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African American Literature From 1950----present Shuo Li May 31 st ,2011 ED P&L 834 Dr. Beverly Gordon 1

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Page 1: African American Literature From 1950----presentu.osu.edu/gordon.3/files/2012/06/shuo-li.pdf ·  · 2014-08-12African American Literature . From 1950----present . Shuo Li . ... African-American

African American Literature

From 1950----present

Shuo Li

May 31st,2011

ED P&L 834

Dr. Beverly Gordon

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The overview

In broad terms, African-American literature can be defined as writings by

people of African descent living in the United States. It is highly varied.

African-American literature has generally focused on the role of African

Americans within the larger American society and what it means to be an

American. As Princeton University professor Albert J. Raboteau has said,

all African-American study "speaks to the deeper meaning of the

African-American presence in this nation. This presence has always been

a test case of the nation's claims to freedom, democracy, equality, the

inclusiveness of all." African-American literature explores the issues of

freedom and equality long denied to Blacks in the United States, along

with further themes such as African American

culture, racism, religion, slavery, a sense of home. and more.

African-American literature has both been influenced by the great

African diasporic heritage and shaped it in many countries. It has been

created within the larger realm of post-colonial literature, although

scholars distinguish between the two, saying that "African American

literature differs from most post-colonial literature in that it is written by

members of a minority community who reside within a nation of vast

wealth and economic power."

 

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Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance from 1920 to 1940 brought new attention to

African American literature. While the Harlem Renaissance, based in the

African American community in Harlem in New York City, existed as a

larger flowering of social thought and culture—with numerous Black

artists, musicians, and others producing classic works in fields from jazz

to theater—the renaissance is perhaps best known for the literature that

came out of it.

Langston Hughes, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936.Among the

most famous writers of the renaissance is poet Langston Hughes. Hughes

first received attention in the 1922 poetry collection, The Book of

American Negro Poetry. This book, edited by James Weldon Johnson,

featured the work of the period's most talented poets (including, among

others, Claude McKay, who also published three novels, Home to Harlem,

Banjo and Banana Bottom and a collection of short stories). In 1926,

Hughes published a collection of poetry, The Weary Blues, and in 1930 a

novel, Not Without Laughter. Perhaps, Hughes' most famous poem is

"The Negro Speaks of Rivers," which he wrote as a young teen. His

single, most recognized character is Jesse B. Simple, a plainspoken,

pragmatic Harlemite whose comedic observations appeared in Hughes's

columns for the Chicago Defender and the New York Post. Simple Speaks

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His Mind (1950) is, perhaps, the best-known collection of Simple stories

published in book form. Until his death in 1967, Hughes published nine

volumes of poetry, eight books of short stories, two novels, and a number

of plays, children's books, and translations.

Another famous writer of the renaissance is novelist Zora Neale Hurston,

author of the classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937).

Altogether, Hurston wrote 14 books which ranged from anthropology

to short stories to novel-length fiction. Because of Hurston's gender and

the fact that her work was not seen as socially or politically relevant, her

writings fell into obscurity for decades. Hurston's work was rediscovered

in the 1970s in a famous essay by Alice Walker, who found in Hurston a

role model for all female African American writers.

While Hurston and Hughes are the two most influential writers to come

out of the Harlem Renaissance, a number of other writers also became

well known during this period. They include Jean Toomer, who wrote

Cane, a famous collection of stories, poems, and sketches about rural and

urban Black life, and Dorothy West, author of the novel The Living is

Easy, which examined the life of an upper-class Black family. Another

popular renaissance writer is Countee Cullen, who described everyday

black life in his poems (such as a trip he made to Baltimore, which was

ruined by a racial insult). Cullen's books include the poetry collections

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Color (1925), Copper Sun (1927), and The Ballad of the Brown Girl

(1927). Frank Marshall Davis's poetry collections Black Man's Verse

(1935) and I am the American Negro (1937), published by Black Cat

Press, earned him critical acclaim. Author Wallace Thurman also made

an impact with his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life

(1929), which focused on intraracial prejudice between lighter-skinned

and darker-skinned African Americans.

The Harlem Renaissance marked a turning point for African American

literature. Prior to this time, books by African Americans were primarily

read by other Black people. With the renaissance, though, African

American literature—as well as black fine art and performance

art—began to be absorbed into mainstream American culture.

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Activities

Activity #1 Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance

The purpose of this activity is to provide students with a brief

introduction to the Harlem Renaissance. Lecturing and brainstorming

would be primary strategies for this activity and ask for student

volunteers to share their thoughts with the entire class. The points to be

covered are:

1. What was the state of black literature before the Renaissance?

2. What was the Great Migration?

3. What were the reasons giving rise to the Harlem Renaissance?

4. What is a literary movement and what does the term Renaissance mean?

Here it would be useful to mention other literary movements and the

European Renaissance.

Activity #2—Interview

As a community outreach project, find a few local African American

authors. Have the students split up into groups according to the amount of

authors found. The students should conduct group interviews of the local

authors to find out about background, inspirations, current works, etc.

Activity #3 Writing Poetry or Short Stories Using Themes from the

Harlem Renaissance

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After reading several Harlem Renaissance novels, poems etc., each

student will write original poetry using the formats provided, or style of

their own, that reflect the themes and writers attitudes they have

identified, as well as recite their writings and give interpretation to class.

Students will be graded on their reflections of the poems, their oral

interpretations, and readings of their poetry.

Activity #4—Board Game

All literature has several components including introduction, conflict,

climax, andresolution. Have the students get into groups of three or four

and select a studied work, preferably a novel or play. The student must

create a comprehensive board game according to the events in the chosen

work.

Activity #5—Movie

Choose one or two movies for the students to watch such as A Raisin in

the Sun or Roots or Disappearing Acts, just to name a few. Have the

students write a review of the movie in comparison to the original written

work. Obtain parental consent to watch the movies if necessary.

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Bibliography

• Andrews, W., Foster, F., and Harris, T. (Editors).The Oxford

Companion to African American Literature. Oxford, 1997.

• Brodhead, R. "An Anatomy of Multiculturalism". Yale Alumni

Magazine, April 1994. Excerpted here.

• Cashmore, E. "Review of the Norton Anthology of

African-American Literature" New Statesman, April 25, 1997.

• Dalrymple, T. "An Imaginary 'Scandal'" The New Criterion, May

2005.

• Davis, M., Graham, M., and Pineault-Burke, S. (Editors). Teaching

African American Literature: Theory and Practice. Routledge,

1998.

• Gates, H. The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black

Poet and Her Encounters With the Founding Fathers Basic Civitas

Books, 2003

• Gilyard, K., and Wardi, A. African American Literature. Penguin,

2004.

• Greenberg, P. "I hate that (The rise of identity journalism)".

Townhall.com, June 15, 2005.

• Groden, M., and Krieswirth, M. (Editors). "African-American

Theory and Criticism" from the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary

Theory and Criticism. 8 

 

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• Grossman, J. "Historical Research and Narrative of Chicago and

the Great Migration".

• Hamilton, K. "Writers' Retreat: Despite the proliferation of Black

authors and titles in today's marketplace, many look to literary

journals to carry on the torch for the written word". Black Issues in

Higher Education, November 6, 2003.

• Jay, G. American Literature and the Culture Wars. Cornell

University Press, 1997. Excerpted here.

• Lowney, J. "Haiti and Black Transnationalism: Remapping the

Migrant Geography of Home to Harlem" African American Review,

Fall, 2000.

• McKay, N., and Gates, H. (Editors). The Norton Anthology of

African American Literature, Second Edition. W. W. Norton &

Company, 2004.

• Mitchem, S. "No Longer Nailed to the Floor". Cross Currents,

spring, 2003.

• Nishikawa, K. "African American Critical Theory." The

Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Ed.

Emmanuel S. Nelson. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,

2005. 36-41.

• Nishikawa, K. "Crime and Mystery Fiction." The Greenwood

Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom

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and J. David Macey, Jr. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,

2005. 360-67.

• Roach, R. "Powerful pages: Unprecedented Public Impact of W.W.

Norton and Co's Norton Anthology of African American

Literature". Black Issues in Higher Education, September 18, 1997.

• Scott, D. "Harlem shadows: Re-evaluating Wallace Thurman's The

Blacker the Berry". MELUS, fall-winter, 2004.

• John Callahan, Ph.D., In the African-American Grain: Call and

Response in Twentieth-Century Black Fiction, University of

Illinois Press, reprint ed., 2001. ISBN 0-252-06982-X