This course is a survey course in which we will study representative works from the nineteenth century to the present, including the works of such writers as W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, and Maya Angelou. The major thematic focus of this course is “life writing,” which encompasses writings such as autobiographies, memoirs, and slave narratives. Scholars note that “life writing” is a critical form in African American literature as it established a foundation for the field. Our examination of various works will allow a vibrant discussion about the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction. The works we study will, of course, be examined within their historical contexts for the insight they give on African-American life and thought. However, our primary focus will be a literary analysis that emphasizes their distinctiveness as creative art requiring critical engagement. Throughout the course, we will examine also how the African-American literary tradition has been created. Some of the questions we will answer include: What goes into the formation of a literary tradition? How are the usual factors complicated when the authors creating the tradition belong to a group of people who have been forcibly subordinated within the society? We will also examine the creative tension between the aesthetic and social/political concerns of the writers we study.