Infusing African American literature into the English Curriculum

FAIN: ASB-292348-23

Mississippi Valley State University (Itta Bena, MS 38941-1400)
Jon Parrish Peede (Project Director: November 2022 to November 2024)
Deborah Purnell (Project Director: November 2024 to present)
Mamie R. Osborne (Co Project Director: April 2023 to present)

A two-year project to include African American literary texts into English and composition classes.

Our institution seeks an NEH Division of Education grant to infuse African American literature more broadly and deeply into our English undergraduate curriculum. We will fulfill this project in three ways: (1) revise the English 101 and 102 composition curricula to include texts from at least five additional African American authors, (2) develop a new upper-level Special Topics course, “Contemporary African American Writers of the South,” and (3) convene a faculty workshop and tri-state HBCU symposium sharing best practices. Our grant period will run from June 1, 2023, to May 31, 2025.