OSHER 611 - African American Women's Fiction

In this session, students will investigate the work of three major African American Women writers. Beginning with Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, (1937) which was named as one of 'The Best 100 English Language Novels published since 1923' by Time Magazine. We will continue with Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, (1977) which not only received the National Book Critics Award, it was also cited as a crucial work in awarding her the Nobel Prize in 1993. President Obama has said that 'it is the book that taught me how to live my life'. We will finish the session with Alice Walker's The Color Purple, (1982) which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the National Book Award. It appears at #17 on the A.L.A. 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books.