Title

Identity, Community, and the Skin Color Paradox in Iola Leroy

Document Type

Website

Description

This assignment was created for the Honors requirement in my contract course version of ENG 347 African-American Literature. Dr. Gosselin and I agreed that my Honors project would require me to create a digital resource based on one of the texts from the course. Then, I would analyze the text using social science articles from the course, as well as one other social science article that I would find independently. When I found "The Blacker the Berry" as my additional article, Dr. Gosselin and I agreed that citing the novel which inspired the title of the article would add more depth to the project. I used Google Sites to create the project, and the databases available through the Michael Schwartz Library to find my additional secondary sources. Our class discussions in ENG 347 often addressed the importance of reading African-American literature through its historical and political context--which is often overlooked in conventional readings of literature written in English, as these approaches stress considering the work and only the work. With that in mind, I included a page specifically dedicated to author Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's background, as would further our understanding of Iola Leroy. I also focused my analysis on the social and political implications of the two literary text's themes for the African-American community.

Publication Date

12-2021

Department

ENG 347 African-American Literature: Colorism in Literature - Department of English

Professor for the Class

Dr. Adrienne Gosselin

Link to Full Text

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