By the end of the course, you should be able to a) conduct an academic research on a topic regarding black masculinity/femininity in any African-American literary works covered in class, b) present your academic research and sound argument, c) engage in literary, socioeconomic, historical, and cultural discussions on the issue of racial and gender inequality, and d) fully develop your independent and critical thinking on this highly touchy issue.

By the end of the course, you should be able to a) conduct an academic research on a topic regarding black masculinity/femininity in any African-American literature works covered in class, b) present your academic research and sound argument, c) engage in literature, socioeconomic, historical, and cultural discussions on the issue of racial and gender inequality, and d) fully develop your independent and critical thinking on this highly touchy issue.

This seminar aims to closely examine the theme of racial and gender inequality in African-American Literature and critically analyze how black masculinity is conceptualized and reconstructed in the selective literary works of James Baldwin, Earnest J. Gaines, Toni Morrison, and Solomon Northup with supplementary readings of Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright. Apart from the literary and logical discussion, the historical and socioeconomic backgrounds of slavery and racial segregation will be provided to deepen the comprehension of African-American men’s struggle in the face of unequal and dominant social systems in their time.

This seminar aims to closely examine the theme of racial and gender in African-American Literature and critically analyze how black masculinity is conceptualized and reconstructed in the selective literary works of James Baldwin, Earnest J. Gaines, Toni Morrison, and Solomon Northup with supplementary readings of Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright. Apart from the literary and logical discussion, the historical and socioeconomic backgrounds of slavery and racial segregation will be provided to deepen the comprehension of African-American men’s struggle in the face of unequal and dominant social systems in their time.

Primary Readings:
1. Gaines, Earnest J. A Lesson Before Dying. 1st ed. New York: Vintage, 1994.
2. Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Vintage, 2004.

Secondary and Selective Readings:
1. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Bantam, 1997. 93-111.
2. Baldwin, James. “Freaks and American Ideal of Manhood.” James Baldwin: Collected Essays. New York: Libr. of Amer., 1998. 815-29.
3. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage, 1995.
4. Hurston, Zora Neale. “How It Feels to be Colored Me.” The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1997. 1008-11.
5. Northup, Solomon. 12 Years a Slave. New York: Atria, 2013.
6. Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself. 2nd Revised Ed. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1997.
7. Walker, Alice. “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.” The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1997. 2380-2387.
8. Wright, Richard. The Ethics of Living Jim Crow, an Autobiographical Sketch. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1997. 1388-96.

Primary Readings:
1. Gaines, Earnest J. A Lesson Before Dying. 1st ed. New York: Vintage, 1994.
2. Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Vintage, 2004.

Secondary and Selective Readings:
1. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Bantam, 1997. 93-111.
2. Baldwin, James. “Freaks and American Ideal of Manhood.” James Baldwin: Collected Essays. New York: Libr. of Amer., 1998. 815-29.
3. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage, 1995.
4. Hurston, Zora Neale. “How It Feels to be Colored Me.” The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1997. 1008-11.
5. Northup, Solomon. 12 Years a Slave. New York: Atria, 2013.
6. Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself. 2nd Revised Ed. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1997.
7. Walker, Alice. “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.” The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1997. 2380-2387.
8. Wright, Richard. The Ethics of Living Jim Crow, an Autobiographical Sketch. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1997. 1388-96.