AML 1600 - African-American Literature

Communications Department

Credit(s): 3
Contact Hours: 47
Effective Term Spring 2015 (495)

Requisites

(Prerequisite ENC 1101 with a minimum grade of C or
Prerequisite ENC 1101H with a minimum grade of C or
Prerequisite IDS 1101H with a minimum grade of C or
Prerequisite IDS 1111H with a minimum grade of C) or
Prerequisite appropriate score on the college placement test

Course Description

This course is designed to survey the major fiction, poetry, drama, and essays of selected African-American writers through the twenty-first century. It emphasizes issues and ideas that have influenced African-American literary expression and explores personal responses to the African-American experience as reflected in American culture. It examines African-American literature through four periods: Slavery, The Civil War and Reconstruction, The Harlem Renaissance, and the Contemporary Period. It traces human experiences as they unfold in African-American literature and American culture, while also exploring the historical background, social issues, and diverse ideologies of each period. This course requires substantial reading, library research, and the composition of the research paper.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

  1. The student will understand the modes of African-American literary expression that originated from four major periods of American history by:
    1. interpreting the modes of African-American literary expression induced by the period of slavery (from 1619 to 1863).
    2. contrasting the modes of African-American literary expression that prevailed during the period of The Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877).
    3. identifying the modes of African-American literary expression that reflect the changes which began to reshape African-American experiences during the period of the Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940).
    4. analyzing and interpreting the modes of African-American literary expression that reflect the issues, values, and conditions that prevailed, and continue to prevail, during the Contemporary Period (1940 to present).
  2. The student will understand the roles and experiences of African-Americans and the impact of these experiences on American culture as perceived by African-American writers by:
    1. defining the historical backgrounds of the four major periods: the period of slavery, the period of The Civil War and Reconstruction, the period of the Harlem Renaissance, and the Contemporary Period.
    2. comprehending selected topics that identify the conditions that prevailed during the period of Slavery, the period of The Civil War and Reconstruction, the period of the Harlem Renaissance, and the Contemporary Period which led to the shaping of African-American literary expression.
    3. presenting personal responses to the impact of the African-American experience on the total American culture and literary expression and the role of African-American literature as an aid to understanding the emerging multicultural nature of American contemporary society.
  3. The student will synthesize the impact of the African-American experience on the American culture as reflected in African-American literary tradition by:
    1. composing summaries of a historical, cultural, and societal nature.
    2. completing objective tests prepared by instructor.
    3. maintaining a journal of personal responses as they relate to major events depicting the four periods.
    4. writing essays that describe or explain the incorporation of African-American traditions into the cultural mainstream.
  4. The student will use research methods effectively to compose a research paper and other essays of literary interpretation by:
    1. locating sources, either print or electronic, through references such as periodicals, informational files, and general reference aids.
    2. evaluating library assignments, magazine articles, newspaper articles, based on the four periods previously mentioned.
    3. composing a multi-paragraph critical essay on a poem, a short story, a novel or a play.
    4. writing a multi-paragraph research essay.

Criteria Performance Standard

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will, with a minimum of 70% accuracy, demonstrate mastery of each of the above stated objectives through classroom measures developed by individual course instructors. The student will be able to compose a research paper, an optional oral report, and literary interpretative essays based on independent study and research. Each assignment will meet or exceed the criteria of at least Level 3 in the SPC Analytical Rubric Writing.

History of Changes

C&I 4/14/98, DBT 5/29/98 Effective 19981 SCNS changed # effect sess 19983 SCNS change/eff yr tr 20011 C&I 11/13/01, BT 12/18/01, Effective yrtr 20021. # changed from 1604 to 1600 SCNS eff 20051. 3 Year Review 2005 effective 20061(0370). Word Count removed eff 20061(0370). C&I 3/25/08, BOT 5/16/08, Eff20081(0400). Approved as Gen Ed by faculty and Provosts, Effective 20091(0415).
C&I Approval: 05/16/2014, BOT Approval: 10/21/2014, Effective Term: Spring 2015 (495)

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