Writing Black Lives

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines how historical contexts and political movements inform writing black lives. We will examine how biographers know the “truth” of one’s own, or another’s life, and how to tell the truth in a form that is compelling and clear. What archives to biographers draw from in order to tell their stories? Do the archives of African Americans differ from Americans in general? What styes of storytelling are the most compelling for the given content? How do biographers account for audience in the stories that they tell? Students will read biographies, autobiographies, essays, and a graphic novel and watch biopics. They will be required to write different portions of biographic texts, including early memories, historical contexts, important life events, and descriptions of personal relationships. We will engage with biographical texts about Malcolm X, Audre Lorde, Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Nina Simone, John Lewis, Ella Baker, Angela Davis, and O.J. Simpson. In addition to weekly reading and discussion assignments, students will do preliminary research and present material on a biographical sketches that they will write.