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Seminar: The Harlem Renaissance
Syllabus for
Winter 2005
|
Professor: Alicia Kent, PhD Office:
326 French Hall Phone: 762-3285 Email:
aakent@umflint.edu |
Office hours: M; W 4-5 pm and gladly by appointment Class: M,
W 5:30-6:45 pm, 354 FH Class e-mail address: HarlemRenaissance@list.flint.umich.edu |
To
my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist, if he accepts any duties
at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old
whispering, “I want to be white,” hidden in the aspirations of his people, to
“Why should I want to be white? I am a
Negro-and beautiful!”
—Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the
Racial Mountain” (1926)
Course
Description:
The 1920s saw an
unprecedented outburst of creative activity among African Americans in all
artistic fields. Known as “The New Negro
Movement” and later as the Harlem Renaissance, this period (roughly 1920-1940)
of incredible literary production marks the first collective artistic
expression of African Americans. In the
midst of legalized segregation and heightened anti-black violence, African
Americans in larger numbers than ever in American history responded by
reclaiming the right to represent themselves in a wide range of artistic media.
As a capstone
course for all majors, this seminar is designed as an intensive study of this
particular literary movement. We will
examine plays, novels, short stories, poetry, essays, music, and art by
canonical and non-canonical Harlem Renaissance figures including Langston
Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Nella Larsen, Richard
Nugent, Alain Locke, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Gwendolyn Bennett,
Anne Spencer. In an effort to challenge
canonical interpretations of the Harlem Renaissance, we will also restore drama
to the central role it played in the Harlem Renaissance, consider the works of
several recently recovered female writers, and uncover literature with gay and lesbian
themes, an important but often ignored aspect of the Harlem Renaissance. Throughout our
exploration, we will examine the cultural and historical conditions that
produced this cultural revolution, the effects of which were felt around the
world and have since left a rich cultural legacy that continues to shape
American literature today.
Required
Course Texts:
All books are also available on reserve at the UM-Flint
Thompson Library for 3-hour checkout
Double-Take:
A Revisionist
Ed. Venetria K. Patton and Maureen Honey
ISBN: 0813529301 (paperback); $28
Home to
by Claude McKay
Northeastern University Press (1987)
ISBN: 1555530249 (paperback); $15.95
by Jessie Redmon Fauset
Beacon Press (1999)
ISBN: 0807009199 (paperback); $16
The
Blacker the
Wallace Henry Thurman
Publisher: Touchstone (Simon and Schuster); Reissue edition (1996)
ISBN: 068481580X (paperback); $12
Course
http://reserves.lib.umflint.edu/ password: 1234
You must have a UM-Flint username and password to access this website.
Course
Requirements:
You must complete all of these
requirements to receive a passing grade in this course. If you do not complete one of these
requirements (such as failure to hand in a paper or failure to meet the
attendance requirements), you cannot pass the course. For your own protection, you should keep a
copy of everything you turn in to me.
·
Attendance. Your
attendance is required. If you
accumulate more than three absences, your participation grade will be
lowered one-half grade (5 points) for every subsequent absence. If you accumulate eight absences, you
will fail the course (except in cases where you and I make alternative
arrangements because of extenuating circumstances). I do
not make distinctions between excused or unexcused absences—all absences count. Please let me know during the first two weeks
of classes if you must miss a class for religious observance, important
scheduled events that conflict with class, or other unavoidable reasons for
missing class. If you miss class, please
get notes from another student and then come talk to me about the material
you’ve missed. Out of respect for your
classmates, please come to class on time.
If tardiness to class (more than 10 minutes) becomes a persistent
problem, I will count lateness as absences.
·
Participation. This
class emphasizes discussion and interaction with course issues. It also includes a significant amount of
reading. You are expected to come to
class having read all the readings assigned for that day and prepared to
discuss the material. You must bring the
day’s reading assignment to class. You
will need an e-mail account that you can access on a regular basis. You are expected to post e-mail comments to
the class e-mail list and respond to your classmates’ e-mails
periodically. E-mail contributions count
for a portion of your participation grade.
Participation could also
include occasional quizzes on the assigned reading, short response papers due
at the beginning of class, in-class writing assignments, attending
extra-curricular events, and bringing artifacts of popular culture to class to
analyze. Some of these activities will
be required; others will be optional.
·
Response
Papers: There is no midterm or final exam in this
course. Instead, you will periodically
write response papers throughout the semester on the assigned readings. These 2-3 page papers are due at the
beginning of class, and their due dates are listed in the “Course Schedule”
below. The assignments for the response
papers will be handed out one week before they are due. If you miss class, it is your responsibility
to get the assignment from ERes. The
response papers will be graded check plus, check, check minus (or zero if you
do not hand it in). There are 6 response
papers in all, and your top 5 scores will be counted (which means that you can
miss one response paper if you
choose to do so). These response papers
may lead to ideas for your seminar paper.
·
Seminar
Paper: This 10-15 page seminar paper is a researched
essay focusing on an issue of your choice about a literary text or texts,
author, or issue central to the Harlem Renaissance. This essay is intended to go beyond what we
have covered in class, argue a complex point about this topic, and provide both
close textual analysis and secondary research on your chosen topic. It is not intended to be an exhaustive research
paper, but you will be expected to include
relevant literary criticism as well as some historical material about the
author and time period, if relevant. Papers
on highly anthologized authors (e.g., Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston)
will require an awareness of the literary criticism surrounding the author’s
work, while papers on less canonical/often forgotten writers (e.g., Effie Lee
Newsome, Richard Bruce Nugent, Alice Dunbar-Nelson) will require more
historical and biographical research because of less existing literary
criticism.
The possibilities for seminar paper topics
are intended to be open ended to allow you to choose a project that most
interests you and are as endless as your creativity. I encourage you to meet with me early in the
semester to brainstorm ideas and help you define a feasible and enjoyable (yes,
this is possible!) seminar paper topic for this course. Further details on the seminar paper will be
handed out during the semester, but possible ideas include:
o
Choose a
text we have read during the semester and explore a new aspect, theme, or issue
beyond what we have discussed in class.
o
Choose
an author in our anthology that we did not read and write about that author’s
role in the Harlem Renaissance and literary works, focusing on texts in our anthology
or other longer texts not in the anthology.
o
Choose
an author that we have discussed and read a longer work by that author, e.g., a
novel, play, essays, etc., not in our anthology. Then write a paper about this other text or
texts.
o
Compare
the response of two Harlem Renaissance authors to a central issue of the period
or to a central literary concern in those authors’ lives.
·
Proposal
with Annotated Bibliography: A written proposal outlining your seminar
paper topic will be due midway through the semester. In this proposal, you will outline what your project
will be and what questions you intend to explore about the issue you’ve chosen,
why it is an interesting or important issue, and what type(s) of research you
will need to do to find out about this topic (that is, how you will answer
these questions). This assignment will
also include a brief annotated bibliography of some of the materials you will
use in researching your topic. An
annotated bibliography briefly summarizes the main points of an article, book,
or other text and then explains the relevance of each source to your project
(usually 1-2 sentences for each bibliographic entry).
·
Presentation: The
final three meetings of the semester are reserved for class presentations,
during which time each member of the class will present his/her paper topic and
findings to the class. These
presentations are intended to be 10 minutes each plus time for questions and
suggestions from the class. You will
most likely still be working on your paper at this point in the semester, so
it’s an opportunity to get feedback and ideas from others in the course and to
clarify your own thinking about your paper.
Grading:
Participation (includes email) 20 %
Response Papers 15 %
Proposal, Annotated Bibliography 15 %
Presentation 10 %
Seminar Paper 40 %
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Note: I use a 100-point grading scale for all assignments: |
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99-100 A+ |
87-89 B+ |
77-79 C+ |
67-69 D+ |
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93-98 A |
83-86 B |
73-76 C |
63-66 D |
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90-92 A- |
80-82 B- |
70-72 C- |
60-62 D- |
59 and below E |
Deadlines:
All assignments are
due at the beginning of class on the due date (unless otherwise noted) and must
be typed. In an emergency, you may e-mail me your paper as an attached Microsoft
Word file if you are not able to hand in a hard copy by the paper deadline; the
e-mail and attached Microsoft Word file must be sent to me by the paper
deadline. I take deadlines very
seriously. No extensions will be given
except in the rarest of circumstances. Late
Response Papers will not be accepted. Late
Proposals will be docked by a half-grade (5 points) for each day
late. Late Seminar Papers will not be
accepted.
Assignment
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Due Date
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Syllabus
Response |
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Friday, January 7, by midnight |
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Response Papers |
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Wednesday, January 12 |
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Monday, January 24 |
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Wednesday, February 9 |
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Wednesday, February 23 |
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Monday, March 21 |
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Wednesday, April 6 |
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Proposal,
Annotated Bibliography |
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Wednesday, March 9 |
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Presentation |
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April 13, 18, or
20 Sign up will be
handed out later in class |
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Seminar Paper |
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Wednesday,
April 27, by 5:15 pm |
Accessibility:
One of my goals is to make the course and the classroom as accessible as possible for all students. Please come talk to me if you have any concerns about accessibility. The Office of Accessibility Services is also an excellent resource for students with accessibility needs, and I will work closely with you and that office to address all needs. Paula Pollander is available in the Office of Accessibility Services in 264 UCEN, 762-3456 to provide direct assistance.
Writing Help:
The
Plagiarism
and Academic Honesty:
The University's Academic Honesty Policy
prohibits cheating, fabrication of work, facilitating academic dishonesty, and
plagiarism. Plagiarism includes the
purchase of academic work from others, copying material directly from another
source without attributing it to that source, using the ideas of another person
without giving that person credit (even if you are not using a direct quote and
have put the concepts into your own words, you must cite your source). Please talk with me if you are unclear or
have concerns about plagiarism.
Other
Concerns:
If you have any special concerns you wish to
discuss (e.g., you have a disability that requires accommodation;
I look forward to working with you this
semester as we explore this wonderfully rich time period and artistic movement!
Course
Schedule
WEEK 1: January 5
W Introduction
** Friday, January 7: Syllabus response due
to me on e-mail **
WEEK 2: January 10, 12
M Historical Background
· Introduction to Double-Take (2004), xix-xxxix
·
James Weldon Johnson, “
ERes:
·
David Levering Lewis, Introduction to The Portable
·
Arthur
A. Schomburg, “The Negro Digs up His Past” (1925)
In-Class Video: Without Fear or Shame
Recommended:
·
Marcus
Garvey, “
·
ERes: Carter G. Woodson, “The Migration of the Talented Tenth” (1918)
W Manifestos
·
Langston
Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926) in Double-Take, 40-44
·
Alain
Locke, “The New Negro” (1925) in Double-Take,
3-6
· W.E.B. Du Bois “Criteria of Negro Art” (1926) in Double-Take, 47-51
ERes: W.E.B. Du Bois, on double consciousness (1903)
** Response
Paper due **
Recommended:
·
William
Stanley Braithwaite, “The Negro in American Literature” (1925) in Double-Take, 10-16
WEEK 3: January 19
M NO CLASS: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
W James Weldon Johnson, all poems in Double
Take, 139-144
Georgia Douglas Johnson, all creative writing in Double-Take, 152-169
Jean Toomer, all creative writing in Double Take, 371-380
ERes: James
Weldon Johnson, “Lift Every
Voice and Sing,” “O Black and Unknown Bards,” “Fifty Years”
WEEK 4: January 24, 26
M Angelina Weld Grimké, all poems in Double-Take, 170-174 and Rachel in Double-Take, 189-226
Anne Spencer, all poems in Double-Take, 227-231
Nella Larsen, short story in Double-Take,
352-357
** Response
Paper due **
Recommended:
·
Alice
Dunbar Nelson, “Woman’s Most Serious Problem” (1927) in Double Take, 113-115
·
Marion
Vera Cuthbert, “Problems Facing Negro Young Women” (1936) in Double
Take, 116-120
W Begin
reading Jessie Redmon Fauset,
**
Library Workshop: Meet in Thompson
Library, “Research Instruction Room,” room 213 (one floor below the main
entrance to the library) **
WEEK 5: January 31, February 2
M Jessie
Redmon Fauset,
W Jessie
Redmon Fauset,
WEEK 6: February 7, 9
M Finish reading Jessie Redmon Fauset,
W Jessie Redmon Fauset, all poems in Double-Take,
232-236
** Response
Paper due **
WEEK 7: February 14, 16
M Langston Hughes,
all poems and short story in Double Take,
458-505
ERes:
Langston Hughes, “
W Langston Hughes, Mulatto: A tragedy of the
WEEK 8: February 21, 23
M Zora Neale Hurston, poem
and both short stories in Double-Take,
322-337
** Response
Paper due **
Winter
Break: February 26-March 6
WEEK 9: March 7, 9
M Richard Bruce Nugent, all
creative writing in Double-Take,
570-589
Alice Dunbar-Nelson, “You! Inez!,” “I Sit and Sew,” “His Great Career” in Double-Take, 145-152
W In-Class Video
** Wednesday, March 9: Proposal
and Annotated Bibliography Due **
**
Friday, March 11: Last Day to Drop Classes **
WEEK 10: March 14, 16
M Excerpts from Claude McKay, Home to
Recommended:
·
ERes: Rudolph Fisher, “The Caucasian Storms
W Excerpts from Claude McKay, Home to
WEEK 11: March 21, 23
M Excerpts
from Claude McKay, Home to
Claude McKay, all poems in Double-Take, 271-277
** Response
Paper due **
W Countee
Cullen, all creative writing in Double
Take, 554-562
Gwendolyn B. Bennett, all poems in Double-Take, 506-510
WEEK 12: March 28, 30
M Wallace
Thurman, The Blacker the
W Wallace
Thurman, The Blacker the
WEEK 13: April 4, 6
M Wallace
Thurman, The Blacker the
W Finish
reading Wallace Thurman, The Blacker the
Berry
** Response
Paper due **
WEEK 14: April 11, 13
M Dorothy West, all
creative writing in Double-Take, 590-598
Helene Johnson, all creative writing in Double-Take, 599-605
Mae Cowdery, all creative writing in Double-Take, 606-610
Effie Lee Newsome, all creative writing in Double-Take, 243-245
W Presentations
WEEK 15: April 18, 20
M Presentations
W Presentations
Wrap
Up: The End of the
Recommended:
·
ERes: Charles S. Johnson, “The Negro Renaissance and Its Significance”
** Paper
Due Wednesday,
April 27, 5:15 pm (no final exam, no class meeting) **