This essay will focus on an issue that emerges from our first two Literary Periods, (Slavery and Freedom or Reconstruction to the New Negro) and will ask you to compare two authors around this issue. This essay should be 3-5 pages in length. A documented essay is one in which you include textual support from our course readings to support and illustrate your thesis. Furthermore, this type of essay asks you to illustrate your understanding of essay structure (Introduction with thesis, supporting body paragraphs, and conclusion). Detailed criteria for this assignment can be found in the syllabus.
The second essay will also be a documented argument, but it will be more open by allowing you to write about any authors or themes from part of the second half of the Literary Periods (Harlem Renaissance, Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, The Black Arts era or the Contemporary Period). This essay should be 3-5 pages in length. Detailed criteria for this assignment can be found in the syllabus.