ENGL 609 (01) - Ethnicity in America: The African American Experience in the 20th Century

Ethnicity in America

Durham   Liberal Arts :: English
Credits: 4.0
Term: Fall 2021 - Full Term (08/30/2021 - 12/13/2021)
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
Class Size:   30  
CRN: 15209
Investigation of the music, literature, and social history of African American America in the period of the Harlem Renaissance, in the Great Depression, World War II, and in the 1960s. Special attention to the theme of accommodation with and rejection of dominant white culture.
Section Comments: Special Topic: On Race This class fulfills the Race requirement for English Majors in Fall 2021
Department Approval Required. Contact Academic Department for permission then register through Webcat.
Equivalent(s): AMST 609, HUMA 609
Only listed campus in section: Durham, Manchester
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Instructors: STAFF

Times & Locations

Start Date End Date Days Time Location
8/30/2021 12/13/2021 MW 3:40pm - 5:00pm HS 201
Additional Course Details: 

Fall 2021 Course Details: Come laugh at racism with us! “And there’s something funny—there’s always something a little funny in all our disasters, if one can face the disaster,” said James Baldwin in his “The Uses of the Blues.” This semester, we will apply several different critical approaches to explore and understand what race is. Of our special concern will be the claim that race is a culturally (not biologically) constructed category. The reading list will include literary texts (Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif”), works of African American comedians (Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, etc.), philosophical texts (Immanuel Kant, W. E. B. Du Bois, K. A. Appiah, etc.) as well as some legal documents (recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning affirmative action) and Henry Louis Gates’s recent, Stony the Road. The general goal of the course is to improve the student’s ability to speak and think critically about race and race relations in the U.S. 

In Fall 2021 this course fulfills a Post-1800 Literature requirement for English majors.

In Fall 2021 this course fulfills the Race & Diversity requirement for English majors.