Renaissance, Resistance, and Revolution: 20th Century African American Literature

Renaissance, Resistance, and Revolution: 20th Century African American Literature is a Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies class taught by McKinley Melton.

Course Description
This course will examine major works, themes, and concerns of the African American literary tradition, focusing most specifically on writings produced from the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Arts Movement. Centering our discussions around the social, political, and cultural movements of the 20th Century, we will consider the manner by which literature has been utilized to give voice to the reality of African Americans, thereby re-writing narratives that previously sought to exclude and negate them. This course will engage novels, short stories, poetry, and drama as a means of not only exploring African American culture, but ultimately considering the African American presence as central to understanding American culture as a whole.

Learning Goals

 * Reading
 * Writing
 * Presenting
 * Multi-Cultural