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Issues and Problems in Black LIterature

01-African American Identity and Agency

This course addresses how authors explore identity formation and agency in twentieth-century African American literature. We will read works of fiction, poetry, autobiography and drama to examine questions such as these: How does the literature represent the relationship between Self and society? How do the characters articulate and perform multiple identities? How do the characters gain, wield, or resist power? How does each text intervene in cultural debates over what it means to be “black”? In this course, we will use critical race theory, gender studies, and psychoanalysis to frame our study of African American literature.

Readings may include:

James Weldon Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912) – Penguin, 1990

Richard Wright, Black Boy (American Hunger) (1945) – Perennial Classics, 1998.

Paule Marshall, Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) – Feminist Press, 1981

Gwendolyn Brooks, Selected Poems P.S. (1963) – Harper Perennial, 2006

Ernest Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying (1993) – Vintage, 1997

Amiri Baraka, Dutchman (1964) – Harper, 1971

Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls…(1976) -

Andrea Lee, Sarah Phillips (1984) – Northeastern UP, 1993

Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1977) – Vintage, 2004

Requirements include two papers (8-10 pages), oral presentation, online discussion posts, and regular attendance and active participation.