Required Texts
Twain, Mark. Pudd’nhead Wilson [1894]. New York, NY: Bantam Classics, 1984. ISBN: 9780553211580. The e-text is available from Project Gutenberg.
Chesnut, Charles. The Marrow of Tradition [1901]. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1993. ISBN: 9780140186864. The e-text is available from Project Gutenberg.
Johnson, James Weldon. Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man [1912]. New York, NY: Vintage, 1989. ISBN: 9780679727538. The e-text is available from Project Gutenberg.
Larsen, Nella. Passing [1929]. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 9780142437278.
Schuyler, George. Black No More [1931]. New York, NY: Modern Library, 1999. ISBN: 9780375753800.
Griffin, John Howard. Black Like Me [1961]. New York, NY: NAL Trade, 2003. ISBN: 9780451208644.
Jones, LeRoi. (Baraka, Amiri.) “Dutchman” [1964]. In Dutchman and The Slave: Two Plays. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1971. ISBN: 9780688210847.
Parks, Suzan-Lori. “The America Play” [1994]. In The America Play and Other Works. New York, NY: Theatre Communications Groups, 1995. ISBN: 9781559360920.
Derricotte, Toi. The Black Notebooks [1997]. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1999. ISBN: 9780393319019.
Roth, Philip. The Human Stain [2000]. New York, NY: Vintage, 2001. ISBN: 9780375726347.
Readings by Session
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Introductions In-class TV clip: “When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong” |
Chapelle, Dave. “When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong.” In Episode 20 of Chapelle’s Show, 2004. |
| 2 | Herman Melville | Melville, Herman. “Benito Cereno.” [1856] In The Piazza Tales and other Prose Pieces, 1839-1860. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780810105515. The e-text is available from Project Gutenberg. |
| 3 | Mark Twain | Pudd’nhead Wilson, chapters 1-12. |
| 4 | Pudd’nhead Wilson, chapters 13-end. | |
| 5 | Suzan-Lori Parks | The American Play, read all. |
| 6 | Charles Chesnutt | The Marrow of Tradition, chapters 1-16. |
| 7 | The Marrow of Tradition, chapters 17-end. | |
| 8 |
Interracial identity In-class film: Cross-Over King |
Cross-Over King. Directed by John Leguizamo. Sollors. “Passing; or, Sacrificing a Parvenu.” |
| 9 |
Toni Morrison In-class film: Mr. White |
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif.” In Women and Race in Contemporary U.S. Writing: From Faulkner to Morrison. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. ISBN: 9781403972385. |
| 10 | James Weldon Johnson | Autobiography of an Ex-Colured Man, chapters 1-7. |
| 11 | Autobiography of an Ex-Colured Man, chapters 8-end. | |
| 12 | Nella Larsen |
Passing, read all. Goffman, Erving. Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York, NY: Anchor, 1959. ISBN: 9780385094023. |
| 13 | Being Indian |
Deloria. Playing Indian. New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780300080674. Riley. “Adventures of an Indian princess.” In Native American Literature: An Anthology. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Publishing Group, 1998. ISBN: 9780844259857. |
| 14 | Philip Roth | The Human Stain, chapters 1-3. |
| 15 | The Human Stain, chapters 4-5. | |
| 16 | John Howard Griffin | Black Like Me, pp. 1-101 or 10/28-11/21. |
| 17 | Black Like Me, pp. 102-end or 11/24-8/17. | |
| 18 |
Gender In-class film: Paris is Burning |
Paris is Burning. Directed by Jennie Livingston, 1990. Butler, Judith P. “Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion.” In Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York, NY: Routledge, 1993. ISBN: 9780415903660. |
| 19 |
LeRoi Jones Whiteness |
Dutchman. Lipsitz, George. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics. Revised and expanded ed. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9781592134946. Hooks, Bell. “Representing whiteness: Seeing wings of desire.” In Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780896083851. |
| 20 | Library instruction | (no readings) |
| 21 | Toi Derricotte | The Black Notebooks, Introduction to “Blacks in the U.” |
| 22 | The Black Notebooks, “Among School” to the end. | |
| 23 | George Schuyler | Black No More, chapters 1-6. |
| 24 | Black No More, chapters 7-end. | |
| 25 | In-class film: Six Degrees of Separation | Six Degrees of Separation. Directed by Fred Schepisi, 1993. |
| 26 | Student presentations | (no readings) |
