African American Literature After 1975

Over the past fifty years, African American writers have generated some of the most acclaimed and innovative writing in American letters. This course seeks to better understand the historical, political, and aesthetic currents that have shaped this expansive body of writing. In so doing, we will consider this literature in relation to the legacies of black radicalism, the evolution of black feminist thought, the economics of the literary marketplace, and the history of the transatlantic slave trade. Authors include Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, Claudia Rankine, Percival Everett, and Gayl Jones.