Brother Ali’s “The Travelers” and Early American Literature

Category: david walker

Brother Ali’s “The Travelers,” from his 2009 album US, serves as a way to bridge the gap, for students, between Early American literature and their current existence. Typically, I share this song with students to give them a contemporary perspective on the Middle Passage as we read Olaudah Equiano’s Narrative. The first verse provides a graphic picture of the Middle Passage then the life of … Read More Brother Ali’s “The Travelers” and Early American Literature

August 25, 2016 + composition, david walker, kenneth burke, Literature, thomas jefferson, Uncategorized

David Walker and the Composition Classroom?

by Matthew Teutsch

For various reasons, I always like to teach David Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829) in my Early American literature courses. Typically, I do not have students read selections from Walker’s Appeal until later in the semester; however, as I noted in a previous post, I am having students read it at the very beginning of the semester before moving … Read More David Walker and the Composition Classroom?

August 23, 2016 + african american literature, american literature, david walker, olaudah equiano, phillis wheatley, syllabus, thomas jefferson, Uncategorized

Early American Literature Survey Syllabus

by Matthew Teutsch

Note: Here is the syllabus I am discussing. This semester, I’m teaching an Early American Literature survey course (through 1865). Typically, I have approached this course chronologically, having students read Native American creation stories, Christopher Columbus, William Bradford, and so on, in that order until we reached Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. However, this semester, I am trying something different. Instead of assigning students … Read More Early American Literature Survey Syllabus

Interminable Rambling

Brother Ali’s “The Travelers” and Early American Literature

Category: david walker