Laurel Hankins, PhD she/her

A survey of literature written by people living in what is now the United States from the Atlantic world of the seventeenth century through the Civil War. Readings will include works by indigenous people, settler-colonists, enslaved and self-emancipated people, founding fathers, and burgeoning feminists written across multiple genres, including poetry, drama, and fiction.  

A study of 17th and 18th Century American literature from Captain John Smith through Benjamin Franklin with emphasis on the historical background and the various types of literature produced in the period.

Survey of African American Literature from colonial times to the turn of the twentieth century. Course surveys genres of poetry, slave narrative, fiction, essay, and drama with attention to the social, political, and cultural histories of African Americans from slavery to freedom to Reconstruction. This course may also include sections on oral narratives (oral slave narratives, speeches, folktales, and sermons) and music (such as sorrow songs and spirituals).

Advanced study in a topic concerning literary texts in any genre, literary history, or literary culture. Areas of focus may include genre studies, literary theory of criticism or other aspect(s) of the creation, production, reception or consumption of literature. Past topics have included: The American Immigrant Experience, Literary Nonfiction, Reading and Writing Nature and Utopian Dreams, among others.