English 235: Multiethnic American Literature

Section

Fall II 2026 | 3 Credit Hours

Lecture-Discussion-Workshop

Contact Information:

Instructor:                        Professor Paul Fess

Instructor Email:                pfess@lagcc.cuny.edu        

Course Meeting:                Tuesdays and Thursdays: 1:00-3:00

                                Zoom Link

Office Hours:                        Tuesday & Thursdays 12:00-1:00; or

by appointment (send me an email to make an appointment)

                        It’s best to email ahead of time to let me know you need to meet.

                                Virtual Office Hours link                

Course Description:

In this survey course we will examine how ideas about diversity have been represented in United States literature. We will study how writers struggled with issues around inclusion and power within and against the intense pressures of enslavement, Native American removal, and nation building that structured U.S. society during the years between the country’s founding and World War I.

We begin with a sample of statements that try to grapple with the expansiveness of the kind of democracy established in the United States. Toward the middle of the semester we will read the work of figures working to advance ideals of equality, particularly around the issue of enslavement. And, in the last third of the semester we will read texts that respond to a society reshaped by the Civil War.

Throughout our reading we will continually interrogate the defining features of this body of literature, continually asking ourselves what constitutes its contours. What techniques and thematics shape the meanings of the terms “multiethnic” and “multicultural,” especially in how they are represented in literature and national sensibilities? (We will also question what we mean by the term “literature” since we will encounter texts, such as slave narratives and political essays, that for most of American literary history have been outside of the purview of literary study.) Additionally, since this is a survey course that has been institutionally defined as covering the “beginnings to the present day” we should also ask ourselves about what we mean by this periodization. With these broad questions in mind, you will work to define several key terms for literary study by annotating texts collaboratively, compiling significant textual passages, composing keyword essays, and displaying your understanding on essays and, for your final project, a podcast episode.

Student Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the semester, you will be able to discuss and analyze key tropes and major issues \of multiethnic American literature. You will have gained an understanding of the historical, cultural, and political situations that provided the context for this literature. You will have a sense of how this literature bears importance in the development of other kinds of literature and how it informs our current moment. You will develop skills in close reading and writing and enrich your working knowledge of literary history.

Course Texts

You can find all texts for the course in the Manifold course reader.

Papers & Projects

• Annotations (30%): Throughout the semester you will post annotations to reading material and respond to those posted by your colleagues. The due dates for annotations are listed in the course schedule and you can find a guide for what I’m expecting with these annotations at this link.
• Paper 1 & 2 (15% each): There will be two papers that lead into the final project.
• Final keywords essay (30%): For this essay you will trace the significance of a keyword across several texts from the syllabus.
• Keyword essay presentation (10%): you will do a short presentation of your keyword.

Course Policies

Attendance Policy:

Regularly attending the class is vital to your understanding of the material and your growth as a literature student. You should, therefore, strive to attend every class meeting. It is in class, after all, that you will learn new concepts and make new connections. Here, you will have ample opportunities for conversation, collaboration, questioning, revising, writing, etc.

Occasionally, however, you may have to miss class. The English Department’s attendance policy makes reasonable allowances for such absences. Please review the following information carefully:

• Missing more than two class meetings for an unexcused absence from the class will result in a failing grade.
• Lateness: It’s important for you to be on time. Coming to class late hinders you and your classmates’ learning experiences. You will be marked late if you enter after I call roll or, in the case that I give a quiz, after it has been collected.

What You Can Make Up

• Making up missed work does not erase absences. Again, you should strive to attend every class meeting.
• You may make up major-grade work (such as papers) if you miss class for circumstances beyond your control (i.e., a documented illness or medical emergency; a family funeral; activities at which you officially represent the College). If such circumstances should arise, please promptly tell me..
• You may arrange to turn in major-grade work in advance or online with me.

What You Can’t Make Up

• Class discussions, group work, in-class writing, or other daily class work class cannot be reconstructed. Therefore, daily work missed due to absence or tardiness cannot be made up.

Revision Policy:

You are allowed to revise their first two at-home papers for an improved grade. If you want to do this, though, I ask you to do the following: 1) turn in the first and final drafts on time.  2) meet with me and present a revision plan. (This will be a detailed, written course of action to address my comments on your graded essay.) 3) turn in the revised paper within TWO WEEKs of getting the first grade. (When we meet to discuss your revision plan we can also talk about when you can submit the revised essay.)

Plagiarism:

It WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Any paper exhibiting plagiarized work will fail immediately, thereby lowering your overall final grade. If the case is severe (more than one or two sentences), you will also fail the course, and your work will be reported to the college via an Academic Integrity Complaint. The LaGuardia Community College Policy on Academic Integrity can be found here:

Academic Integrity

In this course, “A.I.” stands for “academic integrity.”

You cannot submit writing generated by artificial intelligence or copied from someone else. Any work you submit that is not original will receive a failing grade.

We will discuss plagiarism and originality in further detail as the semester progresses and hopefully arrive at useful working definitions of these terms that we, as a community of writers and thinkers, can be satisfied with. We will use A.I. for various exercises as we explore the writing process, and we will work toward an understanding of the affordances of A.I. tools.

The bottom line is that what you turn in for a grade must be your work. As you are completing assignments for the class here are some things to consider:

1. Your responsibility to yourself: This course presents an opportunity for you to explore how you express your thoughts in writing. This is a crucial tool for communicating your perspective to other people, and it is an important part of your intellectual growth. Using other people’s ideas as part of contextualizing your own is part of this development, but these ideas should never substitute for what you actually think about a topic. Likewise, A.I. may be a useful tool for brainstorming, but you should never let it do the thinking for you.

2. Your responsibility to our community: In this class we will be reading and writing together. In addition to my comments (and grades) on your work, your classmates will give you feedback and you will learn about the writing process from each other. This means that it would be a waste of everyone’s–mine, as well as your colleagues’--time if you present work by others (or robots) as your own.

3. LaGuardia’s policy on academic integrity: This document outlines the consequences of turning in someone else’s work as your own, which includes turning in work generated by A.I. Possible consequences: a failing grade on the assignment, a failing grade in the course, suspension, and expulsion. Any paper exhibiting plagiarized work will fail immediately, thereby lowering your overall final grade. If the case is severe (more than one or two sentences), you will also fail the course, and your work will be reported to the college via an Academic Integrity Complaint.

Emergency Communications Policy

If I have to unexpectedly cancel class for any reason, please check your LaGCC email or look on our Brightspace page for instructions. You may need to submit work or complete tasks to keep us on track for the semester.

Accessibility

Please let me know, in person or by email, if you have any accessibility issues with the course. You can also register with the Office for Accessibility, which provides services for students with disabilities to ensure access to College programs. They offer personal, academic, career, and accommodations counseling, evaluation referrals, testing for learning disabilities, and adaptive/assistive technology. They  are  located  in  M  102,  and  can be  reached  at  (718) 482-5279  (TTY  x6057). http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/osd/

Course Schedule

Week 1

Tues, Jan 6

• Welcome
• Course introduction
• Manifold account

Thurs, Jan 8

• Walt Whitman “Preface,” Leaves of Grass (1855)
• Keywords assignment discussion
• Annotations

Week 2

Early American Literature

Tues, Jan 13

• Phillis Wheatley

• “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (1773)
• “To S.M., a Young African Painter” (1773)

• J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur

• “What Is an American?” Letter III of Letters from an American Farmer” (1782)

• Thomas Jefferson, "Querry 18," Notes on the State of Virginia (1785)
• Annotations

Thurs, Jan 15

• David Walker, excerpt from An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829)
• William Apess

• "An Indian's Looking Glass for the White Man" (1833)

• Alexis de Tocqueville, excerpt Democracy in America (1835)
• Annotations
• Paper 1-Due by Sunday 01/18 @midnight

Week 3 (schedule in process)

Antebellum American Literature

Tues, Jan 20

• Henry Highland Garnet, “An Address to the Slaves of the United States” (1843)

Thurs, Jan 22

• Henry Highland Garnet, “An Address to the Slaves of the United States” (1843)
• Annotations

Week 4

Tues, Jan 27

• José Martí, “Nuestra América” (1891)
• W.E.B. Du Bois, excerpt from The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
• Annotations

Thurs, Jan 29

• Zitkala-Ša,

• Excerpt from School Days of An Indian Girl
• “Why I am a Pagan”

• Annotations

Week 5

Harlem Renaissance

Tues, Feb 3

• James Weldon Johnson
• Reading TBA
• Annotations

Thurs, Feb 5

• Reading TBA
• Annotations

Week 6

Tues, Feb 10

• Reading TBA
• Annotations

Thurs, Feb 12–College Closed

Week 7

Tues, Feb 17–No Classes

Thurs, Feb 19 –Presentations

Final Projects due