African American Literature - Sonia Weiner 4 Hour Course This course will consider the emergence of early African American literature in the nineteenth century and its evolvement in the twentieth century. The course will focus on the African American struggle for freedom – from slavery, prejudice and discrimination, as conveyed through a variety of literary texts (slave narratives, autobiographies, short stories, novels and essays). The course will address the various difficulties black authors faced in their endeavor to create a unique voice within the larger American discourse, and will further examine varying attitudes toward identity, race and gender, as conceived by diverse authors at various junctions in the African American discourse