This course explores the evolution of New World African and African American literature and literary culture from its beginnings in the middle of the 18th century to the turn of the twentieth century. Moving across a range of genres-including slave narratives, poetry, fiction, autobiographies, and essays-and media-from the periodical to the bound novel-we will interrogate the relationship among literary form, cultural politics, and historical phenomena, while developing a deep understanding of the emergence of an African American literary tradition.