SLAVERY AND FREEDOM-
1. Discuss the rhetorical differences you find between Harriet Jacobs's autobiographical account of southern slavery and Harriet Wilson's fictional account of de facto northern slavery. In what ways do the two women's stories overlap, in spite of their generic differences?
2. Compare and contrast King's deployment of tropes of Christianity in "Letter from Birmingham Jail" with Frederick Douglass's deployment of similar tropes at the end of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.
RECONSTRUCTION TO THE NEW NEGRO RENAISSANCE-
3. In turn, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments abolished slavery in the United States, recognized formerly enslaved blacks as U.S. citizens with equal and due protection of the law, and restored voting rights to black men. How do various authors of the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction era represent the ideals of one or more of these Civil War amendments in their literary works? How do these authors celebrate the collective triumph of these amendments? In what ways do authors of this period use their texts to expose the limitations of the U.S. government to uphold these amendments?
4. Select several Harlem Renaissance authors' works to consider the question of black authenticity and the role of the movement as an expression of distinctly African American culture.
REALISM, NATURALISM, AND MODERISM-
5. Describe how the concept of the American Dream functions in Ellison's writing. Does Ellison seem to a strong believer in the promise of the American Dream for African Americans? Why or why not? Cite specific passages from the anthology selections by Ellison to support your conclusion.
THE BLACK ARTS ERA-
6. Discuss King's attitude toward the imprisonment of political protestors in "Letter from Birmingham Jail." How does the attitude of his speaker toward prison compare to the speaker in Knight's "The Idea of Ancestry"?