ENG 270 African American Literature
This course offers an introductory selection of African American Literature, from the earliest writers to writers active today. The texts have been chosen so as to represent some of the important trends, themes, issues, and tensions within the tradition. Our first aim is to cultivate a greater understanding and appreciation of this very rich cultural tradition, but the class will by its nature be dealing with the broad evolution of political, social, and cultural conditions in American history. Authors may include Wheatley, Douglass, Jacobs, Dunbar, Hughes, Hurston, Petry, Wright, Ellison, Baldwin, Brooks, Hayden, Baraka, Lourde, Morrison, Butler, McPherson, Naylor, E. P. Jones, Mullen, Rankine, and Mosely.