Beyond the Talking Book: Reading African American Literature in the Newspapers
ENGL 262
Spring 2026
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AFAM 261, AMST 262 |
The majority of late-nineteenth and early twentieth century African American writers, such as Frances Harper, Martin Delany, Pauline Hopkins, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes, published their work in African American periodicals. In this course, we will examine the works of these canonical authors (as well as some lesser known ones) in their original publication context, the magazine archives of The Christian Recorder; The Anglo-African Magazine; The Colored American Magazine; The Crisis; Opportunity; and Fire!! The guiding question in our readings is this: how does our understanding of African American Literary History change when we spotlight the original magazine and newspaper contexts of its key texts? We will thus examine the serial installments of novels like Blake and Hagar's Daughter in relation to the various texts and images alongside which they were published and read. In addition to honing students' literary close-readings skills, this course aims to teach students how to do original research and critically engage with multi-genre, mixed forms like the magazine. Learning how to read a newspaper as both a historical document and a literary one will require you to navigate between multiple different texts on the same page, in the process of which you will acquire a new reading practice. Students will write five (5) 200-250-word blog posts and four (4) short papers, including a creative assignment, a paper on reading literature in newspaper formats, an essay on illustrations and visual culture in African American Magazines, and an essay that tells the story a literary text's significance through a discussion of its different reprints and editions. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (African American Studies Minor)(African American Studies)(American Studies)(English)(Human Rights Advocacy Minor) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Martin Delany, BLAKE; or THE HUTS OF AMERICA
Pauline Hopkins, HAGAR¿S DAUGHTER (Broadview edition)
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Examinations and Assignments:
6 Blog posts, 2 short papers, final revision paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Contributes to the fulfillment of ENGL major requirements: Amer. Lit., Lit. Hist 2, Theory, elective. |
| Instructor(s): Bilbija,Marina Times: ..T.R.. 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 15 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 4 | FR: 3 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
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