ENGL 2810H - K Harlem Renaissance

Abstract

In the 1920s and 1930s, between World War I and the Great Depression, African American culture experienced a flourishing both in literature and the arts known as the Harlem Renaissance. The goal of this course is to give you a broad overview of Harlem Renaissance writing and to situate the works in their literary and political contexts, focusing on the ways in which literature represents, responds to, and shapes intellectual and political change. The course examines literature alongside art and music of the period and introduces you to some of the events and people that helped create the Harlem Renaissance. We’ll learn, for instance, about The Great Migration, the role of literary magazines in early 20th Century American literary life, the impact of W.E.B. Dubois, the significance of white patronage in Harlem, and the importance of Harlem as a cultural center. Readings will include fiction, essays and poetry by Countee Cullen, W.E.B. Dubois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Nella Larsen, Alain Locke, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and George Schuyler. Along with our reading, we’ll watch two documentaries about the period. We’ll also read selections from Isabel Wilkerson’s book on the Great Migration, The Warmth of Other Suns. Requirements for the course include in-class responses, discussion forums, three reading response letters, and a 7-10 page argument paper. There will be occasional pop quizzes to make sure you are keeping up with the reading. This is a “Forms, Identities, Reading Practices” course in English, designed to pose questions about who writes and reads for whom, in what ways, and why does it matter? It fulfills a III C Intro. requirement for the English Major. It fulfills Interpreting Literature and the Arts. Pre-requisite: English 1100 or 1200H or FYWR 1020. As an Honors course, it requires a 3.5 average or membership in the Honors program. It also fulfills an elective for the American Studies minor.