ENGL 53.28 James Baldwin: From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter

The 2016 film I Am Not Your Negro encourages a new generation to explore the life and work of James Baldwin (1924-1987). Directed by Haitian-born filmmaker Raoul Peck, I Am Not Your Negro is a provocative documentary that envisions a book Baldwin never finished by providing insight into Baldwin's relationship with three men who were assassinated before their fortieth birthdays—Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In this course we will interrogate questions of race, sexuality, violence, and migration. Our current political moment encourages the examination of these issues while Baldwin's life and work provides the ideal vantage point for their investigation. Using I Am Not Your Negro as our starting point, Baldwin's life and work will allow us the opportunity to explore transatlantic discourses on nationality, sexuality, race, gender, and religion. We will also explore the work of other writers including Richard Wright, Frantz Fanon, Audre Lorde, and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Cross Listed Courses

AAAS 81.10

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:INT or SOC; WCult:CI

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Department-Specific Course Categories

Course Group III