The purpose of this study is to introduce influential texts produced by African American thinkers, novelists, poets, dramatists and essayists from the eighteenth century to the present.  The exploration of these texts allows the student to discover the major aesthetic, intellectual, and political concerns of these writers and contributes to a better understanding of American culture as a whole.  An additional goal of the study is to familiarize the students with the specific terms and conventions of literary analysis and to help them become more practiced at using them.