In this course we will study African American literature produced between the end of the 19th century — known as the "nadir" (lowest point) in African American history — and the beginning of the 20th century, the moment that gave birth to the "New Negro" of the Harlem Renaissance. These decades represent a period of cultural production that reflected both pessimism about racial violence in the U.S., and optimism over new opportunities for black artists. We will read novels, poetry and short stories by noted and less familiar authors, including Charles Chesnutt, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Sutton Griggs, in addition to a small sampling of secondary critical material. Some of the issues covered include exploring how African American writers conceived of the role of literature in post-Reconstruction national debates over freedpeople’s rights to citizenship, and their efforts to craft new and politically effective notions of racial identity with representations of class, gender, regional, and religious differences among African Americans.