Instructions: 

Listen to the lecture, read the theory and the texts to be ready to answer the questions in the class.

Points to remember:

The slave narratives started to be published in the late 1700s and reached the peak of popularity before the outbreak of the Civil War. The writers were describing their living conditions and often attempts at escape.  

 The author writes mainly for white audiences to gain wider sympathy and understanding and also to prove (like other minorities) their social usefulness and adaptability. The poetic tradition was established by two African American poets: Jupiter Hammon (1711–ca. 1806) and Phillis Wheatley (1753–84). 

Major themes of African American poetry: oppression, racism, equal rights, African American culture. 

Harlem Renaissance: attempt to create African American cultural and literary tradition, incorporate music, especially jazz and blues into poetry (Hughes), to question the influence of race upon writing (Toomer, Cullen), to raise awareness of the lives of African American women (Hurston).