Topics will vary by semester. Consult the course descriptions provided by the department each semester for current offerings EXAMPLE: Spring 2009 This course will use the Popular Front (1934-1939) and its subsequent collapse after the Molotove-Ribbentrop Pact as a way to read three of the most important African-American writers of the 20th Century: Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright and Ralph Waldo Ellison. While the Harlem Renaissance is a crucial historical moment it over-determines the way many early twentieth century African-American writers are interpreted. The fact is Hurston, Wright and Ellison did most of their most important writing after the Renaissance was over. It is during and after the Popular Front that Hurston published Mules and Men (1935), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) and Moses Man of the Mountain (1939). Wright published Uncle Tom¿s Children (1938), Native Son (1940) and 12 Million Black Voices (1941) in this period. Ralph Ellison was also productive, writing or publishing many of his shorter works of fiction and criticism. More importantly, he began to draft Invisible Man (1952) in 1945. Their overlap with the Popular Front is key and I hope goes a long way in allowing us to understand their respective approaches to literary craft, fascism, America¿s entry into World War II, the onset of the Cold War and finally their respective intellectual stances on race, racism and each other.