AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE--English 337W.01
“Idyll of the
Instructor:
Robert Donahoo
408 Evans Complex
Office Phone: 936-294-1421
Home Phone: 281-298-1442 (no calls after
Home E-mail: donahoo@flex.net (no attachements to my home computer will be opened)
Office E-mail:
eng_rxd@shsu.edu
Web page:
http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_rxd/
Office hours:
Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (
DuBois,
The Souls of Black Folk (Penguin edition)
Chesnutt, Conjure Tales and Stories of the Color Line
(Penguin edition)
Lewis, The Portable Harlem Renaissance (Penguin edition)
Ellison, Invisible Man (Vintage edition)
African-American
literature has existed almost since the first slave ship arrived in the
But that
began to change in the last two decades of the 20th century, and today even in
universities such as Sam Houston, located in a state that aligned itself with the
slave-holding Confederacy in the Civil War and in a region where, as the violence in
Jasper only a few years ago reminds us, race relations are neither idyllic or simple, we
find African American literature part of the English curriculum. However, the mere presence of a course such as this
one raises questions that will have to be addressed as this class proceeds. These include questions of definition (What is
ethnicity? What is “African
American”?), questions of the relationship between race and art (Does an
artist’s race play a part in his/her art? Should
an artist’s race limit subject matter? Do
African American artists use different artistic techniques than those of other races?),
and questions of the relationship between history and art (What role does the history of
African Americans play in African American art? How
has African American art affected African American or American history?). This last set of questions are probably the ones of
most interest me, but students will be allowed and encouraged to pursue their own lines of
interrogation and investigation as we explore the rich literary heritage that African
Americans have and continue to generate. Few
of us will resolve every question—if we ask good ones—but we will all grow in
our understanding.
OBJECTIVES:
These generalities can be translated in the following more specific course objectives.
1.
Acquaint students with variety of African American literary texts that will provide
them with a sense of the basic African American literary tradition.
2.
Help students to understand the arguments and definitions that have caused
particular texts to be labeled “literature” and help students to recognize the
“literary” qualities in specific texts.
3.
Help students improve their research and writing skills in the field of literary
studies.
4.
Acquaint students with the relationships between African American texts and between
those texts and history.
GRADES:
A student’s progress in meeting the objectives above will be measured by grades
determined as follows:
1.
Three exams—two of these will occur
a historical break points in our reading and study, and the third will occur during the
time assigned by the University for final exams. Each
exam will cover only reading material assigned in that third of the course. The exams will consist of some identifications and
definitions as well as essay questions. Collectively,
these exams will determine one-fourth of a student’s course grade.
2.
Daily quizzes—each class period
will begin with a quiz of usually 5-10 questions based on the readings assigned for that
class period. At each exam, I will determine a
“quiz” grade for each student based on the percentage of correct answers given
on the quizzes. I will drop the lowest quiz
grade from consideration. Thus, if we have
nine quizzes worth ten points each and a student earns 10 points on each of eight quizzes
and 6 points on the ninth, I will determine the student’s grade based on the eight
10-point quizzes, giving this student a quiz grade of “100.” At the end of the term, each student will have
three quiz grades. The average of these grades
will determine one-fourth of each student’s course grade. Students who arrive late or who miss a quiz for any
reason may not retake them at another time.
3.
Writing projects—Students in this
class have three writing projects: two
analysis papers and one annotated bibliography. The
specific assignments for each project is located at the
conclusion of this syllabus. All students
are required to submit all three assignments. Failure to submit one or more of the assignments
will result in an automatic “F” for the course.
Moreover, students whose assignment submissions are late will be penalized by a
lowering of the grade for that assignment. Collectively,
the three grades on these writing assignments will determine one-half of a student’s
course grade.
4
Attendance--For each day a student
attends a full class session, he/she will have one point added to the point grade of the
next collective quiz grade. Students generally
find that these extra points can give a highly positive boost to their grade performance. Also, this system aids me in judging attendance. I have no concern about an excused vs. an unexcused
absence, and I need not be notified or given an explanation by a student who misses class. If you attend, you earn the point. If you don’t attend, you don’t earn the
point. No negative penalty is attached to
failure to attend—though I must point out that students
who take advantage of this system to avoid attending class generally discover their
decision has dire consequences for their performance in the course.
Beyond these things, I can only add that students are strongly encouraged to
maintain close contact with me during the semester. Send
me questions and drafts via e-mail (please use both
by office and home e-mail addresses—no attachments, please); come by my office during
office hours, or schedule an appointment to see me in my office. I can be a bit shy and reserved at times, but I
enjoy talking with interested students. More
importantly, I want you to learn all you can and earn the best grade you are capable of
earning. Good luck!
Wheatley, “On Being Brought From
Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (pages 29-67)
Thursday 8/29 Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (pages 67-109)
Tuesday 9/3
Selected Spirituals: "No
More Auction Block," "I Know de Moonlight," "Go Down, Moses,"
"I Got a Home in Dat Rock," "Deep River,"
"Steal Away to Jesus," "Git On Board, Little Chillen," "Crucifixion," "I Thank God I'm Free
at Las'," "De Ole Sheep Dey Know De Road"
(electronic reserve)
Washington, Chapter 14 of Up From Slavery http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/WASHINGTON/ch14.html
DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (pages 1-50)
DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (pages 51-132)
DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (pages 133-217)
Dunbar, “The Colored Band,” “Douglass,” “In the Morning,”
“The Poet,” “The Seedling,” “Theology,” “We Wear the
Mask,” “He Had His Dream,” “When Dey ’Listed Colored Soldiers,” “A Negro Love
Song,” “The Poet and His Song,” “Ode to Ethiopia,” “Little
Brown Baby” http://www.plethoreum.org/dunbar/gallery.asp
Johnson, “The Color Sargeant,” “O Black and Unknown Bards,” “Go Down Death,” “The Creation” (all poems in Portable
Harlem
Renaissance)
Tuesday 9/17
Chesnutt, “The Goophered
Grapevine,” “
Chesnutt, “The Conjurer’s Revenge,”
“Sis’ Becky’s Pickaninny,”
“Dave’s Neckliss”
Chesnutt, “The Wife of His Youth,” “The Passing
of Grandison,” “Baxter’s Procrustes”
First Paper Due
The
DuBois,
“Returning Soldiers”
Locke, “The New
Negro”
Hughes, “When the Negro Was in Vogue,” “
C. Johnson, “The Negro
Renaissance and Its Significance"
Thursday, 10/3
McKay, ALL POEMS IN LEWIS TEXT
H. Johnson, ALL POEMS IN LEWIS TEXT
F. Johnson, “Children of the Sun”
DuBois, “Criteria of Negro Art”
Schuyler, “The Negro-Art Hokum”
Hughes, “The Negro Artist
and the Racial Mountain”
Hughes, ALL POEMS IN LEWIS TEXT
Hughes, “Luani of the Jungles,” “Father and
Son,” “The Blues I’m Playing”
Last day to drop without an “F”
Deadline
for degree applications for graduation May 2003
Cullen, ALL POEMS IN LEWIS TEXT
Brown, “Odyssey of the Big Boy,” “Ma Rainey,” “Long Gone,”
“Remembering Nat Turner”
Second Paper Due
Thursday 10/17
Hurston, “Drenched in Light,” “Color
Struck”
West, “The Typewriter”
Tuesday 10/22
Wright, “Blueprint for Negro Writing” [IN LEWIS TEXT]
“Big Boy Leaves Home”
“Ethics of Living Jim Crow”
Ellison, Invisible Man (prologue, chapters 1-3)
SCMLA conference, no class
Ellison, Invisible
Man (chapters 4-9)
Ellison, Invisible Man (chapters
10-13)
Ellison, Invisible Man (chapters
14-18)
Ellison, Invisible Man (chapters
19-22)
Monday
11/18
Last day for resignations from class
Ellison, Invisible Man (chapters
23-Epilogue)
Thursday
11/21
Baraka, “An Agony. As Now,” “A Poem Some People Will
Understand,” “Black Art,” “Black
People” (electronic
reserve)
Lee, “One-Sided Shoot-out,” “Big Mamma,” “We Walk the Way of the
New World” (electronic reserve)
Third Paper Due
Morrison, “Recitatif” (electronic reserve)
Thanksgiving Break, No Class
Final
Exam for Graduating Seniors
Writing Assignments
Assignment One
For students unfamiliar of unsure about performing an analysis and writing a paper
based on it, I strongly encourage you to meet with
me before attempting this assignment. In
general, however, an analysis of a literary text seeks to discover the literary elements
in a text (plot, character, symbol, imagery, tone, setting, etc.) that are at work in a
text. A paper based on analysis, uses the
analysis as “research” and constructs from it a meaning statement (a general
assertion about human experience or existence) for the literary text that becomes the
thesis for the student’s paper. The paper
then defends the thesis/meaning statement by showing the presence of the literary elements
in the text and explaining their connection to the meaning statement. In general, this is the process I will expect
students to follow for this assignment.
The subject of the assignment must be one
of Charles Chesnutt’s short stories that is not assigned for this
class. The unassigned stories include both
conjure tales and color line tales.
Students should select a story, analyze it (discover its literary elements), and
write a paper that uses the insights from that analysis to defend a meaning statement for
the story. Students may use research to help with their analysis, but
that research must be documented in the paper. RESEARCH IS NOT REQUIRED FOR THIS PAPER.
This essay will be evaluated using the following criteria::
1.
Does the essay offer a complete meaning statement that fits the definition of
“meaning statement” used in this class?
2.
Does the essay defend the meaning statement by accurately identifying and
explaining literary elements that are plainly connected to the meaning statement?
3.
Does the essay show thorough knowledge of the story selected for its subject?
4.
Does the essay use correct grammar and spelling?
5.
Does the essay follow MLA style for paper format and for citing the primary and, if
used, secondary, sources?
When the essays have been evaluated and returned, students may be given an
opportunity to revise the paper for a higher grade if the instructor believes a valid
effort was made on the original paper and if the student meets with the instructor prior
to revising the paper.
This paper should be three to five pages
in length, and it is due Tuesday, September 24.
Assignment Two
The goal of the paper will be to explain the ways the poem being examined is and is not typical of writing from the
Renaissance. To do this, students will have to
derive from lecture, reading, and research, a sense of what qualities typically appeared
in a poem from the Renaissance. These
qualities may concern subject matter, technique, or style.
After deriving their sense of what is a typical Harlem Renaissance poem, students
those examine the poem they have selected to see how it measures up. This should lead to a paper whose thesis states
either the nature of the poem’s connection
to the Harlem Renaissance or its degree of
connection.
The mechanical requirements of the paper are:
--it should be no longer than 750 words (that excludes title, headings, etc.) If I think your paper is longer, I will ask you for
a copy of it on disk and do a word count.
--it must follow MLA style for documentation and format.
--it must be submitted for evaluation on Tuesday,
October 15.
This essay will be evaluated using the
following criteria::
1.
Does the essay offer a complete thesis that connects the subject poem to the Harlem
Renaissance?
2.
Does the essay clearly delineate the qualities the writer sees as typical of
poetry/writing from the Harlem Renaissance?
3.
Does the essay show thorough and accurate knowledge of the poem selected for its
subject?
4.
Does the essay use correct grammar and spelling?
5.
Does the essay follow MLA style for paper format and for citing the primary and, if
used, secondary, sources?
This assignment has as its goal to make students aware of contemporary scholarly writing about literature. Rather than a traditional paper, it is an annotated bibliography. Its focus will be Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man, and it will require students to read scholarly pieces of writing about that novel.
Briefly, an annotated bibliography is, like all bibliographies, an alphabetical listing of texts--in this case, three secondary texts about Invisible Man. Each entry should consist of three items: a bibliographic citation of the secondary text done in correct MLA style; a concise, one-paragraph summary of hte content of the secondary source; a concise, one-paragraph response or evaluation of the secondary source based on the bibliographer's interpretation of Ellison's text. A more detailed description of an annotated bibliography as well as some sample entries is available on my webpage.
My length expectation for his project is no less than three but no more than six pages. It is due Thursday, November 21.