Black Digital Humanities in Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Teaching on Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality

Abstract

[EN] Two undergraduate courses (2020-23) introduce students interested in the humanities and computing to the life, works, and intellectual and material legacy of the world-famous African American writer and activist James Baldwin (1924-1987). Cross-listed with the Afroamerican, American Culture, Digital Studies, and English Departments, these courses utilize an open-access digital collection documenting Baldwin’s life and his selected works. Through innovative and experiential application of literary history in conversation with the emerging fields of Black Digital Studies and Black Digital Humanities, students develop projects that build (and build on) a growing, open-access archive. Published on the ArcGIS StoryMaps platform, these projects achieve two important higher-education goals: (1) They produce student-driven knowledge on an internationally renowned Black figure accessible to non-academic users; and (2) they confirm the importance of humanities and diversity literacy as invaluable skillsets in the modern workplace.