ENGL 344 | American Visionaries: Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman

Through the study of Douglass’s and Whitman’s work and biographies, students understand major concerns of the nineteenth century, including enslavement and abolitionism; shifting ideas about gender and sexuality; the possibilities and limitations of American ideals like freedom, equality, and self-reliance; and the role of narrative, oratory, and poetry in the formation of national culture.