This class examines the early period of African American and Black Diasporic Literature and the concepts and forms it introduces. Study may focus on the development of literary and cultural expression in materials both from and that address eras such as the colonial period, American slavery, the revolutionary and post-bellum period, the turn of the century, and early 20th century in survey and/or thematic formats.

For those who declared in Fall 2023 or later, this course fulfills one of the two lower-division requirements for the English major.