Black Life Before 1903

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course studies how pre-twentieth century black artists, activists, and cultural production imagined the possibilities for black freedom in light of the changing political and economic circumstances for black people in the antebellum and postbellum periods. Beginning with the black American spirituals, we will analyze a variety of cultural forms (literature, photography, speeches), topics (freedom, equality, civil rights), debates among black thinkers (Walker, Wheatley, Delaney, Stewart, Harper, Cooper, Wells, DuBois, Washington, Laney) in order to historicize and contextualize how black spaces have been thinking about, writing about, and debating about many of the contemporary conversations that animate African American Studies Accordingly, we will engage both primary and secondary texts (from the period and contemporary ones) to assist us in our task. Students should expect attendance, class participation, two exams, two short writing assignments, quizzes, and a final reader to assess their performance in the class.