African American Literature from the Harlem Renaissance to the Digital Present
I taught African American Literature from the Harlem Renaissance to the Digital Present in the spring of 2014 at Georgia Tech. You can read more about the course, particularly the students' interview projects, in an article I wrote for TECHStyle here.
Included below are some images of the digital resources that the students designed for studying the Harlem Renaissance. Many students used maps as a means of organizing information and interpreting texts, analyzing quotations and photographs in annotations. At times, the students’ maps provided a visual landscape with which to return. When we later read Pearl Cleage’s novel of the Obama Campaign set in Atlanta, Till You Hear From Me (2010), the protagonist refers to Abernathy Avenue of Atlanta’s West End as a version of Harlem’s 125th Street. Without mapping Harlem, students might still have understood this allusion, but having done so, they were better able to understand the significance of history at street level and the ability of locations to shape our cultural imagination.
Included below are some images of the digital resources that the students designed for studying the Harlem Renaissance. Many students used maps as a means of organizing information and interpreting texts, analyzing quotations and photographs in annotations. At times, the students’ maps provided a visual landscape with which to return. When we later read Pearl Cleage’s novel of the Obama Campaign set in Atlanta, Till You Hear From Me (2010), the protagonist refers to Abernathy Avenue of Atlanta’s West End as a version of Harlem’s 125th Street. Without mapping Harlem, students might still have understood this allusion, but having done so, they were better able to understand the significance of history at street level and the ability of locations to shape our cultural imagination.
Students coded this poetry analysis site.
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This group used Wix to create a Harlem website.
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This map of significant locations in Harlem is part of the site above called "The New Harlem."
This group created a map of the locations in Langston Hughes's The Big Sea (1940).
Responses from Students
"One of Dr. Golden's greatest strengths is being able to dive into what she teaches and clearly show her passion and excitement for the material. She made me very excited to learn about everything in the Harlem Renaissance and really sparked my interest in this subject! She has a very compassionate personality, and you could really tell that she cares about the material and us as students."
"Honestly, I've never had a teacher, high school, elementary school, or college, who seemed so ready to teach day in and day out."
"She has a true passion for her work, and because of this loves trying to make it fun for us. She is very exciting during class and keeps you interested. The amount of authors and poets she knows personally is also a great strength of the class."
"She was able to learn from some of the students' views on the works we read and developed a discussion based on the views of the students. Some of the discussion activities she tried out were also very fun and facilitated discussion well."
"The instructor was always in a happy and interested mood. Since her attitude was one of genuine happiness and interest, it made it easier to focus on the class and enjoy it, while also learning the course material."
"I really liked the timeline of the materials that we read. I liked how we started with the Harlem Renaissance and went through modern day with Till You Hear From Me by Pearl Cleage. It help me connect to the material as well as connect with the literary period. It helped me stay interested in the material, and be able to come to a deeper sense of understanding."
"It was an interesting topic and we moved at a great pace to keep our interest sparked no matter how hard all of our other STEM classes got. Dr. Golden is a great professor who shares her passion for English with her students. I have really enjoyed this class this semester."
"One of Dr. Golden's greatest strengths is being able to dive into what she teaches and clearly show her passion and excitement for the material. She made me very excited to learn about everything in the Harlem Renaissance and really sparked my interest in this subject! She has a very compassionate personality, and you could really tell that she cares about the material and us as students."
"Honestly, I've never had a teacher, high school, elementary school, or college, who seemed so ready to teach day in and day out."
"She has a true passion for her work, and because of this loves trying to make it fun for us. She is very exciting during class and keeps you interested. The amount of authors and poets she knows personally is also a great strength of the class."
"She was able to learn from some of the students' views on the works we read and developed a discussion based on the views of the students. Some of the discussion activities she tried out were also very fun and facilitated discussion well."
"The instructor was always in a happy and interested mood. Since her attitude was one of genuine happiness and interest, it made it easier to focus on the class and enjoy it, while also learning the course material."
"I really liked the timeline of the materials that we read. I liked how we started with the Harlem Renaissance and went through modern day with Till You Hear From Me by Pearl Cleage. It help me connect to the material as well as connect with the literary period. It helped me stay interested in the material, and be able to come to a deeper sense of understanding."
"It was an interesting topic and we moved at a great pace to keep our interest sparked no matter how hard all of our other STEM classes got. Dr. Golden is a great professor who shares her passion for English with her students. I have really enjoyed this class this semester."