EH 340 African-American Women Writers Summer 1991 Professor: Rose Norman Office: Morton Hall 232H; Phone 205/895-6320 University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899 Internet: RNorman@ASNUAH.ASN.NET Bitnet: RNorman@UAHVAX1 NOTES: 1. Class met Tuesday/Thursday, 10:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. for the 8-week term 2. BOOKS: There is (or was) a significant need for a comprehensive anthology of literature by African-American women writers, along the lines of the Norton anthologies. There are collections of fiction and of poetry, but no comprehensive collections of both. Shockley's anthology includes fiction and poetry, but ends before the Harlem Renaissance. I supplemented Shockley with Barbara Smith's *Home Girls* (an anthology of contemporary lit. mostly from the 1980s) because it has an outstanding introduction, includes fiction, nonficition, autobiography, and poetry and because it gives significant attention to lesbian issues (some students thought too much attention). But this anthology has none of the short fiction or poetry of such well known writers as Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Cade Bambara, Paule Marshall, etc. Next time, I think I would use an anthology of black writers, maybe *Breaking Ice* and just not assign the men. 3. SCHEDULE: By beginning with Shockley's anthology, I committed us to a strict chronological march through literary history. Next time, I think I would arrange the course thematically, perhaps pairing off 19th century texts with 20th century texts, e.g., Jacobs' *Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl* with Morrison's *Beloved*, or *Iola Leroy* with Nella Larsen's *Passing*. Course Objectives: This is chiefly a readings course designed to explore the work of 19th and 20th-century African-American women writers in relationship to each other and to American literary history. To that end, it should: 1. Orient students to African-American women writers in American literary history. 2. Develop critical awareness of feminist issues in these writings. 3. Explore literary and other traditions that connect these writers to each other. Requirements: Midterm exam 30% Final exam 30% Term paper 20% Coordinator day 10% (Each student is responsible for coordinating one class discussion of approximately 30 minutes. If two students share the same day or topic, they may collaborate and take up to one hour of class time.) Miscellaneous 10% (includes class participation, term paper proposal, and weekly Q-cards) Course Policies 1. Regular attendance is valuable and desirable; attendance will affect your grade insofar as it affects your class participation and your performance on tests and papers. 2. Q-cards are question cards, questions about or responses to assignments, or striking quotations from the assigned reading. They are due every Wednesday. Use 3x5 cards only. 3. Late papers will be penalized 10% (one letter grade) and must be turned in within five days of the deadline. Required Textbooks: (Arranged in order of assignments; all students must read these. If you need to share textbooks or use library copies, that's OK. I've starred (*) the ones I consider most useful to own.) *1. Shockley, Anne A., ed. *Afro-American Women Writers, 1746-1933: An Anthology and Critical Guide*. New American Library, 1989. $14.95. ISBN 0-452-00981-2, Mer *(Assignments spaced throughout first half of the term.)* 2. Brent, Linda (pseud., Harriet Jacobs). *Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl*. 1861. $7.95 paper. 210 p. 3. Harper, Frances E.W., *Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted*. 1893. $ 9.95. 281 p. (Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (pp. vii-xxvi) is a valuable introduction to the place of African-American women in American literary history.) 4. Hurston, Zora Neale. *Their Eyes Were Watching God*. 1937. $6.95. 286 p. *5. Smith, Barbara, ed. *Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology*. Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1983. $12.95. ISBN 0-913175-02-1 *(Assignments spaced throughout first half of the term.)* 6. Angelou, Maya. *I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*. 1970. $4.95. 291 p. 7. Morrison, Toni. *Sula*. 1973. $6.95. 174 p. Supplemental Texts Each student reads one book from this list and develops a research paper linking it to one or more shared readings. 1. Hurston, Zora Neale. *Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography*. 1942. $8.95. 286 p. 2. Lorde, Audre. *Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, a Biomythography*. $10.95. 256 p. Note: This book contains explicit sexual scenes that may make some readers uncomfortable. 3. Morrison, Toni. *Beloved*. 1987. $9.95. 275 p. Notes: This book won a Pulitzer Prize. Some of the subject matter is shocking. 4. Morrison, Toni. *Song of Solomon*. 1977. $4.50. 341 p. Note: This book contains explicit sexual scenes that may make some readers uncomfortable. 5. Naylor, Gloria. *The Women of Brewster Place: A Novel in Seven Stories*. $5.95. 192 p. 6. Walker, Alice. *The Color Purple*. 1982. $5.95 245 p. 7. Wilson, Harriet E. *Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black*. 1859. 131 p. $8.95. SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS WEEK 1 June Tu 18 Introduction to course Th 20 Gates "Foreword" to Iola Leroy (vii-xxi) Shockley, "Introduction" (xvii-xxvi) and introduction to "Colonial to Civil War" section (3-10); Prince (13-16); Wheatley (17-25) and Plato (26-32) WEEK 2 Tu 25 Jacobs, Incidents, intro. and chap. I-XX (to p. 117) and Shockley, autobiographical writings by Lee (pp. 41-47), Prince (pp. 48-55), and Grimke (71-83) Th 27 BEGIN COORDINATOR DAYS Incidents (chap. XXi - end, pp.117-210) and Shockley, Wilson, excerpt from Our Nig (84-95) WEEK 3 July Tu 2 Shockley, intro. to "Reconstruction to End of Century" (109-121) TERM PAPER PROPOSALS DUE; class discussion of proposed projects. Shockley, selections from Harper (pp. 56-70 and 190-203), Cooper (204-24), Smith (225-32), and Wells-Barnett (248-261). Th 4 HOLIDAY (makeup is Aug. 13) WEEK 4 Tu 9 Harper, Iola Leroy (introduction, and ch. I-XVII, p. xxvii-147) Th 11 Finish Iola Leroy (pp. 148-281), Dunbar-Nelson (262-73), and read Cenen in Home Girls, "The Blood" (31-51) Midterm exam distributed, due next Tuesday. WEEK 5 Tu 16 TAKE-HOME MIDTERM DUE Shockley, intro. to parts 3 and 4,"Pre-World War I to the New Negro Movement" (277-85) and "The New Negro Movement" (pp. 401-412), and Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Foreword to p.143) Th 18 Finish Their Eyes Were Watching God, and read in Shockley, Larsen (432-45) and Hopkins (289-303) WEEK 6 Tu 23 Maya Angelou, Caged Bird, to p. 100 (17 chapters), and Smith "Introduction" to Home Girls (xix-lvi). Th 25 finish Caged Bird; catch up on class discussion of readings. DRAFT OF TERM PAPER DUE WEEK 7 Tu 30 Morrison, Sula (whole book) August Th 1 finish discussion of Sula, and from Home Girls: Cliff, "If I Could Write This in Fire" (15-30) and poem "The Black Back-ups" (pp. 60-63). HANDOUT: Bambara story for next week. WEEK 8 Tu 6 TERM PAPER DUE. from Home Girls ("Tar Beach," p. 145, plus others to be selected). Handout: Gwendolyn Brooks poetry for Thursday Th 8 from Home Girls (to be selected) Tu 13 Wrap-up, evaluations, new readings from either anthology (to be determined by class). Final Exam, Thursday, August 16, 10:30-1 p.m.