The Harlem Renaissance

Catalog description

This course examines African American literature and culture from Washington's Up from Slavery and Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk, through the 1920s and the Great Depression, to the eve of U.S. participation in World War II. Grounded in U.S history, the course explores fiction, poetry, and other forms of cultural production such as painting, sculpture, film, and music. It examines the aftermath of Reconstruction, the effects of the Great Migration, and the responses to Du Bois's call for a "Talented Tenth." The Harlem Renaissance provides the major focus, as do the debates about whether there was such a movement at all. The course looks towards the development of a contemporary Black tradition in literature and culture.