English 154/Women’s Studies 154
Memory in African-American Literature
Professor Jeannine King
jmking@stmarys-ca.edu
Lecture:
Sichel 101
TTH 11:20-12:50
Office:
Dante 314, x4760
Office hours: TTH 1:30-2:30
Course Description
The South Africa Freedom Charter states: “our struggle is that of memory against
forgetting.” In North America, both colonial and post-Revolutionary visions of progress
were informed by the desire for freedom from the past. In contrast, for AfricanAmericans, the temporal rupture of slavery made their sense of history and progress more
complex: a struggle of memory against forgetting, voice against silence. In this course, as
we consider the literature of African-Americans, we will examine the artistic expression
of slavery, emancipation and modernity as a site of this struggle.
Texts:
Morrison, Toni. Beloved (1987)
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl (1861)
Toomer, Jean. Cane (1923)
Wright, Richard. Native Son (1940)
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
X, Malcolm. The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)
Jones, Gayl. Corredigora (1975)
Packer, ZZ. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (2003)
Course Reader
Learning Goals
In this course, you will:
 be introduced to the canon of African-American literature, from the 19th century
to the present.
 explore a variety of literary genres, including poetry, short stories and novels.
 define and analyze formal features of literature, such as point of view, plot,
character, and imagery.
 Explore the connections between form and meaning
 define, apply and integrate the fundamental vocabulary of literary analysis and
cultural criticism.
 analyze the intersections of race, gender, class and sexuality in literature and
literary criticism
 show the relationships between literary texts and their historical, political and/or
social contexts
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Requirements
 Active class participation
 prospectus for each paper
 short paper
 research paper
 eight one- page “talking” papers
 group-led discussion
 critical film-viewing
Grading
 Research paper (includes prospectus): 40%
 Short paper (includes prospectus): 30%
 Participation (includes group-led discussion): 20%
 Talking papers and short responses: 10%
Course policies
 All assignments must by typed and double-spaced on 8-1/2" x 11" paper. Please
include page numbers. For full credit, submit all work (first draft, peer editors’
comments) with the final draft stapled on top.
 Attendance: If you are absent more than 3 times, your participation grade will be
lowered. I will count five late arrivals as one absence.
 Late paper policy: All papers must be turned in at the beginning of class. If you
are late, so is the assignment. The late penalty is 1/3 of a grade off (e.g. from B to
B-) for every day late. Since this is an intensive course, it is strongly
recommended that you keep up with the work.
 Plagiarism on one assignment will result in an F for the entire course.
 Academic Honor Code: Saint Mary’s College expects every member of its
community to abide by the Academic Honor Code. According to the Code,
“Academic dishonesty is a serious violation of College policy because, among
other things, it undermines the bonds of trust and honesty between members of
the community.” Violations of the Code include but are not limited to acts of
plagiarism. For more information, please consult the Student Handbook at
http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/your-safety-resources/student-handbook [for
traditional undergraduate students] or http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/graduateprofessional/graduate-and-professional-student-handbook [for graduate and
professional students].
 Student Disability Services: Student Disability Services extends reasonable and
appropriate accommodations that take into account the context of the course and
its essential elements for individuals with qualifying disabilities. Students with
disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Office at
(925) 631-4358 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation
guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding the services
available may be found at the following address on the Saint Mary’s website:
http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/sds
3

Library Assistance: Reference/Information assistance is available at the
Reference Desk, by phone (925) 631-4624, text message or IM. Check the
Library’s “Ask Us” link for details: http://library.stmarys-ca.edu/ask-us/ Extended
assistance by appointment is also available. Contact the subject librarian for your
major or any of the Reference librarians for an appointment. Or, if you'd prefer,
you can provide the contact link information for your Subject Librarian, which
can be found at this link: http://library.stmarys-ca.edu/about/staff/selectors.html.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Neo-slave Narratives
I’ll not ask for the impossible;
one learns to walk by walking.
In time I’ll forget this empty brimming,
I may laugh again at
a bird, perhaps, chucking the nest—
but it will not be happiness,
for I have known that
from “Demeter Mourning” in Mother Love: poems, Rita Dove (1995)
Voyage through death/ voyage whose chartings are unlove.
from “Middle Passage” in A Ballad of Remembrance, Robert Hayden (1962)
T.8.29
Introduction to the course
TH.8.31
Morrison, Toni. Beloved (to 133)
Discussion Question
T.9.5
Beloved (134-end)
Talking Paper
TH.9.7
Beloved
“Slavery and Social Death” Orlando Patterson
Steven Biko, “On Death”
Group Presentation
T.9.12
Beloved
Documentary
4
Slave Narratives
i am outside of
history. i wish
i had some peanuts, it
looks hungry there in
its cage
i am inside of
history, its
hungrier than i
thot
“Dualism” in Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone, Ishmael Reed (1970)
TH.9.14
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl
Discussion Question
T.9.19
Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl
Hazel Carby, “Slave and Mistress” from Reconstructing Womanhood
Talking Paper
TH.9.21
Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl
Group Presentation
Migration: Between past and present
Money burns the pocket, pocket hurts,
Bootleggers in silken shirts,
Ballooned, zooming Cadillacs,
Whizzing, whizzing down the street-car tracks
from “Seventh Street,” in Cane Jean Toomer (1923)
T.9.26
Toomer, Jean. Cane
Discussion Question
TH.9.28
Cane
Talking Paper
Griffin, Farah Jasmine, excerpt from Who Set you Flowin’?
T.10.3
Cane
5
Group Presentation
Prospectus #1 due
Masculinity
I am eager to burn
this threadbare masculinity
this perpetual black suit
I have outgrown.
from “Heavy Breathing,” in Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry, Essex Hemphill (1992)
T.10.10
Wright, Richard. Native Son
Talking Paper
TH.10.12
Native Son
Peer-editing Paper #1
T.10.17
Native Son
Ellis Cose. “A Group Apart” in The Envy of the World
Group Presentation
Memory, Gender and the Quest
We shall not always plant while others reap
The golden increment of bursting fruit,
Not always countenance, abject and mute,
That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;
Not everlastingly while others sleep
Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,
Not always bend to some more subtle brute;
We were not made eternally to weep.
from “From the Dark Tower,” in Copper Sun, Countee Cullen (1927)
TH.10.19
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God
Discussion Question
Final Draft Due: Paper #1
T.10.24
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Group Presentation
6
TH.10.26
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Film
Memory and Political Movement
Calling black people
Calling all black people, man woman child
Wherever you are, calling you, urgent, come in
Black people, come in, wherever you are, urgent, calling
you, calling all black people
calling all black people, come in, black people, come
on in.
from “SOS,” in Black Magic, Amiri Baraka (1969)
T.10.31
X, Malcolm. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Discussion Question
TH.11.2
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Poetry of the Black Arts Movement
Talking Paper
T.11.7
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Group Presentation
Memory and the Body
I am a black woman
the music of my song
some sweet arpeggio of tears
is written in a minor key
and I
can be heard humming in the night
Can be heard
Humming
in the night.
from “I Am a Black Woman,” in I Am A Black Woman, Mari Evans (1970)
TH.11.9
Jones, Gayl. Corregidora
Discussion Question
T.11.14
Corregidora
7
Angela Davis, “I Used to Be Your Sweet Mama”: Ideology, Sexuality and Domesticity”
Talking Paper
TH.11.16
Corredigora
Group Presentation
Memory, Love and Forgiveness
It is the thickest blood on this planet
The feet that slip
That slide in spilled lakes of black blood
On back roads marked with rusted dead-end signs
They don’t fit into any shoes
Not Nikes
Not Reeboks
from Blood, Sarah Jones
T.11.21
Packer, ZZ. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Talking Paper
TH.11.23
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
T.11.28
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Group Presentation
TH.11.30
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Peer-editing: Paper #2