance 30% - Your class participation is of the utmost
importance. You will be evaluated on the basis of your contributions to the class
(reading questions, comments, questions, group work, etc). You will not be
graded on attendance, but in order to receive a passing grade for participation,
you will need to be present. Keep in mind that attendance and participation
affect all other facets of your grade.
Discussion Questions, Surveys, Pop Quizzes, Free Writing Assignments (part of
participation grade) – In order to assess whether we are on track to meet our
classroom goals (cf. Class Objectives), I will ask you to complete any of the
following activities. Your responses must have proper syntax, punctuation and
grammar.
Grading Scale:
A = 96 – 100; A- = 90 – 95; B+ = 86 – 89; B = 83 – 85; B- = 80 – 82; C+ = 76 – 79;
C = 73 – 75; C- = 70 – 72; D = 60 – 69; F = 59 and below
Course Schedule:
Week 1:
9/5 – Introduction
Week 2: Folklore
9/10 – “How to Write a Letter,” “Why the Sister in Black Works Hardest, “Hot
Biscuits Burn Your Ass,” “De Reason Niggers is Working So Hard”
9/12 – “How to Write a Letter,” “Why the Sister in Black Works Hardest, “Hot
Biscuits Burn Your Ass,” “De Reason Niggers is Working So Hard”
Week 3: Slave Writings
9/17 - Jupiter Hammon, “An Evening Thought,” “An Address to Miss Phillis
Wheatly”
9/19 – Phillis Wheatley, “[To the Publick],” “On Being brought from Africa to
America”
Week 4: Slave Narratives
9/24 – Frederick Douglass, Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass Written by
Himself
9/26– Frederick Douglass, Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass Written by
Himself
Week 5: Slave Narratives
10/1 – William & Ellen Craft, Running A Thousand Miles for Freedom
10/3 – William & Ellen Craft, Running A Thousand Miles for Freedom
Week 6: Slave Narratives
10/8 – Elizabeth Keckley, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty years a slave, and Four Years
in the White House
10/10 – Elizabeth Keckley, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty years a slave, and Four
Years in the White House
Week 7:
10/15 – Take Home Midterm Due, 5 pm, Lyceum
10/17 – Fall Recess
Week 8: Literature of Reconstruction
10/22 – Charles Chesnutt, “Passing of Grandison” & “The Goophered
Grapevine”
10/24 – Charles Chesnutt, “Passing of Grandison” & “The Goophered
Grapevine”
Week 9: Literature of Reconstruction
10/29 – Anna Julia Cooper, “Womanhood a Vital Element in the Regeneration
and Progress of a Race”
10/31 – Booker T. Washington, “Atlanta Exposition Address”
Week 10: Literature of Reconstruction
11/5 – W.E.B. Du Bois, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”
11/7 – Ida B. Wells-Barnett, “The Case Stated”
Week 11: Literature of Reconstruction
11/12 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, “Ode to Ethiopia,” “A Negro Love Song,” “We
Wear the Mask,” “The Haunted Oak”
11/14 – Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson, “Violets,” “I Sit and Sew,” “April Is on the
Way”
Week 12:
11/19 – Thanksgiving Recess
11/21 – Thanksgiving Recess
Week 13: Renaissance Rumblings
11/26 – James Weldon Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
11/28 – James Weldon Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Week 14: Conclusions
12/3 – James Weldon Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
12/5 - Conclusions
12/12, Final Paper Due, 5 pm, Lyceum