American Studies

This course focuses on the cultural delineation of racial groupings by interweaving Du Bois's "color-line" with the contending lines and barriers of social class. The historical focus is on the post-reconstruction period all the way through the Progressive Era and the Harlem Renaissance. The readings mostly address Black-White relations in the shadow of the Jim Crow system as well as internal debates within African American reform movements. Text selections stretch across multiple genres (autobiography, scholarly texts, activist writings, fiction) and include works by Booker T. Washington, WEB Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Madison Grant, Jean Toomer, Nella Larsen, Angela Davis, and Saidiya Hartman. The course uses visual media, including silent film and photography. Throughout the course, students improve their analytical skills, develop strategies to approach research topics in American Cultural Studies, and practice the composition of scholarly prose.