Writing Black Lives: The Theory and Literary History of African American Autobiography

This course is an intensive overview of Black autobiographical writing. We begin with the premise that the autobiography has been one of the earliest forms--and the major foundation--of the Black American literary tradition. We will begin with selective slave narratives and then proceed to variety of autobiographies--some by literary people, some by celebrities, some by politicians, some by people of opposing political orientations. We will also read some of the significant critical studies that have been written about Black autobiography and autobiography in general. The aim of the course is simple: To Understand the aesthetic nature, political purpose, and cultural history of Black American autobiography and its relationship to and departure from the larger tradition of autobiographical writing in the United States. We will also devote a portion of the course to looking at one major Black biographer who wrote about Black subjects: Shirley Graham Du Bois, who wrote books on Black heroic figures for young readers.
Course Attributes:

Writing Black Lives: The Theory and Literary History of African American Autobiography

AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES 545

Section 01