Purpose:

This course will focus on the works of a select group of African American poets (primarily writing in the 20th century). We will ask questions about a wide range of poetic conventions, about the social conditions giving rise to various poetic movements, about the constructions of Blackness through poetry, about the influence and role of music in these poetries, and about the relationships between the politics of race and the politics of poetry in America. Poets will include Langston Hughes, Robert Hayden, Gwendolyn Brooks, Harryette Mullen, and Nathaniel Mackey. We will also read selections of African American cultural and poetic theory.

Required Texts:

• Norton Anthology of African American Literature
• The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
• Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf
• Online selections at class website

Grade Percentage:

• 45% - Paper 1
• 45% - Paper 2
• 10% - Participation and Attendance

(Note attendance policy below)

Course Policies

Attendance Policy: Attendance is taken daily. Any unexcused absences can result in a lower grade (continually lowered by each day absent). Be sure to let me know in advance if you plan to be absent and determine whether such absence is excusable.

Late Work Policy: Papers and other assignments handed in late will be marked down a certain percentage for each day late unless excused by the professor.

Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of the ideas or the writing of someone else as one's own.

Examples:

• Reproducing another person's work, whether published or unpublished.(This also includes using materials from companies that sell research papers.)
• Submitting as your own any academic exercise (written work, computer printout, sculpture) prepared totally or in part by another.
• Allowing another person to substantially alter or revise your work and submitting it as your own.
• Using another's written ideas or words without properly acknowledging the source. If a student uses the words of someone else, he or she must put quotation marks around the passage and add indication of its origin, such as a footnote. Simply changing a word or two while leaving the organization and content substantially intact and failing to cite the source is plagiarism. Students should also take note that failure to acknowledge study aids such as Cliff's Notes or common reference sources constitutes plagiarism.
• If a student is unsure about a question of plagiarism or cheating, he or she is obligated to consult his or her instructor on the matter before submitting the material. If you have any questions, consult the Office of University Judiciaries.