ENGL 3236: African American Literature, Harlem Renaissance to Present

University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Exploration of the major periods, texts, and issues in African American literature from the Harlem Renaissance to the present. Section information text: The purpose of this course is to explore the African American literary and cultural tradition from the Harlem Renaissance to the present. In that spirit, we will first come to some basic understanding of the Renaissance or the New Negro Movement, as it was also called. After considering some of the major writers and ideas from this period, we will set out to consider African American literature in its post-Renaissance lives. How do the concerns set forth in the Renaissance find their way into the post-war literature of African Americans, or the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s? Does the movement extend into the black women’s literary renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s? In our contemporary moment do we consider the Renaissance as simply a chronological predecessor to contemporary black writers, or are they critically informed by the likes of Hurston and Hughes? There are no simple answers to these queries, but this course is designed to find the most compelling answers.

Average GPA: 3.04

Grade distribution records: 288 students across 10 terms.

Grade distribution

Based on 288 student grade records across 10 terms and 5 professors.

Instructors

• Alice Deck 122 students, Average GPA 3.07
• Jeffrey Leak 64 students, Average GPA 2.87
• Sharon Hayes-Brown 47 students, Average GPA 3.18
• Malin Pereira 30 students, Average GPA 2.88
• Paula Eckard 25 students, Average GPA 3.28