ENGLISH 3EE3 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - African Americans, Slavery, Harlem Renaissance
12 Oct 2018
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ENGLISH 3EE3
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture One
. Theories of race developed during the slave trade
. Appearance, morality, characteristics were measured based on skin colour
and literary culture
. Oral vs. Literary culture
. Human vs. Subhuman
. Writing is a way to prove humanity
. It was illegal to teach slaves to read and write because then they wouldn’t be
subhuman
Assignments:
. Short essay 1000 words (due Oct. 15) 20%
. Long essay 2000 words (due Nov. 21) 40%
. Exam 40%
. Poetry will be posted in the slides-> which will be posted before class on avenue to
learn in the content tab
. Ta- Nehisi Coates, Letter to my Son is in reference to The Fire Next Time
. Essays are to be handed in during class time on the given due dates
Lecture Two
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Lecture Two
The Harlem Renaissance
•When considering essential movements in American poetry, no conversation
would be complete without discussion of the Harlem Renaissance.
•It is to be considered the blossoming of African American culture, particularaly in
the creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary
history. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical and visual arts, participants sought
to re-conceptualize the "negro" apart from the white stereotypes that had
influences black peoples' relationship to their heritage and to each other. They
also sought to break free of Victorian moral values and bourgeois shame about
aspect of their lives that might as seen by whites, reinforce racist beliefs.
•Also sought to break free of Victorian moral values and bourgeois shame about
aspects of their lives that might as
•Lyricism seated in the popular blues and jazz music of the time as well as an
awareness of black life in America
•Exact dates of the movement are debatable, most consider the beginning to be
rooted in the end of the Reconstruction era when the legal segregation made
living conditions for African Americans in the south unbearable.
•Harlem Renaissance ushered in a time of many renewed firsts for African
Americans in Publishing. Langston Hughes was a central figure of the movement,
and publish his first poem "The Negro Speaks Rivers" in just of 1921, "The
Crisis" two years later.
•These writers sought to examine and celebrate their experiences. In his preface
James Weldon writes that African American artists need to find a form expressing
the imagery, I idioms, the peculiar turns of thought and the distinctive humor and
pathos of their experience.
Background Information…
•AFAM literature begins with a very personal and political motivation --> largely to
prove the humanity of the slaves and ex-slaves who were forbidden from being
literate and attempted to prove their humanity through writing.
•David Hume: a philosopher
◦Hume's' view is very wildly held through Europe in the 19th c.
•Hegel's classification of populations based on if they could write etc, becomes
so significant in the American context.
•AFAM writing arises to an extent from claims that AFAM writing doesn't actually
exist. That the lack of written literature is held up to a proof of racial superiority
(always with whites and Europeans at the top).
◦This gets calibrated into the great chain of being --> this went from God through
various levels of angels down to humanity which humanity is then calibrated into
different racial categories with all other races except whites were shown with
some form of inhumanity.
◦All of this is no accident related to the slave trade and was used to justify the
slave trade by saying that certain races were inferior to others.
•Henry Gates --> Calls this writing for your life
◦This means that you are proving your humanity and to prove that you are in
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
It was illegal to teach slaves to read and write because then they wouldn"t be. Appearance, morality, characteristics were measured based on skin colour and literary culture. Theories of race developed during the slave trade. Short essay 1000 words (due oct. 15) 20% Long essay 2000 words (due nov. 21) 40% Poetry will be posted in the slides-> which will be posted before class on avenue to learn in the content tab subhuman. Ta- nehisi coates, (cid:498)letter to my son(cid:499) is in reference to (cid:498)the fire next time(cid:499) Essays are to be handed in during class time on the given due dates. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical and visual arts, participants sought to re-conceptualize the "negro" apart from the white stereotypes that had influences black peoples" relationship to their heritage and to each other. Langston hughes was a central figure of the movement, and publish his first poem "the negro speaks rivers" in just of 1921, "the.
