Black and Immigrant in America: New Memoirs and Autobiographies.

African-American literature begins with the personal narratives of slaves. It has also featured a great many influential memoirs. These facts emphasize that personal experiences have become significant as methods to expand history, criticize the national story and generate new methods of self-exploration alongside cultural analysis and social/political commentary. Of course, American literature as a whole also owes a great deal to the personal narratives of immigrants. This class intends to explore a contemporary moment when both of those frames of reference—African-American and immigrant, black and foreign—collide and collude in the American stories of blacks from other parts of the world. Authors may include, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ishmael Beah, Valentino Achak Deng, Edwidge Danticat, Helene Cooper and Barack Obama.