2026 - Fall

Journalism as Literature: The Black Essay

Course Number: JOUR-UA 504.002

Day & Time: Wed | 4:55PM-7:40PM

Location: 60 5th Ave, Room C10

Instructor: David Dent

Prerequisites: None

This course will explore the African American experience through the prism of classic works of journalism, essays, and nonfiction writing. This will include pieces in Freedman’s Journal, the first African American newspaper owned and operated by blacks founded in 1827. We will also zoom the lens on the nonfiction works of James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neal Hurston, Zadie Smith, and many others. As students read, they will also write about black life in America in the Trump era.

Notes: Counts as an elective for the journalism major and both journalism minors. Crosslisted with Social and Cultural Analysis (SCA) as SCA-UA 152.

Questions? Email undergraduate.journalism@nyu.edu.