Tristan Striker
Mon and Wed: 6:30-7:45pm
Office Hours: Mon and Wed 5:15-6:15
African American Literature: Resonances of the Middle Passage
Course Description: This course will investigate the rich and vibrant arena of African
American literature. In order to give some semblance of focus to this massive
undertaking, we will be interrogating the Middle Passage in African American literature.
In other words, we will trace and explore the ways in which authors and scholars
remember and re-imagine one of the most harrowing and disgraceful chapters in human
history. The Middle Passage refers to the journey taken by those who were kidnapped
and enslaved from nations and kingdoms all over the African continent from the African
shores to locations all over the world, including the West Indies, South America, and of
course what would eventually become the United States. As a class, we will engage the
way African American authors and scholars write about the Middle Passage and learn
about its contextual role within the larger framework of the Atlantic and Pacific slave
trade. From here, we will interrogate how this largely forgotten traumatic experience
continues to haunt American history beyond African American literature by critically
analyzing African American poetry, fiction, and scholarship within the context of
American historiography. Throughout this investigation, we will contextualize our
exploration within the larger and more established history of African American literary
criticism and scholarship. In addition, we will become familiar with the practice of
literary criticism and analysis. Finally, next to thematic discussion and engagement,
students will develop both their critical voices and their writing skills. We will develop
our critical voices through classroom discussion, short writing assignments, and three
analytical papers.
COURSE OUTCOMES:
 Understand/interpret the texts on the syllabus and gain an understanding of the
relationship of each text to the historical, philosophical, and social contexts from
which each text springs.
 Recognize defining characteristics of African American literature and how these
contexts inform and are informed by historical, philosophical, and social contexts.
 Analyze literature in terms of how they contribute to the meaning of human
experience and to the conception of the African American experience in the
United States and around the Black Atlantic.
 Gain an understanding of the terms and vocabulary of literary analysis at an
appropriate level.
 Gain an understanding of the conventions of MLA citation and conventions,
including how to format a bibliography and a works cited page.
HOW TO PASS THIS CLASS:
 Paper one is worth 20% of your grade; Due 2/27
 Paper two is worth 25% of your grade; Due 3/20
 Paper three, a research paper, is worth 30% of your grade; Due 5/1
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Scaffolding assignments are worth 25%, given throughout the semester
If you do not participate in class discussion, or if you fail to bring required
materials to class, you will compromise your ability to meet the requirements of
the course (writing papers will require intimate knowledge of the texts you are
engaging), which can affect your grade (see below).
Required Texts:
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Blake, by Martin Delany
Juneteenth, by Ralph Ellison
Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson
Lose Your Mother, by Saidiya Hartman
Gem of the Ocean, By August Wilson
I will provide poetry and short stories through Blackboard and hand-outs.
Essays: Students are required to complete three essay assignments. The first essay will be
four pages and will focus primarily on critical analysis and developing a critical voice.
We will build up to this paper by practicing critical analysis in smaller writing
assignments. The second paper will require students to engage a literary text and a
scholarly text (six pages). This paper is designed to teach you how to both use
scholarship to support your own argument and how to analyse scholarship itself. The
final paper will be a research paper, and will require at least four sources. This paper will
build on the second paper in method and content. This paper is designed to not only teach
you about MLA conventions, but also how to sustain an original critical argument about a
literary work while engaging the already existing critical discourse about that work or
topic. I do not accept late papers, ever. I expect the essays to be typed and printed and
handed in in the beginning of class on the date due, no exceptions. As long as you hand
your papers in on time and they meet the requirements, you have no reason to worry in
this class.
Attendance Policy and Late Policy: Students should not miss a class, since vital
information may be missed. Students more than 10 minutes late to a scheduled class
session will be marked absent from that session. More than three absences will
result in you failing the class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to obtain
notes from one of your classmates. If there was an assignment given during the class, you
will receive a zero on that assignment, unless you are able to provide a doctor’s note in
case you were ill, or unless it is a true emergency.
Academic Adjustments for Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities who
require reasonable accommodations or academic adjustments for this course must contact
the AccessAbility Center located in NAC 1/218. City College is committed to providing
equal access to all programs and curricula to all students.
City College Policy on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity Statement: Plagiarism is
presentation of someone else’s ideas, words, or artistic, scientific, or technical work as
one’s own creation. Using the idea or work of another is permissible only when the
original author is identified through citations. Paraphrasing and summarizing, as well as
direct quotations, require citations to the original source. Plagiarism may be intentional or
unintentional. Lack of dishonest intent does not necessarily absolve a student of
responsibility for plagiarism. Students who are unsure of how and when to provide
documentation are advised to consult with their instructors. The library has guides
designed to help students to appropriately identify a cited work. The full policy can be
found on City College’s website, www.ccny.cuny.edu.
Plagiarism is unacceptable and will result in you failing the course. A report will be filed
with the Student Affairs office. Failing the class will be the least of your worries. I have
ways to check for plagiarism that are simple and effective. Don’t even try it. If you are
having trouble with writing your paper, please come see me during my office hours, set
up an appointment, or send me an e-mail. I am here to help you, and there are no stupid
questions. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Cell Phones: Please turn of cell phones before you get to class. I will take your cell
phone if it rings in class. I reserve the right to answer it. Just avoid the embarrassment
and turn off your cell phone. Also, if I see you playing on your cell phone during class, I
will ask you to leave, and you will receive an F for that day. I do not want to see any cell
phones unless I say it is ok.
Bathroom: If you need to go to the bathroom, please raise your hand and ask to be
excused. Do not just get up and leave, since it is very distracting to me and the other
students. Quite frankly, it is also disrespectful.
Sleeping: Please try not to sleep in my class. If I catch you with your head down once, I
will give you a warning. After that, I will ask you to leave the class, and you will receive
an F for that day.
A Brief Description of My Pedagogy:
I believe in what C. Alejandra Elenes calls “border/transformative pedagogy.” Simply
put, this means that I am dedicated to eradicating boundaries and binaries that prevent
students from reaching their full potential as scholars and people. I encourage students to
find their own critical voices through their class participation and writing. I am serious
about helping all of you reach your full potential. Because of this, I strongly encourage
you to make use of my office hours and appointments. I demand that students respect
themselves and each other. Wait to be called on before you speak, and do not discount
someone else’s argument or opinion as false or ridiculous, no matter how strongly you
feel about it. Engage your fellow students on what Elenes calls “the philosophical
foundation” of their argument. Do not attack. Engage.
Course Schedule (I reserve to make changes as they become necessary):
1/28 Monday: Welcome, Robert Hayden’s “Middle Passage”
Assignment: Get your books, 500-word close reading of Hayden’s “Middle Passage”
1/30 Wed: Discussion of responses, close reading
A: selected excerpts from 18th century slave narratives
2/4 Mon: Experiencing the Middle Passage, interpretations
A:Phillis Wheatley, selected poems
2/6 Wed: Discussion of Wheatley, Subversion
A:Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, selected chapters, Three paragraphs of
critical analysis (with topic sentences) due 2/13
2/11 Mon: Discussion of Jacobs, enclosed/dark spaces
A: Douglass, “The Heroic Slave”
2/13 Wed: Three paragraphs Due, Discussion of Douglass and Slave Ship Rebellions
A: Paper 1 Due 2/27, Begin Delany’s Blake
2/20 Wed: Blake, Fictionalizing Middle Passage
A: Blake
2/25 Mon: Blake, Maroon communities
A: Blake
2/27 Wed: Paper 1 Due, Blake, unfinished narratives
A: Frances E.W. Harper, selected poems
3/4 Mon: Harper, poetry and activism
A: Wright, “The Man Who Lived Underground”, Select Critical Work for Paper 2
3/6 Wed: Wright, trope of the Underground
A: Ellison, Juneteenth, Paper 2 Due 3/20
3/11 Mon: Juneteenth, Memory and narrative
A: Juneteenth
3/13 Wed: Juneteenth, Middle Passage and Collective Memory
A: Juneteenth
3/18 Mon: Juneteenth, Passing and Privilege
A: Finish Juneteenth, papers
3/20 Wed: Paper 2 Due, finish Juneteenth
A: Toni Morrison’s Beloved
3/25-4/2: Spring Recess, Enjoy
4/3 Wed: Beloved, Trauma and Haunting
A: Beloved, Bibliography for Final paper due 4/10
4/8 Mon: Beloved, the space of death
A: Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage
4/10 Wed: Middle Passage, Re-imagining Middle Passage
A: Paper 3 Due 5/1, Middle Passage
4/15 Mon: Middle Passage, the littoral and disorientation
A: Middle Passage
4/17 Wed: MP, Revolt and Shipmates
A: August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean
4/22 Mon: Gem, the importance of remembering, the perils of forgetting
A: Gem
4/24 Wed: Gem, the City of Bones
A: Saidiya Hartman’s Lose Your Mother
4/29 Mon: LYM, Autobiography or Scholarship?
A: LYM
5/1 Wed: Final papers Due, LYM, Re-remembering the Middle Passage
A: LYM
5/6 Mon: LYM, Can remembering regenerate?
A: Amiri Baraka’s Middle Passage
5/8 Wed: Baraka, confronting forgetting
A: Reread Hayden’s “Middle Passage”
5/13 Mon: Revisiting “Middle Passage”: reinterpretations
A: 500 word response to poem in relation to class
5/15 Wed: responses, Farewells