African American History

You must complete an Electronic Presentation on Black Culture.  You will select and present on the significances of two works of black culture. The first work you select must be a work of African-American literature, poetry, music, fashion, dance, or some other cultural art form that was created and/or popularized by an African American during the time periods of the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances (1917-1949).  Your second work of black culture must have been created and/or popularized by a black person (but not necessarily an African American) within YOUR lifetime.  For example, if you were born in 1999, your second cultural selection needs to have been created by a black person between 1999 and the present.  The two works you select to present do not have to share a cultural form (i.e. one work can be a poem and the other can be a song; one work can be a painting and the other can be a fashion trend).  Nor do the two works have to share a particular theme.  You may choose to do a compare-and-contrast type presentation.  But, you do not have to.  In presenting the works, you will need to provide background information on your chosen works (i.e. when where the works created; who created them or made them famous; and, what impact did the works have on the cultural landscape when and since they first appeared?).  You will also have to briefly explain why you made those particular selections, and explain what you think each work tells people about the ways in which African-American/Black culture and experiences remained congruent and/or changed from the eras of the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances to the modern era.  Moreover, your Electronic Presentation on Black Culture must be creative in both style and substance.

(See page 12 for the Electronic Presentation on Black Culture Grading Rubric.)  Your Electronic Presentation should have a run time of 7-10 minutes.  And, it must contain both audio and visual components.  When delivering your Electronic Presentation, you will serve as the professor for the class.  So, give a Presentation that your temporary students (i.e. your classmates and Dr. Brown) will find to be both impressive and informative.  The more creative, interesting, organized, and informative your Presentation is, the higher your grade will be.  If your Presentation is disorganized, bland, lacks imagination, or does little more than echo information and ideas that have already been presented during through the course texts, media, and PowerPoint lectures, you should not expect to earn a stellar grade on it.