The Black Writer in America
  [an online course*]


ENGL A373:W51  Fall 2008
Dr. Barbara C. Ewell
 
    Black Writers of America

Revised: 22 July 2008.  [Note time change for first meeting.] All information here remains subject to change; check for updates.
This course will survey the many contributions of African-American writers to the literary traditions of the United States. Those contributions are virtually contemporary with the colonization of North America--represented in the poetry of African-born Phyllis Wheatley--and shaped the themes and genres of American literature for the next three hundred years. The wealth of available material will force us to be selective, but we will try to construct a coherent overview of the major writers and significant periods: from the slave narrative to local color fiction, from the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights movement. Writers will include familiar figures like Frederick Douglass, Richard Wright (whose centennial is being celebrated) and Toni Morrison as well as lesser-known authors such as Charles Chesnutt, Nella Larsen, and Lorraine Hansberry (whose 1959 play was recently revived on Broadway). And to help us better appreciate the contexts of these works, we will also read a selection of non-fiction, by influential thinkers like W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Toni Morrison and James Baldwin.

Requirements will include reading and reflection on the texts, participation in weekly discussion forums on Blackboard, and the completion of a multi-part writing and electronic project on a Black writer in America.

*Online courses require access to Blackboard.com through a browser (such as Explorer or Foxfire). The course will be conducted through the internet, though there will be two scheduled on-campus meetings, Friday evening, August 29 (5:30 p.m.--7:30 p.m.)  and Friday, December 5, 6 p.m. in BOBET 100 (The WAC Lab). 
Please contact me after August 15, 2008, if serious hardship or unavoidable conflict will keep you from attending the required organizational meeting on August 29. Students within driving distance should plan to attend--and students who attend will find that the course goes much more smoothly.

Required Texts:
[Note: some of these texts may also be available as e-texts; there may also be changes or substitutions.]
A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Himself. Boston: Bedford Books, 1993. ISBN 031207531-6
Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: Dover Thrift Editions, 2001. ISBN 0486419312
Charles Chesnutt. Tales of Conjure and the Color Line: Ten Stories. New York: Dover Press, n.d. ISBN 0 486 40426 9
Hurston, Zora Neale.  Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Perennial, 1998  ISBN: 0060931418
Richard Wright. Native Son. New York: Harper, 2005. ISBN 006083756X
Lorraine Hansberry. Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage, 1994. ISBN: 0679755330
Toni Morrison. The Bluest Eye. New York: Penguin, 2000. ISBN: 0452282195
Z. Z. Packer. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. New York: Riverhead Books, 2004 ISBN: 1573223786
Paul Beatty, White Boy Shuffle (2nd ed.) New York: Picador Press, 2001. ISBN 031228019X

Recommended/Optional:
Instant Access: The Pocket Reference for Writers. Michael L. Keene and Katherine H. Adams. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. ISBN: 0072819928

Many of these books will also be available for purchase at Maple Street Books (support your local bookstores!) If you're trying to cut costs, many texts are also available secondhand through other commercial booksellers. But unless you just want to read these wonderful books anyway, please wait until this list is confirmed before you buy.

Course Prerequisites
Prerequisite courses required: COMP119 or ENGL-T122 and LITC260, ENGL-T125 or ENGL-A205 or equivalent courses.

Course Requirements (tentative)
Weekly Comments  (35%)
The heart of this course (apart from reading the texts themselves) will be our electronic "discussions": asking and answering each other's questions and sharing our responses. These discussions will be conducted on the "Discussion Board" of Blackboard.com.  Students will be expected to post a substantive comment  (150-300 words) in response to the text and my introductory remarks by Saturday midnight. By the next Tuesday, everyone in the class will have commented on or reacted to the responses of least two other people (100-150 words each).

Your participation in these weekly discussions, including the timely submission of comments and responses, will be graded contractually (all assignments = A; fewer = B, etc.) and will constitute your "class attendance."

You will be responsible for timely and regular contributions to the discussion group every week. If any lateness or irregularity persists in your submissions, you will be asked to drop the course or receive a failing grade.
Keeping up with these discussions is one of the most challenging parts of an online course, and falling behind is the chief reason for attrition--just remember that "online" isn't the same as "self-paced."

Writing Assignments (25-30%)
The formal writing in this course will be a series of assignments based on the contexts of and works by African-American writers, both those covered in the course and from a supplementary list.  These assignments, due throughout the semester and involving various degrees of research, will provide some of the basic content for a final collaborative electronic presentation.

Electronic Presentation of Research (15-20%)
One of the ways that we'll reflect the online nature of this course will be a final electronic presentation of your research on Black writers in America. Some details and criteria will be established together. Collaboration with other members of the class will be required (but not to worry: this will turn out to be more of an advantage than a disadvantage, even if you are really taking this course "at a distance"). There will be presentations of your work at our final meeting on Friday evening, December 5. 

Final Examination (15-20%)
A comprehensive essay exam. Due on or about December 5.

IF YOU DECIDE TO REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE, BE SURE THAT YOUR  E-MAIL ADDRESS IS ACCURATE IN LORA and on BLACKBOARD; IF IT ISN'T, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURSE.