ROSE GLADNEY                                       
AMERICAN STUDIES 250
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA                               
1984

                            THE YOUNG SOUTH

Description

This course examines the twentieth-century American South as
depicted in autobiograhies and oral histories. Topics include
definitions of regional identity and the roles of race, class, and
gender in shaping contemporary Southern society.

Texts

Abbott, Shirley, Womenfolks: Growing Up Down South
Angelou, Maya, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Campbell, Will, Brother to a Dragonfly
Crews, Harry, A Childhood: Biography of a Place
Moody, Anne, Coming of Age in Mississippi
Raines, Howell, My Soul ls Rested
Smith, Lillian, Rillers of the Dream

Requirements

Regular attendance and participation in class discussion; three
papers in response to the assigned readings; and a final project in
which you interview a person born in the South before 1920, who has
lived in the region most or all of his or her life and, drawing
from your readings and class discussions throughout the semester,
write a biographical essay (10-12 typed pp.) using that individ-
ual's life as a focal point for discussing twentieth-century
Southern culture.

Course Outline

    January 10  Introduction
            12  Smith, Part I
            17  Smith, Part II
            19  Smith, Part III
            24  Smith, Part IV
            26  Paper due
            31  Crews

    February 2  Crews
           7-9  Angelou
            14  video, Angelou
            16  Abbott, chs. 1-3
            21  Abbott, chs. 4-6
            23  Abbott, chs. 7-8

     March 1-8  Moody
          13-15 SPRING BREAK
          20-29 Raines

     April 3-10 Campbell
             12 Honors Day - no class
          16-26 Class presentations of final projects
             26 All final projects due