This class explores a range of periodicals (newspapers and magazines) covering some major landmarks in the history of African-Americans from the Civil War era to the 1980s. Periodicals allow us to recover the past, expanding the field of cultural study. Periodicals do not only reflect the social reality of their time; they also shape it. African-American periodicals have thus played a major role in fostering social cohesion out of experiences of fragmentation (through birthplace, economics, free status, segregation, discrimination, etc.), campaigning against racism and voicing social reform, in particular abolitionism and desegregation. While this class emphasizes the role of African-American periodicals in organizing protest, it also reveals the diversity of opinions represented in the African-American press, from radicalism to conservatism (as expressed in The Jackson Advocate for example). Overviews of the history of the African-American press in relationship with major landmarks in the history of the African-American community will be complemented by case studies (including The Anglo-African Magazine, The Crisis, The Jackson Advocate, The Mississippi Free Press, and Ebony). Hopefully, the class will allow students to analyze history in the making and develop a grasp of methods for critical analysis of magazines and newspapers from different time periods, of different cultural levels and political opinions, and aimed at different audiences.
- Enseignant: Mansanti Celine