First-Year Seminars 110AE - The African American Essay

In this first-year seminar, students will be introduced to and acquainted with the essay form as it has been endeavored by African American writers throughout the 19th and 20th century. This course emphasizes the essay as a written genre that is meditative, argumentative, and inquisitive; it is a form that open-endedly captures a course of thought, often times raising more questions than proffering secure answers to its inquiries. Students will read works by Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B Du Bois, Richard Wright, bell hooks, and Audre Lorde.
Taught by K. Maye Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:30-11:45am

Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.