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Butler Community College
English Department
Humanities/Fine Arts Division
Fall 1998
  
African American Literature
Course Outline

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
LT219. African American Literature. 3 hours credit. African American Literature consists of readings in fiction, poetry, drama, and essays written by Black Americans from pre-slavery to contemporary writers. Literary, historical, and fine arts elements will be drawn from literature.

TEXTBOOKS:
Parks, Gordon, The Learning Tree.

Black Slave Narratives.
Selections chosen by instructor from various sources.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course, a student will be able to:

  1. identify geographic roots of African Americans.
  2. identify folk heroes and folk "types."
  3. identify eras of African American literary tradition and have read, discussed, and responded to works from each era.
  4. identify Black Kansans' contributions to African American literature.
  5. identify literary elements of fiction, poetry, drama, essays of assigned material.
  6. paraphrase political/social beliefs of Black scholars and essayists.
  7. point to contributions of African Americans in the lives of all Americans, especially in language, literature, and the arts.
  8. respond on a personal level in journal writing.
  9. formulate his or her personal reading list.
  10. create a time line of literary accomplishments in context of American history.
  11. articulate his or her beliefs about the role of African Americans in today's world using quotes from literature and events of history.
TOPICAL OUTLINE OF UNITS:
The above objectives will be met by reading, discussing, and responding to readings from the following units:

Slavery and Before

The Student will be able to:

  1. To identify diversity of African American heritage.
  2. Locate on a map African countries to identify countries or regions of origin.
  3. Show on a map immigration paths
  4. Locate on a map where slavery occurred in the Americas.
  5. To read and respond to black slave narratives.
  6. To understand what other African American writers were saying about their condition and the historical events their views precipitated.
African Homeland
  1. maps
  2. languages
Immigration
  1. Blacks already here
  2. The Middle Passage
Slavery in the Americas
  1. The Caribbean Islands
  2. The Colonies
Black Slave Narratives
  1. Gustavus Vassa
  2. Venture Smith
  3. Charles Ball
  4. Frederick Douglass
The Case Against Slavery
  1. Benjamin Banneker
  2. David Walker
  3. Nat Turner
  4. Martin Delany
  5. Dred Scott
  6. William Wells Brown
  7. Sojourner Truth
  8. Harriet Tubman
Folklore
The student will be able to:
  1. To understand the definition and function of folklore.
  2. To identify characters, themes, and types of stories common to African folklore.
  3. To compare those elements with African American folklore.
  4. To identify African American folk heroes
  5. To understand the definition and function of folklore
African
  1. heroes
  2. trickster tales
  3. people parables
  4. animal tales
American

legendary people

  1. John Henry
  2. Buck
  3. Annie Christmas
  4. Casey Jones
  5. Stagolee
  6. High John
  7. Marie LeVeau
trickster tales
  1. Br'er Rabbit
  2. other
folk humor

myths

  1. religious
  2. otherwise
III. Slave Songs and Spirituals
The student will be able to:
  1. To identify elements of African heritage in early African American music
  2. To identify religious references in spirituals and their symbolic references to slavery
  3. To understand the function of the songs and spirituals both religious and otherwise
Elements of African Music

Early "Christian-izing" of Slaves

  1. worship
  2. music
Spirituals
  1. Biblical references
  2. Symbolic references
hope

escape

IV. Civil War and Reconstruction
The student will be able to:

  1. To understand events that preceded the Civil War.
  2. To identify African Americans' contributions to the Civil War.
  3. To identify provisions of Reconstruction and be able to point to the results.
  4. To identify literature that rose from historical events of the era.
A Nation Divided
  1. slave states
  2. free states
  3. border states
Abolitionists

John Brown

Others

African Americans in the Civil War

  1. official policy and changes
  2. service
Emancipation Proclamation

Reconstruction

  1. Lincoln's ideas
  2. What really happened
Jim Crow laws

repeal of 1875 Civil Rights Act

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Populist Movement

  1. "Go to Kansas"
  2. Black Cowboys
  3. Buffalo soldiers
Two Scholars
  1. Booker T. Washington
  2. W.E.B. Dubois
Other Literature
  1. Paul Lawrence Dunbar
  2. Charles W. Chestnutt
  3. James Weldon Johnson
V. The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance
The student will be able to:
  1. Understand the reasons for the move North.
  2. Identify African American participation in the first World War and subsequent literature.
  3. To know the definition of the term "renaissance" and to be able to apply it to what happened with Black arts during the 1920's.
The Great Migration
  1. causes
  2. effects
World War I

Harlem Renaissance

The poetry

  1. Langston Hughes
  2. James Weldon Johnson
  3. Countee Cullen
  4. Sterling Brown
  5. Robert Hayden
The prose
  1. Zora Neale Hurston
  2. Arna Bontemps
The music
  1. jazz
  2. blues
Other media

VI. Social Changs and Civil Rights
The student will be able to:

  1. To identify how Franklin Roosevelt's policies helped black Americans, including the Federal Writers' Project.
  2. To identify Black leaders during World War II and to point to Black progress after the War.
  3. To identify the causes and effects of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's and 1960's and to identify leaders with their writings.
Writers of the 40's
  1. Richard Wright
  2. Ann Petry
Writers of the 50's
  1. Ralph Ellison
  2. James Baldwin
  3. Gwendolyn Brooks
  4. Mary Elizabeth Vroman
  5. Gordon Parks
The Civil Rights Movement
  1. Brown vs. The Topeka Board of Education
  2. Rose Parks' Legacy
  3. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  4. Malcolm X
Black Power
  1. The poets
  2. The prose
  3. The politics
Drama
  1. Alice Childress
  2. Lorraine Hansberry
The Roots Legacy

VII. Building on Tradition
The student will be able to:

  1. Identify voices of modern African American Writers and to recognize common themes or differences with previous Black voices.
  2. Describe "what's new" in Black literature.
  3. Identify African Americans' contributions to contemporary fine arts.
Prose
  1. Maya Angelou
  2. Alice Walker
  3. Toni Morrison
  4. Gloria Naylor
  5. other
Poets
  1. Maya Angelou
  2. Alice Walker
  3. Rita Dove
  4. Ntozake Shange
  5. Nikki Giovanni
Contemporary Children's Literature
  1. Mildred Taylor
  2. Leo and Diane Dillon
  3. John Steptoe
  4. Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Film
  1. "Midnight Ramble"
  2. John Singleton
  3. Mario Van Peebles
  4. Spike Lee
Theatre

Television

Music

Art

Methods of Instruction:
These objectives will be accomplished by lecture, class discussion of text and handouts, individual research, audio and video presentations, speakers as available, field trips, journal writing, and notebook/timeline/calendar.

Telecourses: Independent study of audio/video materials augmented by text and study guide; collaboration and participation with class members and faculty via available means. Faculty role is facilitator of learning experiences.

Student Responsibilities:
Students will read assigned text and handouts, participate in class discussion, take quizzes and exams (including a pre-test), complete research project, keep up with journals and notebook information, make up work missed, participate in field trip.

Methods of Evaluation:
Methods of evaluation will include quizzes, exams with objective and essay feedback, research project, class participation, evaluation of journal, notebook/timeline/calendar, evaluation of other work assigned at teacher's discretion.

Students with impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills are encouraged and have the responsibility to contact their instructor, in a timely fashion, regarding reasonable accommodation needs.