Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts

First Advisor

Maik Nwosu

Second Advisor

Tayana Hardin

Third Advisor

Casey Stockstill

Fourth Advisor

Frédérique Chevillot

Keywords

African American, Women, Literature

Abstract

This thesis examines the way gender expands and nuances W.E.B. DuBois’s double consciousness theory, which depicts the African American identity as a doubleness that is both American and Negro. Black feminist criticism’s nuanced formulation of DuBois’s formulation of Black identity allows the African American literary tradition to be seen through three lenses: an American, a Negro, and an African American’s gender identity. In order to further contemporize the pre-existing Black feminist criticism, I examine Hurston, Brooks, and Morrison in the three time periods that followed DuBois’s coining of double consciousness theory: (1) the Harlem Renaissance, (2) the Civil Rights Movement and (3) the Black Women’s Renaissance. TCT not only contemporizes the African American literary tradition so that more voices are elevated through close readings on race and gender, but also informs how we should read the African American literature that is to come, especially after the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Asia Wesley

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

85 pgs

Discipline

African American studies, Gender studies, Women's studies

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