EN 215 - African American Literature

Credit Hours: 3

A survey of African-American literature from its inception to the present. The course will give attention to the influence of the African oral tradition and other pre-colonial cultural elements on subsequent African-American literature. The impact on African-American literature of North American religious traditions, social movements, and historical events will also be examined.

Course Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

demonstrate familiarity with the periods and movements in African American literature, including African traditions, and abolitionist writings during the Antebellum, with an emphasis on the slave narrative, Reconstruction, and the Nadir up to the Harlem Renaissance, including dates, works, and authors;
demonstrate an ability, through class discussion and written work, to critically assess the Black Aesthetic, primarily through literature and related arts: music, dance, and art;
identify genres, subjects, patterns, and themes characteristic of the Black experience in Africa, the Caribbean, and America;
Identify styles, devices, and techniques characteristic of African American literature;
demonstrate, through written work and class discussion, an ability to analyze the assigned texts through the conventions and methods of the humanities; and
demonstrate, through written work and class discussion, an understanding of the value of diversity and individual differences in an environment where individuals of different cultures, intellectual positions, and lifestyles can reach their full potential through the promotion of mutual respect and cross-cultural understanding.

F/S (C, N, S)