This course immerses students in African American approaches to the short story and creative autobiography. Selected authors include, but are not limited to, Langston Hughes, Ann Petry, Richard Wright, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, Charles Mingus, and Toni Morrison. Students examine how different Black social movements conceptualized, defined, and thought about the role, function, and importance of writing. Students use these authors’ critical and creative work as a model for writing their own short story and creative autobiography.