Training in writing expository prose. Further instruction in expository writing in conjunction with reading literature. Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

"While Black women have worked to create space for Black girls in our academic discussions of feminism, education, history, literature, community work, and the future, we have mostly subsumed Black girls within Black women’s theorizing” (Aria S. Halliday, from The Black Girlhood Studies Collection). What conversations open up when we center Black girls? How might we think about the relationship between Black girlhood and Black womanhood? To try to answer those questions, we will consider how Black women represent Black girlhood, how adultification affects Black girls, how the feeling of Black girlhood is communicated, how popular media depicts Black girls, and importantly, how Black girls represent themselves. We will examine the topic of “Black girlhood” in a variety of contexts (though our focus will be on the U.S. from the 20th century to the present). Materials might include some of the following: novels (Toni Morrison’s Sula), music (Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Noname’s “Diddy Bop,” Beyoncé’s “BROWN SKIN GIRL”), television series (Sister, Sister, Daria), films (The Fits, Hair Love), and toys (American Girl dolls, particularly Addy Walker). To address the research component of this class, we will engage with scholarship from the field of Black Girlhood Studies, and also work to locate Black girls’ presence in our local archives.

Requisites

• Previously passed an R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Previously passed an articulated R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Score a 4 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature and Composition. Score a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition. Score of 5, 6, or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination in English.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills