Course title: American Literature and Culture 2: Narrating Race in American Literature and Film
Instructor: Prof. Mark Metzler Sawin, PhD (visiting scholar)
e-mail: sawinm@gmail.com
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/7957944768
ECTS credits: 6
Status: elective
Semester: 4th or 6th
Enrollment requirements: Introduction to the Study of English Literature 1 and 2
COURSE DESCRIPTION & OBJECTIVES: This course is a study of Black American literature, film, & culture from 1900 to today based on a New Historicism methodology–the idea that understanding texts (literature and film) is dependent on understanding the historical context in which they were created. As such, each week will include a discussion of the texts as well as lectures based on the history and culture of the era.
EVALUATION: Grades will be based on a continual assessment model that includes:
Brief Written Assignments: Four (800–1000 words each) covering different writing styles. 15% each—60% total.
Exams: Midterm and End of Term Exams covering the lecture content and readings. 15% each—30% total.
Attendance & Participation: Class attendance and participation mandatory—come prepared to discuss. 10%.
Readings (all texts will be supplied online or as PDFs):
● Booker T. Washington, excerpts from Up From Slavery (1901)
● W. E. B. Du Bois, excerpts from The Souls of Black Folks (1903)
● James W. Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912, novella)
● W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Comet” (1920, short story)
● Marcus Garvey, “If You Believe the Negro Has a Soul” (1921, essay)
● Alain Locke, “Enter the New Negro” (1925, essay)
● Zora Neale Hurston, “Muttsy” (1926, short story)
● Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963, essay)
● Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet” (1964, speech)
● Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), “What We Want” (1968, essay)
● Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970, novel)
● Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower (1993, novel)
● Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb” (2021, poem)
Films:
● Within Our Gates Oscar Micheaux, (1920, silent film, 1:15)
● St. Louis Blues Bessie Smith (1929, short film, 16 min)
● Black & Tan Duke Ellington (1929, short film, 18 min)
● Rhapsody in Black and Blue Lois Armstrong (1932, short film, 10 min)
● Emperor Jones, Eugene O’Neill, Paul Robeson (1933, film, 1:13)
● Native Son, Richard Wright’s 1940 novel adapted (1951, film, 1:48)
● In the Heat of the Night, staring Sidney Poitier (1967, film, 1:50)
● Uptight (1968, film, 1:44)
● BaadAsssss Cinema (2002, documentary, 55 min)
● The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973, film, 1:42)
● The Color Purple, Alice Walker’s 1982 novel adapted (1985, film, 2:34)
● Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee (1989, film, 2:00)
● Boyz N the Hood, John Singleton (1991, film, 1:52)
● Get Out, Jordan Peele (2017, film, 1:44)
● The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas’s novel, adapted (2018, film, 2:13)
