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Hello Everyone!!
My name is Johnson Hoang and I'm a senior from UConn working on finishing my degree in Intersectionality and Health. Basically, I use the theories of intersectionality and apply them to Health to understand why groups have vastly different health outcomes from the lens of culture, SES, and the US Urgent Care system. I enrolled late so I'm just getting to meet you all via these introductions today. I enrolled in this as a requirement but I'm hoping to round out my intersectional perspectives on people with another Africana studies class. I've already taken other courses on other cultures and groups of people so this would be an interesting addition to that list. I have a strong interest in languages as well and currently speak 3 languages, although two of them are in need of more practice (lol). I'm unsure of what writers I've read that are African American but I am interested in reading from more POC authors. I look forward to learning more from everybody and reading
As for music I usually listen to a lot of music from other countries and seldom do I listen to American music. Some of them include traditional music from Vietnam, Japan, and China. I'm currently expanding into Bollywood and South Asian music. My other genres are rock, classical, gaming music, and pop. I look forward to hearing and reading from all of you in the coming weeks!!

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Hello, everyone!
My name is Dionna Dorsey and I am a recent graduate of MCC with a degree in social work and criminal justice. I am currently enrolled at CCSU pursing my BSW in social work. My passion has been in the social work field for quite some time and I am very happy to be pursing it. I have never taken an African American Lit class but I am extremely excited to learn topics and material that is very difficult to come by. I am taking it to fulfill a requirement at CCSU and this class stuck out to me the post. Im currently working 2-3 jobs as a per diem worker in the social work field. In my free time, you will find me traveling, hanging out with family and friends or catching up on my movies and shows. I enjoy listening to R&B music but my range is very much diverse. I come from an African American, Caribbean background so I am very much excited to learn and engage!

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Hello, Everyone! My name is Hannah and I am in between schools at the moment: I am finishing up at Housatonic and taking courses at Westfield State, as well. My major is Psychology, but as part of Westfield's requirement, I have to take a course that specializes in Minority Arts, and African-American Literature fulfills the requirement. I honestly haven't read a lot of books or literature in general, as I have a reading disorder, but I do tend to watch a lot of movies, and some of the best ones that I've seen have been by African-American directors or stars, with my current favorites being Creed, the sixth sequel to Rocky, and Get Out, by Jordan Peele. I'm excited for this class though, as I feel that it will help widen my perspective and learn about an ethnicity other than my own. I listen to many different types of music. Currently on my playlist are One Direction, Jim Croce, and my boyfriend's brother, Danny Henry, alongside year-long Christmas music. In my free time, which I don't have much of working at a hospital, I enjoy boxing, and hope to fight one day professionally. I'm looking forward to meeting you all!

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Hello Professor and classmates, my name is Hugh Richards. I have recently received my Associate degree in Manufacturing Engineering at Manchester Community College. Currently, I’m a sophomore at Central Connecticut State University. I am majoring In Manufacturing Engineering.

I enrolled in African American literature to satisfy my degree requirements. In additional, I am looking forward to learning about African American history on a wider platform. I have always been curious about African American history. Some questions were left unanswered, and some was just a mystery. However, I think with the help of this class I will better understand African American history and will be able to pass on the knowledge that I have gather.

I enjoyed listening to reggae music not because I am a Jamaican by birth. But Reggae does bring a different level of energy to one soul, especially artists like Bob Marley and Vybz Kartel. Although, from time to time I will listen to other Genres depending on my mood. Music brings different energy to my life and helps me meditate.

In my leisure time I enjoyed reading, playing soccer, and working out. I recently read “Narrative Of The Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass. This book explained his life story from beginning and wildest experiences throughout his life.

Thanks Professor Shaw for this opportunity to learn more about African American History. I’m looking forward for the next 6 weeks working with everyone.

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Hello professor and classmates,
I go by the name Dudley Stanislas. I'm a Saint Lucian national currently residing in Connecticut. Just over a year ago I graduated from Manchester community college and currently attend Connecticut central state University majoring in technology management. I did not always start out as a technology management major but this degree most aligned directly with my current scope of work so the transition from civil engineering to technology management was a no Brainer.
I've enrolled in this course because it is part of my cariculum to satisfy the requirements at CCSU to graduate. Not that I don't enjoy taking part in history! This  ourse was selected because it seemed the most appealing to me as a reader and admirer of history in general. I also enjoy writing as a Hobbie in my spare time while I watch the sun set on a beautiful afternoon on a Thursday at 6:30. I am indeed a student of history and mostly time. It is a pleasure to be part of your class professor Shaw and thankyou for accommodating me To be part of your lectures.
What African American writers have I read you may ask? The answer to this might be very little. However, I did say I like writing, I never said I like to read.
What determines who is an African American writer? To my understanding an African American writer doesn't have to be someone who writes books but someone who has even a niche impact or large impact of African descent whose words are recognized and acknowledged whether its by the masses or just their family. A song writer is an African American writer.
Although I listen to music of the new such as drake, meek mill, and other various new hip-hop and R&B artists. I also have a huge admiration for music writers such as Rkelly (speaking strictly music- I had to throw that clause in there), usher, the isley Brothers, and last but not least "let me reintroduce myself my name is",Sean Carter Williams.

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Hello, everyone! My name is Julia LaChance, and I’m currently an English major at UConn. I enrolled in this course in order to fulfill an ENG requirement for the NEAG program there, as well as because it sounded the most promising and interesting out of all the options I looked into. Admittedly African American Literature is something of a blind spot for me, which I’m hoping to rectify over the next few weeks. While I have read some works by black authors (most recently 12 Years a Slave, for another lit course), they could all probably be counted on one hand, and so I want to expand my horizons in that regard.
As for music, I have a wide taste in genres, but recently I’ve been on an alternative kick. I’ve decided against posting a picture as I’m not fully comfortable with that sort of thing, but I do still appreciate being able to put faces to names for everyone else. I look forward to learning alongside you all this term!

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Hello all,
My name is Brennen Maxfield, I am a Sports Management Major at Springfield College. I enrolled in this course for two reasons, one I needed an extra literature course to fulfill a requirement, but more importantly I picked this specific course because of how little I know about the topic compared to some other classes that are being offered. I have read a little bit of W.E.B Du Bois in the past, just enough to be familiar with him. I am hoping to attain general knowledge of African American literature in both todays writing and past writing and see how they correlate. Lately I have been listening to 80's and 90's classical rock music in hopes of trying to expand my music taste from just todays hip hop.

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Hi everyone! My name is Hailey. I am in my 4th year at the University of Saint Josephs in West Hartford. I am majoring in nursing with a minor of psychology.

I enrolled in this course to fulfill my literature requirement. I was very interested in learning more about African American Literature.

Before enrolling in this course I have only heard of Phillis Wheatley before. She is very inspirational and her work is outstanding.

Currently I listen to a-lot of R&B music. I am very open minded when it comes to different types of music. I find music  reflects the type of mood you are feeling. For that sense, I like to listen to different genres based off how I am feeling.

I am looking forward to these next 6 weeks to work with everyone! I hope to learn more about the material related to African American Literature.

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Hi class, I’m Stacey and I will be starting the pre social work program at CCSU in September after completing the social work transfer program at MCC.  I enrolled in this class because literature is a course requirement, and this class seems more interesting than the other available options. The only African American literature that I can think of right now is A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.

For the past few days, I have been listening to Usher’s NPR’s Tiny Desk Performance.  It has brought back so many fond memories.  I am currently listening to a medley of his songs while reading the class material and writing this introduction. Besides Usher, I usually listen to James Arthur, Bruno Mars or 90s R&B on Pandora while at work.  Unfortunately, my coworkers are often subjected to my singing.  Although sometimes one or two of them will join in.

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Hi everyone! My name is Nick Combs and I'm a senior at Central Connecticut State University. I'm majoring in   Mechanical Engineering with an Aerospace concentration and minoring in Math.

I enrolled in this course for a gen-ed requirement for my degree. I'm looking forward to getting into the material and gaining a new appreciation for literature.

Before enrolling into this course the only African American literature that I remember reading is Fredrick Douglas' autobiography, in high school.

Lately I have been getting into artists from a variety of genres. Some examples are, World Brain, Wet Leg, Motel Radio, Deep Sea Peach Tree, Los Campesinos and, Celest Allison.

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Hello everyone. I am Jessica Stoetzle. I am starting the BSN program at Central Connecticut State University in the fall and can not wait!! I have worked in healthcare for over 17 years and will finally be able to give it my full attention now that my 3 kids are old enough to fend for themselves. I am nervous about starting nursing so late in life, but I know my love and curiosity about the human body will take over once I get back in there!  I am taking this class for the English 200 requirement because I am interested in African American studies.  I read Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and others in Women's Literature class back in high school. The Color Purple is one of my favorites.  I am excited to read more male African American writers and get their perspectives.
I love live music and feel very lucky that we have so much access to it in Connecticut and New England. One of my favorite bands to see live is Phantogram. Even if you've never listened to them, I highly recommend going to see them when they tour again! My all-time favorite band is Tool, but I pretty much love everything.

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Hello Professor Shaw & class! My name is Rajni Bhoodram and I am a senior at Central Connecticut State University. My middle name is Nadia and anyone is free to call me that if you’d like, however I’m not sure if it will cause any confusion. My major at central is Business Management. While this is a requirement for me to graduate, I’d love to learn more about African American literature since I currently have no knowledge of it.

As far is music, I pretty much listen to everything. Lately I have been listening to country music and have grown to love Chris young. The man has a voice of an Angel and looks like one too!
In my free time I love to bake. I have a tiny business on the side in addition to working full time. I bake items specifically from my Country (Guyana). Those items are pineapple tarts (which are A flaky crusted pastry filled with homemade pineapple jam), Cheese Rolls (a spicy cheddar cheese filling wrapped in a flaky pastry) and lastly Chicken Pattie’s (spicy flavored shredded chicken & peppers stuffed into a buttery flaky pastry dough). I love online courses, but I would’ve loved to make the class samples!

I’m looking forward to taking this course with you all and wishing everyone good luck for the next six weeks!

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Hello class! My name is Usman Chaudhry, and I am looking forward to this Summer semester. I currently do not have any nicknames, therefore I just go by my birth name "Usman." This is my second year at Manchester Community College. I graduated from Rockville High School in Vernon and enjoyed attending High School as I got to know a lot of different cultures. I possess a 38-credit Precision Manufacturing Certificate from MCC in 2019. I'm majoring in Accounting and Business Administration, aiming to transfer to Central Connecticut State University to pursue my bachelor’s degree upon completing my associate degree from MCC. I am enrolled at MCC full-time and work full-time as a Quality Representative at an Aerospace company located in South Windsor. The reason of taking this class is a requirement at CCSU for a bachelor’s degree. In my free time, I play an amazing game of Cricket. To describe cricket to those who have never heard of it before, cricket is the British version of baseball. It’s the 2nd most popular sport in the world. During the past several months during Covid-19, my life has changed the way I would normally do things. I do not listen to any kind of music. and I have not read any African American writers so far. I am looking forward to reading other student bios as well as the class!

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In this first discussion, introduce yourself to the rest of the class. Please share the following:

Your name, major, and college

Why you enrolled in this course and what you hope to get out of it

What African American writers have you read before? (It's okay if you haven't read any!)

What music are you listening to lately?

Share a picture of yourself if you are comfortable. It's nice when we can see a face behind the text!

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Hello everyone!

My name is Amy Shaw, and I like to be called Professor Shaw. I've been at MCC since 2019, but I've been teaching college for 10 years now. I'm originally from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and I moved with my husband to Connecticut in 2013 so he could pursue his Ph. D at UConn. We've been living in Willimantic ever since.

I got into teaching because I love to read, and the more I studied literature, the more I wanted to know. Even being out of school for many years now, I love my job because I am still constantly learning, and I get to share my love of the written word with others.

I spend my free time playing music (check out my band!), spending time with my three cats, hiking, and playing chess. Adventure and trying new things are what I'm most passionate about outside of my career.

Lastly, I'll answer my own question about what music I'm into lately: Turnstile, Tyler the Creator, and the Replacements have all been on heavy rotation. I'm always looking for new music to listen to, so I encourage you to share what you've been enjoying, as well!

I'm looking forward to reading everyone's introductions and of course, working with you all for the next 6 weeks.