This is a higher-level African American Literature course. In the course, we focused on works like:
Paul Lawrence Dunbar: “We Wear the Mask”
John Lewis: March: Book 1 (Graphic Novel)
Amiri Baraka: “Someone Blew up America”
Maya Angelou: (Preface&Chapters 1-3) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Amanda Gorman: “The Hill We Climb”
Claude McKay: “If We Must Die”
Claudia Rankine: Citizen: An American Lyric
In this persuasive, literary analysis essay, begin with an analysis of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric and create an argument that links Citizen, the focus question, and “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman
Focus Question:
Audience Positioning
Rankine uses a second-person perspective throughout the book, addressing much of the text to “you.” How do you feel the use of this perspective affected your reading of the book? What angles of experience were you surprised to inhabit, and why?

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