General Course Objectives:

The course is designed to acquaint students with the basic rhetorical
characteristics of African American communication to assist them in
understanding the socio-cultural factors that contribute to the
distinctive aspects of black language and hip hop.

Specific Objectives:

More specifically, the course covers:

1.  The defining aspects of African American communication.
2.  African American rhetoric as an instrument of social change.
3.  The historical and contemporary origins and characteristics of
black language.
4.  The cultural and rhetorical features of hip hop.

Required Texts:

Foner, Philip S. and Robert James Branham (eds.). Lift Every Voice:
African American Oratory 1787-1900, Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University
of Alabama Press, 1998.

Smith, Arthur L. (Molefi K. Asante). Language, Communication, and
Rhetoric, New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1972.

Foner, Philip S. (ed). The Voice of Black America, volumes I & II,
New York: Capricorn Books, 1975.


Other assignments are in a packet of readings.