Wow, I adore Stephanie Batiste. She's my favorite at UCSB by far. She is incredibly knowledgable, witty, and inspirational. What a lovely introduction to African American Literature. She did a wonderful job. Show up to class, be engaged, and participate (even if it's nerve-wracking at first). I'm gonna miss her.

I loved this class so much. You'll read a lot but it's good quality material that's engaging. Classes are spent discussing materials amongst students & her while she goes more in-depth about the authors, history, & other aspects from the era of focus. Participation is important but if you're shy like me, just go to office hours it'll help.

Absolutely do not waste your time!! Material you read is great but assigned insane amount of books to read and expects you to know every page by heart and grades you based off of your ability to memorize each sentence?? Does not prepare slides, gets sidetracked, rude, exams are atrociously written. Got A's on essays but everyone failed exams!!

She is a very good professor who is passionate about what she teaches. This can make her lectures very interesting. They can also be interactive and she gives extra credit. Although the downside is because she is so passionate the workload is very heavy. The level of analysis she expected for the midterm was very high which made it difficult.

TLDR: Attend every lecture, read everything assigned at least ten times so you can quote the material like the back of your hand, and write flawlessly. Otherwise, don't bother taking this class. You will fail the midterm and the final.

Not for you if you need clear-cut lesson plans & slides, but don't be daunted by group presentations & the discussion based curriculum––classroom environment was almost casual, lots of shared excitement for material. Dr. Batiste has much meaningful insight, geared lecturing around our questions. Meet her for office hours––lovely to talk with!