Thinking Through Crisis: Reading 20th and 21st Century African American Literature and Cultural Theory Dr James

Ford What does it mean to be in a crisis? We live only a few years after a natural disaster ravaged the southern coast of the United States; we live only a few years after incidents of racial violence and judicial mishaps culminated in national protest; finally, these issues have been swallowed up by our worry over an economic breakdown that has been called a mere downturn by some, a recession by others, and even fewer have called it a depression. But none of these descriptions help us understand what we mean by crisis and what potential there is to think and act in such turbulent times. Interestingly, the same sorts of issues troubling our present also troubled Americans living in the Great Depression. African American writers of that period wrote novels, short stories, autobiographies, historiographies, poetry and other literary pieces that were both aesthetically rich and experiments in thinking critically about these issues. This course simply asks: How can Depression-era African American literature help us understand what it means to think during a crisis, and see the word as a concept, not just a media buzz word? Readings will include canonical authors like W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B Wells, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Carter G Woodson, studied alongside artistic and theoretical responses to Hurricane Katrina, Jena 6, and other recent events. Writing Assignments: This course will be split into five sections. At the beginning of each new section, a four-page essay will be due on the previous section. Each four page essay will consist of an argument for how a particular literary piece and historical event we discuss in class might help us to address a contemporary problem. Required Texts Richard Wright, Uncle Toms Children Ida B Wells, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B Wells W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction Woodson, Mis-Education of the Negro Introduction: The Black Worker Aug 26th: Course Introduction Aug 31st: The Ethics of Living Jim Crow; Richard Wright, Blueprint for Negro Writing 1. On Hurricane Katrina

Sept 2: selections from When the Levees Broke Sept 7th: LIBRARY SESSION Sept 9th: Lecture and Presentation: The 1927 Flood through Newspaper Materials/Documentary Footage Sept 14th: Richard Wright, Down by the Riverside Sept 16th: Richard Wright, Down by the Riverside, continued 2. On Jena 6 Sept 21st: selections from documentary, The Jena 6 3-page Section 1 papers Due! Sept 23rd: Charles Johnson, The End of the Black American Narrative & Old Guard versus New Guard Sept 28th: Lecture: On Late 19th/Early 20th Century Racial Violence in America Sept 30th: selections from Ida B Wells, Crusade for Justice Oct 5th: Crusade for Justice, Continued Oct 7th: Review/ TBA 3. On Education Oct 12th: Lecture: Framing Woodsons Miseducation/ Double jeopardy: public education in New Orleans before and after the Storm, Michael Casserly 4-Page Section 2 papers Due! Oct 14th: selection from Mis-Education of the Negro Fall Break (Oct 18th Oct 24th) Oct 26th: W.E.B. Du Bois, The Founding of the Public School in Black Reconstruction 4. 2008 Election and Black Political Organization Oct 28th: Video: A More Perfect Union, Barack Obama 4-page Section 3 papers due!

Nov 2nd: Speeches, Barack Obama Nov 4th: Lecture: The Propaganda of History Nov 9th: Black Reconstruction, The General Strike Nov 11th: Black Reconstruction, The Coming of the Lord 5. On Internationalism Nov 16th: Barack Obama, speeches on International Relations 4-page papers for Section 4 Due Nov 18th: Lecture: 1930s Black Internationalism Nov 23rd: Hughes, selections from The Collected Work of Langston Hughes: Volume 9,Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and World Affairs, People without Shoes, [originally in New Masses 12 (October 1931): 12]; White Shadows in a Black Land, [originally in Crisis 39 (May 1932): 157]; To Negro Writers [originally in American Writers Congress]; Palaces, Priests, and Power November 25th- 29th, Thanksgiving Holiday Nov 30th: Viewing: selections from film Emperor Jones Dec 2nd: Hughes, Troubled Island, Emperor of Haiti Dec 7th: Hughes, Troubled Island, Emperor of Haiti Dec 9th: Last Day of Class Dec 14th: Final Paper Due