39 Final Course Reflection – Essay Assignment

Authors: allia abdullah-matta, Angel Dye, Shauna Morgan, Dave Wooley

Target Audience: Advanced Undergraduate

Over the course of the semester, we have engaged in a conversation about the ways in which Black poetry, Black experience(s), Black aesthetics, and Black liberatory moves are expressed within the Black literary tradition. We have read diverse iterations of “symbolic voice” (identity/utterance/agency) as representative of the Black experience, struggle, and resistance, and we have used the literature to note historical periods and cultural moments, the political and socio-economic circumstances of Black people, and expressions of agency and resistance.

Write a final reflection that addresses your top five texts. What were the poems, poets, critical essays, or supplemental texts that most resonated with you? What did you learn about the Black experience, Black aesthetics, Black poetics, Black liberatory practices, and the culture and politics of the Black literary tradition? What are your final takeaways about the significance of Black poetry as liberatory practice?

Papers should be between 900-1200 words.