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THEA232/ENGL230
Struggle, Survival, and Subversion:
African American Expression in American Culture

Spring 2000   Tuesday/Thursday   2:00- 3:50PM   MH 101

Instructors: Merideth Taylor and Jeffrey Coleman

Course Goal: This course will examine the role of African-American expression in American dance, theater, literature, music, and film from the 1830s to the present. Students will gain a deeper understanding of how artists and writers have inscribed the African presence and shaped American thought and culture.

Week 1
T Course introduction
Th Steppin' on the Blues, 1-36
Viewing: Ethnic Notions
Week 2
T Steppin' on the Blues, 37-69
"Love and Theft: 'Racial Production and the Social Unconscious of Blackface," Lott, 38-62
Th " 'The Seeming Counterfeit': Early Blackface Acts, the Body, and Social Contradiction," Lott, 111-135
Viewing: Excerpts selected from one or more of the following, Dance Black America, Vaudeville, Dancing, and I'll Make Me a World
Week 3
T Steppin' on the Blues, 70-90
"Two Declarations of Independence," Rogin, 73-95
Viewing: Excerpts selected from one or more of the following, Dance Black America, Vaudeville, Dancing, and I'll Make Me a World
Th "Characteristics of Negro Expression," and "How it Feels to be Colored Me," Hurston
Viewing: Zora is My Name!
Week 4
T "The New Negro," Locke "The Negro Artist and Racial Mountain," and "The Blues I'm Playing," Hughes Viewing: Excerpts selected from one or more of the following, I'll Make Me a World, From These Roots, Harlem Swings, Dance Black America, and Harlem Renaissance and Beyond
Th Steppin' on the Blues, 91-110
Viewing: Excerpts selected from one or more of the following, Dancing, Masters of Tap, Bebe Lawrence, Dance Black America, and I'll Make Me a World
Week 5
T Read The Color Purple
Viewing: Excerpts selected from one or more of the following, Repercussion and Blues Masters
Listening: Selected jazz and blues productions
Th Read The Color Purple Listening: Selected jazz and blues productions
Sunday Feb. 20th: Possible field trip to see Reggie Wilson at Dance Place, 4:00
Monday Feb. 21st: Black Student Union theater production

Week 6
T Finish The Color Purple
Viewing: The Color Purple
Th Viewing: The Color Purple
Discussion of novel and film
Sunday Feb. 26th: Possible field trip to see Bill T. Jones at The Warner Theatre

Week 7
T Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry
Viewing: Raisin in the Sun
Th Viewing: Raisin in the Sun
Discussion of play and film
Week 8
T Dutchman, Jones
Viewing: Dutchman
Th "Towards a Black Aesthetic," Fuller
A Sourcebook of African-American Performance, Chapters 1-3
Viewing (tentative): In Motion: Amiri Baraka
Week 9

Spring Break!!!

Week 10
T A Sourcebook of African-American Performance, Chapters 4-6
Viewing: Excerpts selected from one or more of the following, I'll Make Me a World, Dance Black America, and ADA Gala
Th Day of Absence, Ward "What America Would Be Like Without Blacks," Ellison
Week 11
T Advising day (no classes)
A Sourcebook of African-American Performance, Chapters 8-12
Th A Sourcebook of African-American Performance, chapter 13
Steppin' on the Blues, 187-214
Viewing: The Songs are Free
Week 12
T A Sourcebook of African-American Performance, Chapters 15-17
Viewing: Gospel at Colonus
Th Spell Number 7
Week 13
T A Sourcebook of African-American Performance, Chapters 18-21
Th A Sourcebook of African-American Performance, Chapters 22-24
Viewing: Fires in the Mirror

April 13-16: Possible field trip to see a production of Day of Absence at Morgan State University
Week 14
T A Sourcebook of African-American Performance, Chapter 25
Th "Is Paris Burning?" and "Madonna," hooks
Viewing: Paris is Burning
Week 15
T "Embodying History," 150-177 Viewing: Excerpts selected from one or more of the following, Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land, Urban Bush Women Praise House, Garth Fagan
Th Presentations


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