In this course, students will read literature from diverse voices, those voices the canon may ignore, engaging in discussions concerning the issue of identity and the American experience.   We will look at the role that language plays in one’s identity and how it can be used to both liberate and entrap a person.   Students will examine how literature can teach us more about ourselves and how we exist within society, paying close attention to the issues of race, gender, and class.  There may be one online class meeting in a seven-day rotation, so the student must be prepared for this level of independence in a course.  Possible texts: Douglass, Du Bois, and Ellison excerpts, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, various non-fiction pieces (Ta-Nehisi Coates, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, etc.), Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, and excerpts from Jhumpa Lahiri. A media literacy unit is a component of this course.

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