The Age of Integration: African American Life and Culture

3 units

We will examine African American life and culture from June 1950 (the start of the Korean War) to May 1954 when the Brown decision to desegregate public schools was announced. We will look at some of the major writers to emerge at this time including Baldwin, Ellison, and Brooks, as well as revisit a writer who had huge success earlier, Richard Wright. We will examine African American life and culture against the background of the Cold War (the Korean War introduced the principle of integrated American armed services and it was our first anti-communist war) and against the background of popular culture (a new wave of black athletes were emerging including Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and others who followed Jackie Robinson to the majors, as well as Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston). We will look briefly at the career of Miles Davis. Undergraduate students only.