The project entailed a student cohort to review and analyze African-American literature in conjunction with the historical events of the period so that students would have a better understanding of the environment that influenced the writers. The historical aspects covered in AMH2020 began with the post-Civil War period and continued to the present time; AMH2020 was not an African-American history class but an American history class which included the great accomplishments and contributions made by African-Americans.

The students in the learning community were part of a larger class that included students who were not part of the cohort. The idea was to have the smaller group which made up the learning community become a bridge between the two student groups. Since most of the students in the history class were not part of the learning community, the class was organized into groups. One of the students from the learning community was placed in each group. They were told that these groups were learning communities within a learning community. Each group was given assignments to work on together and represented an attempt to integrate what the learning community cohort had learned in the literature class into what was being covered in the history class. The students were able to identify and discuss how the events that were being covered affected people living during the period as expressed in the literary works they were covering in the African-American Literature class. The class groups analyzed the laws and the economic conditions of the periods, and later they used their findings in reporting to the class how these elements of historical significance impacted the society and the individual. The groups provided the class with an oral presentation dealing with a specific period. These presentations were used not just as a way of assessing the students, but as a tool to reinforce and review the subject matter that they were to learn in both the Literature and History classes.

The structure of the African-American literature class was much like the structure of the American history class, a cohort within a larger class. Students studied literature (ENC 1102) from the slavery period to the contemporary period. The bridge to the American history aspect of the project was that students were able to identify and describe how American history played a role in the production of literature in each respective time period. Additionally, students were able to discuss the influence of policies made in American history on the behavior of characters in selected pieces of literature. For example, many students enrolled in the cohort did not understand the concept of slavery and through the reading of literature of this period and discussion and lectures in American history, students in the cohort and the larger class were better able to grasp the history of slavery in America. Students were also better able to understand another period known as the Harlem Renaissance. They were not only introduced to literature of this period, but they were able to correlate the laws of the period to literature of the period.

Students enrolled in the learning community gave reports on the historical influences of each literary period: slavery, post civil-war and reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, the Social Changes and Civil Rights, the Black Power Movement and the Contemporary Period. The periods that displayed the learning community most efficiently were the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement. It was through class discussions and student presentations that the larger learning community and the infrastructure of the smaller learning community were able to connect the power of the government and the role of economics in the lives of the writers of both periods. Students were able to discuss and correlate the influence of these two movements on the Black Power Movement and the anger sensed in the literature of the Black Power Movement.

Guest speakers, Roland Laird and Dr. Richard Holton, made presentations that were relevant to topics that were being discussed in class. Mr. Laird, guest author of the Florida Literacy Association, made a presentation of African-American history through cartoons as outlined in his book And Still I Rise. Mr. Laird also discussed the influence and impact that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s had on him as an author and businessman.

Dr. Richard Holton’s presentation focused on “Racial Profiling.” Dr. Holton discussed the definition of racial profiling so that students could better understand exactly what racial profiling was. He also discussed the multi-million dollar class action suit brought against the Florida Highway Patrol for racial profiling.

For a final evaluation, students enrolled in African-American Literature produced a cooperative learning research project that included the discussion of literary works in each of the designated literary periods. Also included in the research project was a detailed discussion of the influence of American history during the period.

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