Dr. Gabbin 3 credits

          From the horrors of the notorious Middle Passage and the forced migration of millions of Africans to the courageous strikes toward freedom by escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad, to the voluntary migration of free Blacks going west to escape threats of violence in the south, and to the massive movement of southern Black rural communities to urban areas in the first decades of the twentieth century, the African American experience has been a metaphor for escaping the tyranny of oppression in quest of liberty. This course will chronicle that quest by tracing its development in the writing of African American authors. The course will also present a view of some dominant thematic patterns which have distinguished the African American experience including revolutionary self-counsciousness, double consciousness, survival, rage, and an awareness of the need to escape the humiliating status of the oppressed victim. Course material will include works by Black authors written in a variety of genres: autobiography, fiction, poetry, and drama. As a part of the course, the films Amistad, Sankofa, Ida B. Wells: Crusader for Justice, and W.E.B. Du Bois: Four Voices will also be shown.

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