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Donna M. Campbell Courses & Resources

English 494: Jazz Age/Harlem Renaissance

English 494 [CAPS]: Jazz Age/Harlem Renaissance

English 494.01 [CAPS]: Jazz Age/Harlem Renaissance (3 credits)
Fall 2021
Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00-1:15
Todd Hall 303

Contact Information

Dr. Donna Campbell (she/her/hers)
357 Avery Hall
Phone and Email: campbelld@wsu.edu (email is the best way to reach me)
509.335.4831 (voice or text)
Student Office Hours: Stop by my office any time from 10:30-11:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or email or text me for an appointment.
Virtual Student Office Hours: If you’re not on campus during those times, meet me in Zoom. The link is in Canvas, https://wsu.instructure.com.

Required Texts

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Tender is the Night. Scribner, 1995. ISBN 978-0684801544
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. Scribner, 1995. ISBN 0684800713
Larsen, Nella. Passing. Penguin, 2003. ISBN 9780142437278
Lewis, David Levering. The Harlem Renaissance Reader. Penguin, 1995. ISBN 0140170367
Toomer, Jean. Cane. Norton Critical Ed., 2nd ed. Norton, 2011. ISBN 978-0393931686

Other readings will be available in Canvas.

Recommended (Optional) Books (available at the library)

Churchwell, Sarah. Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby. (2014)
Douglas, Ann. Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s.
Harmon and Holman, A Handbook to Literature (Prentice Hall, 9th ed.)
Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue.
Miller, Nathan. New World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America (2003)

Description

Like the 2020s, the 1920s, called “The Jazz Age” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was a time of great cultural change brought about by technological advances, youth culture, the liberation of women, increasing voter rights, an emphasis on higher education, and increasing racial tolerance and respect for African American contributions to American culture (The Harlem Renaissance). Yet also like the 2020s, it was an era of vast income inequality and economic uncertainty with historical consequences that differed from the hope implied by “Jazz Age” and “Harlem Renaissance.” The basic principles of the course are to examine the mythology surrounding the era, to explore the cultural work that such a mythology has performed for later generations, and to investigate the ways in which such a mythology has obscured the political and racial tensions of the period.

Topics include the rise of modernism, post-WWI racial tensions, social unrest (the bonus marchers and the Palmer raids), race and the rise of the New Negro, ethnicity and restrictive immigration laws, Prohibition, the rise of gangster culture, cultural types (sheiks, flappers, and so on), freedom in sexual mores (including what critics are now calling the “gay Harlem Renaissance”), new technologies, the role of film as a disseminator of popular culture, and the emancipation of women.  Although we will discuss modernism, this isn’t a course in modernism’s “greatest hits” with the usual suspects: T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and so on.

Among the authors to be studied are the following: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jean Toomer, Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, Claude McKay, and Nella Larsen. Films include Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman, Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates, and Howard Hawks’s Scarface (1932) or Mervyn LeRoy’s Three on a Match (1932); we’ll also watch the recent film adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020). We’ll listen to the music of the era and identify its cultural references, including poems by Langston Hughes and others. We will conclude with a retrospective vision of the 1920s as seen in films and television series from later decades, such as Chicago, Some Like It Hot, The Great Gatsby, Cotton Club, Idlewild and Boardwalk Empire.

Student Learning Outcomes and Course Goals

The goals for students in the course are as follows:

  • Capstone Experience. To provide a culminating experience of studying a topic in both breadth and depth, using the 1920s as a lens to reflect on American culture past and present, and to permit students to draw on the skills needed to develop their own research or creative questions about this time period through a close analysis of 1920s American fiction, poetry, films, songs, and other cultural artifacts.
  • Contemporary Issues in Historical Contexts. To encourage students’ investigations and explorations of open-ended issues and problems that dominated the 1920s and that persist in American culture today: race and racism, gender empowerment, the economic and social effects of income inequality, the emphasis on higher education, technological advances, and so on.
  • Literary History. To learn about significant movements and trends in 1920s American literature (modernism and primitivism, for example), and to understand that a work’s classic status and critical reputation may shift over time, and to conduct independent research into those reasons.
  • Evaluating Research Sources. To work with and learn to evaluate primary and secondary resources on the 1920s, including locating primary print sources and digitized versions online, learning to use the MLA Bibliography and other databases to find secondary sources, and learning to assess web materials for reliability, and locating primary source materials. The first “laptop day” exercise will be devoted to this exercise.
  • Critical Thinking. To enable students to demonstrate critical and creative thinking and communication skills and to synthesize the knowledge thus gained into papers and presentations in order to disseminate those insights to the class.
  • Demonstration of Expertise. To require students to demonstrate depth, breadth, and integration of learning through the creation of a culminating research project (prose or multimedia) and the oral presentation of that project to the class.

See the UCORE section below for the alignment of these objectives with UCORE and CAPS guidelines.

Schedule of Assignments

This schedule should be regarded as a tentative guide to the assignments; it may well be changed as the semester progresses. You’re responsible for the material even if you missed class that day. Since you will also be writing about films and music of the era in your papers, quizzes, and exams, you should arrange to view or listen to any materials that you may miss if you do not attend class on a given day. Most are available either online, in the library, through Interlibrary Loan, or through a commercial service such as Netflix.

All handouts are posted to Canvas; I’ll provide paper copies as well for the first few weeks. After that, the readings are mostly from your books.

You need to bring your book with you to class each day. Having your book in class is a vital part of class participation: you’ll be asked to read passages aloud, give page citations, and so forth. Reading the book online and then coming to class is not sufficient, and your class participation grade will be lower as a result. Because the introductions to these books often contain “spoilers,” you need not read them until after you have finished the book.

Content Warning: The texts, music, and film in this course reflect the cultural attitudes of the early twentieth century, and they are presented in their original form. Although these materials are not graphic in terms of sexuality or violence when judged by twenty-first century standards, they may use words now considered offensive, may depict scenes upsetting to current readers, or may represent race, gender, or violence in ways that that run counter to current standards, even when the intent is to protest racism, sexism, or other forms of social injustice. If offensive terms occur in a text, we will not read those harmful words aloud in class.

Date Reading Assignments Other Assignments
1 8/24 Introduction
8/26 Gender Matters, Part I

Edna St. Vincent Millay, “First Fig,” “I, being born a woman and distressed” (handout)

Dorothy Parker, “Resume”; (99); “Interview” (117); “News Item” (109); “Bohemia” (223); “Unfortunate Coincidence” (96); “Big Blonde” (187-210); “You Were Perfectly Fine” (all from The Portable Dorothy Parker)

Note: I’ll ask for two volunteers to read “You Were Perfectly Fine” aloud in class, since it’s a dialogue between a man and a woman.

Sign up for weblog, report, or both
2 8/31 Gender Matters, Part II

Hemingway, “The Sea Change” (handout)
Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” (handout)
Fitzgerald, ” Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (handout)
Debate over bobbed hair (optional)

9/2 Flappers and Philosophers

“Winter Dreams” (handout)
“The Ice Palace” (handout

Weblog post #1
3 9/7 Lost Generation and Expatriate Life 
Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, chapters 1-12 (pp. 11-130)
9/9 The Sun Also Rises, chapters 13-end (pp. 131-251) Weblog post #2
4 9/14 Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night, part 1 Reports
9/16 Tender is the Night, parts 2 & 3 Weblog post #3
5 9/21 Research week: Visit to MASC (tentative date)
9/23 Research week: Paper 1 Workshop
Laptop day: Finding Scholarly Resources on the 1920s
Weblog post #4
6 9/28 Collegiate Culture
Movie: Harold Lloyd, The Freshman
Paper 1 due
9/30 “Ain’t We Got Fun?” Popular Music of the 1920s

Bring laptop or phone to find music.
Sheet music exercise (in class).

7 10/5 Exam 1
10/7 The Harlem RenaissanceJazz and Poetry 

Lewis, introduction to The Harlem Renaissance Reader (xiii-xli)
Joel A. Rogers, “Jazz at Home” HRR 52-57

Louis Armstrong, “Weary Blues” (song)
Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “I, Too” HRR 257-258;”The Weary Blues” HRR 260-261; “Negro,” “Mulatto,” HRR 262-263

8 10/12 The Harlem RenaissanceJazz and Poetry 
Sterling Brown, “Ma Rainey” HRR 232-234
Ma Rainey, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and other songs
Bessie Smith, “St. Louis Blues” (song)
Gwendolyn Bennett, “Song” HRR 221-222
Reports
10/14 The Harlem Renaissance: African Legacies and Afrofuturism

Countee Cullen, “Heritage” and “From the Dark Tower,” HRR 244-248

W. E. B. DuBois, from The Dark Princess, HRR 511-535

Weblog post #5
9 10/19 Harlem Renaissance: Poetry and Aesthetics

Claude McKay, “If We Must Die” and “The White House,” HRR 290-291
Alain Locke, from The New Negro, HRR 46-51
W. E. B. Du Bois, “Criteria of Negro Art,” HRR 100-105
Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” HRR 91-95

10/21 Harlem Renaissance: Life Writings

Claude McKay, from A Long Way from HomeHRR 156-172
James Weldon Johnson, from Black Manhattan, HRR 34-45
Langston Hughes, from The Big SeaHRR 76-91
Rudolph Fisher, “The Caucasian Storms Harlem,” HRR 110-117

Weblog post #6
Paper 2 due
 
10 10/26 Harlem Renaissance: Modernist Experimentation 

Richard Bruce Nugent, “Smoke, Lilies and Jade” HRR 569-583
Jean Toomer, Cane 1-51, especially “Karintha,” “Fern,” “Georgia Dusk” (except for “Blood-Burning Moon” and “Kabnis,” which we’ll discuss later)

10/28 Cane, 52-end, especially “Bona and Paul” and “Box Seat” Weblog post #7
.
11 11/2 Critical Perspectives on Cane

Read Reilly, Scruggs, Walker, Sollors, Jones in your Norton Critical Edition

Precis assignment on one of the assigned articles due in class; you’ll discuss it in class.
11/4 No Class: Reading Day Weblog post #8

Optional Paper 3 (creative) due

.
12 11/9 Southern Horrors

Claude McKay, from Home to Harlem, HRR 370-388
Angelina Weld Grimke, from “The Closing Door” HRR 486-500
Toomer, “Blood-Burning Moon” and “Kabnis”

Reports
11/11 No Class: Veterans’ Day Weblog post #9
13 11/16 Movie: Oscar Micheaux, Within Our Gates (1919)
11/18 Passing and Fictions of Racial Identity

Nella Larsen, Passing (all)

Weblog post #10
Optional Weblog post #11
14 11/23-25 Thanksgiving Week: No Class
15 11/30 1920s/2020s Integrative analysis: How has the 1920s been viewed by subsequent decades in terms of history, culture, literature, and social change? What parallels does it have for our life in 2020?
12/2  Movie: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) Paper 4 due
16 12/7 Presentations on Final Projects (Paper 4)
12/9 Presentations on Final Projects (Paper 4)
17 12/15 Final Exam 10:30-12:30 p.m.

Course Requirements

Class Participation.  Class participation and attendance are important, and you should come to class prepared to discuss each day’s reading. Since the syllabus is online, as are the readings not in your textbooks, you should have no trouble in reading the next day’s assignments even if you’re absent on the previous day. If you have questions about the day’s reading, don’t hesitate to ask; chances are good that someone else had the same question.

Attendance. You’re expected to come to class every day and to wear a mask, the latter in accordance with Governor Inslee’s mask mandate of 8/18/21. Don’t come to class if you’re feeling ill for any reason. Email me and it’ll count as an excused absence. You don’t need to tell me your symptoms or a diagnosis, just that you’re not feeling well and won’t be coming to class. Your email is sufficient; no documentation is needed. I trust you to tell the truth. After 4 unexcused absences your grade will drop one letter grade; excused absences (again, just email me at campbelld@wsu.edu) don’t count against this number.

  • COVID information: It’s possible that variant strains might cause us to quarantine ourselves for two weeks. If we go into quarantine and I am not ill, I’ll email you and move the class to Zoom for the duration of the quarantine.

Expectations for Student Effort. This is a capstone course, so you can expect to spend at least 2-3 hours in reading and preparation for each hour of class time.

Class Climate. Included in attendance and class participation is the expectation that students will be respectful of their classmates’ and the instructor’s time and their mutual effort to concentrate on class discussion and activities. Activities such as texting, being on social media, reading material unrelated to the course during class time, and talking while others are speaking do not constitute respectful behavior and will significantly lower your class participation grade.

Formal Papers. Clear sentences, a logical organizational plan, an original thesis, and good support for ideas are the goal for your papers. At the college level, and especially in an upper-division English course, great ideas require clear exposition. If the paper can’t make the “great idea” clear, it’s not a great paper. Papers are evaluated on the conventions of standard written English as well as on the content, and the comments on your papers will reflect conventions such as sentence structure and punctuation. See the criteria below.

Students in this class will write the following:

  • Two shorter papers of literary interpretation or analysis requiring no research (3-5 pages or about 750-1000 words).
  • The third paper is optional; it includes a creative topics option and may substitute for either of the first two. In other words, if you complete all three short papers, the lowest short paper grade will be dropped.
  • One longer paper (8-10 pages) that will require either research or the reading of additional texts. The longer paper may be a group project and may take the form of a web site, wiki, or video production. More details will be available later in the course. This paper will be the subject of a final presentation.

Format. Papers must be neatly typed and carefully proofread. Citations should follow MLA style as outlined in the MLA Handbook. See more formatting guidelines at this link: https://hub.wsu.edu/campbell/courses/resources/formatting-guide/

Name your file as follows: LastnameFirstinitial_ClassNumber_Papernumber. Example: If Joan Smith turns in his/her/their first paper, the file would be called SmithJ_494_Paper1.doc. See the formatting guidelines for more information.See the Format link or handout for more information.

Late Papers and Extensions. Late papers are penalized at the rate of one letter grade (10 points) per class day late; a paper that would have received a “B” or 85 on Tuesday will receive a “C” or 75 if handed in on Thursday.

  • If you don’t turn in a paper, you will receive a 0 for that portion of your grade. Papers received after four class days will receive 50 points but will not be formally graded.
  • You have one 48-hour extension in this class. This extension means that your paper will be due on the next class day, which could be more than 48 hours, without penalty. You must request the extension ahead of time.

Exams. This course has two exams: a midterm and a final. Exams in this course will consist of objective (multiple choice, short answer, matching) questions, identification questions, and an essay written in class. These can’t be made up unless you have an excused absence. WSU policy prohibits giving final exams before the final exam period; in this course, you have alternatives to taking it (completing the weblog and report option).

QuizzesBecause quizzes have been proven to help students with the retention of material, unannounced quizzes over the reading will be given frequently in this class. The quizzes test your specific knowledge of the reading assignment for that day and sometimes ask about information from a previous day’s class discussion or lecture. For example, you might be asked the name of a character, the meaning of a term discussed in the previous class, the character associated with a particular quotation, or the results of a specific action that occurs in a scene. Their purpose is to reinforce your close reading of the material by asking you about significant points in the book.

  • Quizzes are usually composed of 10 multiple-choice questions, although some quizzes will ask you to write a few sentences in response to a question. If you’ve done the reading and have paid attention in class, you should easily be able to get a 10/10 on them.
  • Quizzes can’t be made up, even if you are absent because of illness, but the lowest quiz grade will be dropped.
  • Quizzes are usually given in the first 10 minutes of class; if you come in late and the quiz is in progress, you will not be able to take the quiz.
  • An optional quiz will be given as a universal “make-up” quiz at the end of the semester.
  • Students who have their books with them in class will be able to look up material for the bonus questions on quizzes.

In-class writing and short assignments. Short, typed responses to the reading may be assigned from time to time, as will short pieces of in-class writing.

Reports and Blogs. Students in this class will either present a brief oral report to the class keep a weblog of their reading this semester. Both options will involve about the same amount of work, but with the blog option, you’ll be spreading the work out over the entire semester. You can pair up with someone to write the weblog.

Those who choose both to present a report and to keep a weblog will not have to take the final exam, although they can do so if they wish.

  • You’ll sign up for a report or a weblog in class. See the Reports and Blogs pages for more details.
  • To make the schedule updatable and available to all, it will be posted on our course site, as will the list of blogs.
  • Because the point of the weblog is to share your thoughts with others in the class, our main class site will contain a link with your name as part of the requirement. If you have any privacy concerns (under FERPA) about having people know that you are in this class or do not want your name posted anywhere on our class site, you should choose the Reports option instead. You’ll also need to write to me (on paper) requesting that your name be omitted from the Reports page.

Class Policies

Electronics PolicyRecent studies have demonstrated that people remember material better when they take notes by hand rather than on the computer, since typing on the computer tends to produce a transcription rather than the kind of selective note-taking that leads to understanding. Also, students participate more actively when they are not using a laptop, which benefits their class participation grade, and there are fewer distractions in the classroom without laptops. For 75 minutes twice a week, we’ll be giving the culture of the 1920s our full attention, so your use of electronics should only be for the purpose of accessing or engaging with course materials during that time.

Academic Honesty Policy. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else’s words or ideas. This definition includes not only deliberately handing in someone else’s work as your own but failing to cite your sources, including Web pages and Internet sources. Plagiarism also includes handing in a paper that you have previously submitted or are currently submitting for another course. For a first offense, any paper plagiarized in whole or in part will receive an “F” (0 points), and the incident must be reported to the WSU Office of Student ConductYou will NOT be allowed to rewrite the plagiarized paper for a better grade. Penalties for a second offense can range from failing the course to suspension from the university.

Grade Distribution

Exams (exams, 10% each) 20 percent
Short papers (2 at 10% each) 20 percent
Report or weblog 10 percent
Precis 5 percent
Longer Paper or Project (20%) plus presentation (5%) 25 percent
Quizzes, class participation, Perusall comments, group presentations, and in-class writings 20 percent

 

Grading Criteria. Each piece of written work, from an essay on an exam to a formal paper, starts as a “0” and rises to one of the levels listed below based on the quality of its ideas, development, and writing. Your writing does not start from an “A” and “lose points” based on certain errors; instead, grading starts from a baseline and points are added based on the quality of your work.

Think of the grading scheme as you would think of a game or a job. You don’t start with a perfect score (or a high salary) and lose points by making errors; rather, you start from a baseline and gain points based on the quality of your skills as demonstrated by your performance. The same is true here. Grading criteria and other information is available at https://hub.wsu.edu/campbell/courses/grading-criteria/.

The first paper will contain extensive typed explanations to alert you to grammatical errors; after that there’ll be brief references to the “Key to Comments” document at https://hub.wsu.edu/campbell/courses/resources/key-to-comments.

Course Grades in this class are calculated by weighted percentages rather than a specific number of points. Grades are rounded up or down in the standard manner (e.g., 89.5 would round up to 90; 89.4 would round to 89).

The following chart shows you sample grade equivalents for assignments worth 15, 20, 25, and 100 points.

100 15 20 25 30 850 Course Grade
A 95 14 19 25 29 238 808 (WSU does not have an A+ grade; A is the top grade)
A 93 14 19 23 28 233 791 93% and up = A
A/A- 92 14 18 23 28 230 782
A- 90 14 18 23 27 225 765 90-92 A-
B+ 88 13 18 22 26 220 748
B/B+ 87 13 17 22 26 218 740 87-89 B+
B 85 13 17 21 26 213 723
B 83 12 17 21 25 208 706 83-86 B
B/B- 82 12 16 21 25 205 697
B- 80 12 16 20 24 200 680 80-82 B-
C+ 78 12 16 20 23 195 663
C/C+ 77 12 15 19 23 193 655 77-79 C+
C 73 11 15 18 22 183 621 73-76 C
C/C- 72 11 14 18 22 180 612
C- 70 11 14 18 21 175 595 70-72 C-
D+ 68 10 14 17 20 170 578
D/D+ 67 10 13 17 20 168 570 67-69 D+
D 65 9.8 13 16 20 163 553
D/D- 62 9.3 12 16 19 155 527 60-65 D (WSU does not have a D- grade)
D- 60 9 12 15 18 150 510 Below 60 F

UCORE Goals and Course Goals

The following requirements pertain to CAPS courses in addition to UCORE goals: https://ucore.wsu.edu/faculty/curriculum/

  Require students to draw on the skills needed to develop their own research or creative project, and to initiate investigations and explorations of open-ended issues and problems.

  Require students to demonstrate Integrative Learning: by showing a depth of knowledge within the chosen academic field of study based on integration, for example, of its history, core methods, techniques, vocabulary, and unsolved problems;

  UCORE committee suggests that capstone courses and assignments intentionally offer students:

  • Authentic, contextualized experiences or complex scenarios
  • Independence and agency, with feedback along the way
  • Opportunities to integrate and extend prior learning; and to use critical inquiry

UCORE Goals Addressed in this Course

UCORE Goal 1: Critical and Creative ThinkingGraduates will use reason, evidence, and context to increase knowledge, to reason ethically, and to innovate in imaginative ways.

CAPS Goal: Require students to draw on the skills needed to develop their own research or creative project, and to initiate investigations and explorations of open-ended issues and problems.

  • At the end of this course, students should be able to read and closely analyze works of literature and journalism within the course materials described; to study a topic in both breadth and depth, using the 1920s as a lens to reflect on American culture past and present; and to draw on the skills needed to develop their own research or creative questions about this time period through a close analysis of 1920s American fiction, poetry, films, songs, and other cultural artifacts.
  • Course topics addressing this outcome include all course topics, all lectures and class discussions, and all papers, including the final paper and creative option project.
  • Evaluation of outcomes includes graded class discussions and ungraded class participation, graded papers, creative option paper evaluation, and evaluation of final project

UCORE Goal 2: Scientific Literacy. Graduates will have a basic understanding of major scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision-making, participation in civic affairs, economic productivity and global stewardship. 

  • At the end of this course, students should be able to understand the ways in which scientific knowledge can be contingent not only on evidence but upon the historical framework in which it is gained; to learn how misinformation about science and its processes can lead to demonstrably harmful outcomes; and to recognize that 1920s scientific theories led to harmful conclusions by promoting eugenics and enforcing structural racism.
  • Course topics addressing this outcome include elected readings, including “The Closing Door”
  • Evaluation of outcomes includes evaluation of papers and class discussions about historical and scientific events (the 1918 flu epidemic, eugenics, the Tuskeegee experiment, and so on).

UCORE Goal 3: Information Literacy. Graduates will effectively identify, locate, evaluate, use responsibly and share information for the problem at hand. 

  • At the end of this course, students should be able to view and interpret multiple kinds of texts, including maps, songs, and political cartoons, to understand the ways in which they comment on and reflect their culture; to work with and learn to evaluate primary and secondary resources, including locating primary print sources and digitized versions online, learning to use the MLA Bibliography and other databases to find secondary sources; and to assess web materials for reliability, and locating primary source materials. These will be addressed on laptop days and during our visit to the MASC.
  • Course topics addressing this outcome include a visit to the MASC, Laptop days focused on research, such as finding 1920s materials; and the Precis assignment.
  • Evaluation of outcomes includes Successful completion of laptop day and MASC exercises and integration of that knowledge into papers and projects; quizzes; and the final project (web possibility) evaluation via rubric.

UCORE Goal 4: Communication. Graduates will write, speak and listen to achieve intended meaning and understanding among all participants. 

  • At the end of this course, students should be able to synthesize and create knowledge and to disseminate those insights to the class (reports, presentations, papers); and to understand means of disseminating information and to the world beyond the classroom (blogs).
  • Course topics addressing this outcome include formal reports, informal class presentations, class discussions, weblogs, and papers and projects.
  • Evaluation of outcomes includes assessment of formal reports, papers, oral presentations, weblogs, and class discussions.

UCORE Goal 5: Diversity. Graduates will understand, respect and interact constructively with others of similar and diverse cultures, values, and perspectives. 

  • At the end of this course, students should be able to understand significant issues, movements, and trends in literature of the 1920s including historical issues of racism, class, and gender inequities, and to apply this knowledge to contemporary issues of racism, class, and gender inequities.
  • Course topics addressing this outcome include reading theorists and artists on the Harlem Renaissance; viewing the pioneering African American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates; and discussing jazz and cultural appropriation.
  • Evaluation of outcomes includes assessment of class discussion, papers, reports, and group presentations.

UCORE Goal 6: Depth, Breadth, and Integration of Learning. Graduates will develop depth, breadth, and integration of learning for the benefit of themselves, their communities, their employers, and for society at large. 

  • At the end of this course, students should be able to see how instances of how 1920s perspectives, language, and literature permeate contemporary culture and to assess the ways in which they affect our perspectives on issues such as individualism, industrialism and ecology, relations with other countries, and aesthetics, gender, and sexuality.
  • Course topics addressing this outcome include readings in cultural history and studying primary sources including films, recorded music, sheet music, and popular fiction in magazines
  • Evaluation of outcomes includes Formal evaluation for final project, presentation, and weblogs; and the discussion and reflection assignment on “1920s/2020s”

WSU Policies

WSU Email Policy: According to WSU policies, I can only respond to emails sent from your WSU email address.  I can’t reply to emails sent from your personal email address.

Because of FERPA and privacy issues, no grades will be discussed or transmitted by e-mail or instant messaging. Emails about other matters will usually receive a response within 24 hours except on weekends, when replies will be sent on Monday morning. Please identify yourself using first and last name and use conventional email etiquette.

WSU Statement on Academic Integrity. Academic integrity is the cornerstone of higher education. As such, all members of the university community share responsibility for maintaining and promoting the principles of integrity in all activities, including academic integrity and honest scholarship. Academic integrity will be strongly enforced in this course. Students who violate WSU’s Academic Integrity Policy (identified in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 504-26-010(4) will receive the penalty listed above under Course Policies, will not have the option to withdraw from the course pending an appeal, and will be reported to the Center for Community Standards.

Cheating includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration as defined in the Standards of Conduct for Students, WAC 504-26-010(3). Read and understand all of the definitions of cheating. If you have any questions about what is and is not allowed, ask your course instructor.

If you wish to appeal a instructor’s decision relating to academic integrity, please use the form available at communitystandards.wsu.edu. Make sure you submit your appeal within 21 calendar days of the instructor’s decision.

WSU Midterm Policy. Based on ASWSU student requests and action by the Faculty Senate, WSU has instituted Academic Rule 88, which stipulates that all students will receive midterm grades. Midterm grades will be reported as they are calculated in Blackboard.

However, at midterm only 35% of the total graded assignments will have been turned in. Midterm grades are not binding, and because the bulk of the graded work in this course occurs after the midterm point, it can only accurately reflect student performance up to that point.

WSU COVID-19 Statement

Per the proclamation of Governor Inslee on August 18, 2021, masks that cover both the nose and mouth must be worn by all people over the age of five while indoors in public spaces. This includes all WSU owned and operated facilities. The state-wide mask mandate goes into effect on Monday, August 23, 2021, and will be effective until further notice.

Public health directives may be adjusted throughout the year to respond to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Directives may include, but are not limited to, compliance with WSU’s COVID-19 vaccination policy, wearing a cloth face covering, physically distancing, and sanitizing common-use spaces. All current COVID-19 related university policies and public health directives are located at https://wsu.edu/covid-19/. Students who choose not to comply with these directives may be required to leave the classroom; in egregious or repetitive cases, student non-compliance may be referred to the Center for Community Standards for action under the Standards of Conduct for Students.

WSU Reasonable Accommodations Policy. Reasonable accommodations are available for students with documented disabilities or chronic medical or psychological conditions. If you have such a condition and need accommodations to fully participate in this class, please visit your campus’ Access Center/Services website to follow published procedures to request accommodations. Students may also contact their campus offices to schedule an appointment with a Disability Specialist. All disability related accommodations are to be approved through the Access Center/Services on your campus. It is a university expectation that students connect with instructors (via email, Zoom, or in person) to discuss logistics within two weeks after they have officially requested their accommodations.

For more information, contact a Disability Specialist: Pullman, WSU Global Campus, Everett, Bremerton, and Puyallup: 509-335-3417. Go to the Access Center (https://www.accesscenter.wsu.edu) site or email at access.center@wsu.edu

WSU Policy on Accommodation for Religious Observances or Activities. Washington State University reasonably accommodates absences allowing for students to take holidays for reasons of faith or conscience or organized activities conducted under the auspices of a religious denomination, church, or religious organization. Reasonable accommodation requires the student to coordinate with the instructor on scheduling examinations or other activities necessary for course completion. Students requesting accommodation must provide written notification within the first two weeks of the beginning of the course and include specific dates for absences. Approved accommodations for absences will not adversely impact student grades. Absence from classes or examinations for religious reasons does not relieve students from responsibility for any part of the course work required during the period of absence. Students who feel they have been treated unfairly in terms of this accommodation may refer to Academic Regulation 104 – Academic Complaint Procedures.

WSU Policy on Discrimination. Discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, sexual harassment, and sexual misconduct (including stalking, intimate partner violence, and sexual violence) is prohibited at WSU (See WSU Policy Prohibiting Discrimination and Harassment (Executive Policy 15) and WSU Standards of Conduct for Students). If you feel you have experienced or have witnessed discriminatory conduct, you can contact the WSU Compliance & Civil Rights (CCR, formerly CRCI, formerly OEO, formerly CHR) and/or the WSU Title IX Coordinator at 509-335-8288 to discuss resources, including confidential resources, and reporting options. (Visit ccr.wsu.edu for more information).

Most WSU employees, including faculty, who have information regarding sexual harassment or sexual misconduct are required to report the information to CCR or a designated Title IX Coordinator or Liaison. (Visit ccr.wsu.edu/reporting-requirements for more info). Addition to WSU’s policy: rude, profane, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate emails will receive no reply and will be forwarded to the appropriate administrative office.

WSU Safety Policy. Classroom and campus safety are of paramount importance at Washington State University, and are the shared responsibility of the entire campus population. WSU urges students to follow the “Alert, Assess, Act,” protocol for all types of emergencies and the “Run, Hide, Fight” response for an active shooter incident. Remain ALERT (through direct observation or emergency notification), ASSESS your specific situation, and ACT in the most appropriate way to assure your own safety (and the safety of others if you are able).

Please sign up for emergency alerts on your account at MyWSU. For more information on this subject, campus safety, and related topics, please view the FBI’s Run, Hide, Fight video and visit the WSU safety portal.

Full details can be found at https://provost.wsu.edu/classroom-safety/

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, DIAL 911 FIRST!

  • Student Care Network:  studentcare.wsu.edu
  • Cougar Transit: 978 267-7233
  • WSU Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS): 509 335-2159
  • Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800 273-8255
  • Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
  • WSU Pullman Police: 509 335-8548
  • Pullman Police (Non-Emergency): 509 332-2521
  • WSU Office of Civil Rights Compliance & Investigation: 509 335-8288
  • Alternatives to Violence on the Palouse: 877 334-2887
  • Pullman 24-Hour Crisis Line: 509 334-1133