African American Writers after the 1920s

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• The ability to read critically and discuss the aesthetic, rhetorical, or cultural qualities in texts.

• The ability to develop convincing, well-supported print or digital projects.

• The ability to understand the relationship of literature or rhetoric to history or culture

• The ability to incorporate research into a print or digital project.

• Deepen students’ knowledge and appreciation of African American literary history through the careful analysis of representative texts and authors. Students will improve their understanding of the personal, cultural, and political experiences of African Americans as it is reflected in the literature of the period (20th and 21st centuries).

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Attendance and Participation	25%
Discussion Posts	25%
Midterm Essay	25%
Final Project	25%

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
93.0% and above	A
90.0% – 92.9%	A-
87.0% – 89.9%	B+
83.0% – 86.9%	B
80.0% – 82.9%	B-
77.0% – 79.9%	C+
73.0% – 76.9%	C
70.0% – 72.9%	C-
67.0% – 69.9%	D+
63.0% – 66.9%	D
60.0% – 62.9%	D-
Below 60.0%	F

Attendance/Participation:

Students are allowed a maximum of 4 absences without a grade penalty. Each absence over 4 will result in a deduction from your participation grade. After a student’s 8th absence, the instructor will hold a mandatory attendance meeting with the student to establish an intervention plan. Students who do not attend the meeting or who do not follow the intervention plan risk failing the course. A student with 10 absences will receive a grade of F for the course.

Students must attend every class, arrive on time with the necessary assignments and course materials, and stay for the duration of the class. This attendance policy does not differentiate between “excused” and “unexcused” absences; it is your responsibility to reserve your absences for unavoidable occurrences, such as illness, work-related events, advising sessions, childcare concerns, car trouble, minor emergencies, etc.

State law requires that students be allowed two absences due to religious holidays; please notify me at least 48 hours prior to your anticipated absence. Intercollegiate athletes should provide official documentation of anticipated absences early in the semester. Absences for religious holidays and documented athletic events will not count toward the maximums described above.

If you have extenuating circumstances such as serious illness, chronic illness, an injury requiring prolonged medical treatment, prolonged psychological issues, etc., you should make your instructor aware of these circumstances as soon as possible and keep your instructor informed until you are able to return to class. You should also contact the Dean of Students Office, which can review documentation and notify multiple instructors on your behalf, especially if hospitalization or distress prevent you from doing so yourself. You should be aware, however, that the Dean of Students Office will not override any individual instructor’s attendance policy and that decisions about whether and how to accommodate students in distress are made by individual instructors. The Dean of Students office is located at 210 Elliott University Center and can be reached at 336-334-5514 or deanofstudentsoffice@uncg.edu

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

• Nikki Giovanni, Poems: 1968-2020 (Penguin, ISBN 978-0241516447)

• Sam Greenlee, The Spook Who Sat by the Door (Wayne State University Press, ISBN 978-0814349571)

• Alice Walker, Meridian (Amistad, ISBN 978-0063346826)