Twentieth Century U.S. Literature
“HEREIN lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.”
–W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk
This survey of twentieth-century U.S. literature will take seriously DuBois’s argument that the problem of twentieth century is that of the color-line. We will examine literary approach to the problems of racism and segregation in the U.S. during the twentieth century.
Weeks 1-8: The Age of De Jure Segregation 1896-1956
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (selections)
Richard Wright, Native Son
Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks
William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Weeks 9-16: Moving Beyond Segregation, 1956-2000
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
James Baldwin, “The Fire Next Time,”
August Wilson, The Piano Man
Maxine Hong Kinston, The Woman Warrior
Harryette Mullen, Sleeping with the Dictionary