African American Literature: All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes, by Maya Angelou
8-weeks | Registration closed 2/24/2026
The issues in the text are Angelou's presentation of the culture of Africa, a new perspective on the 'March on Washington', the use of proverbs in the novel, a review of the reverse middle passage experience and the middle passage experience, and the presentation of creolization in the novel. Angelou declares at the end of the novel that “Despite the murders, rapes, and suicides, we had survived”. The course will look at the ways in which the cultures of the African Diaspora have “survived”.
- Suggested readings: All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes by Maya Angelou
Jacqueline Goffe-McNish
Dr. Jacqueline Goffe-McNish was a professor of English and Humanities at Dutchess Community College for thirty-two years. She served as the Chief Diversity Officer for two years. She served for three terms on the DCC Foundation. She has written two textbooks: Composition in Fifteen Weeks by Kona Publishers and Analysis, Approaches, and Appeals in Introductory Literature by Kendall Hunt Publishers. She has also published multiple articles in the Community College Journal. She is the superintendent of Sunday school at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and teaches the Adult Sunday school class. She is actively involved with Poughkeepsie AAUW.
Nora Quinlan
Nora Quinlan holds a B.A. in history from Queens College, CUNY, an M.S. in Library Service and an M.A. in art history from Columbia University. She was the head of special collections at the University of Colorado at Boulder, worked as a rare book cataloger at the University of Miami, and was an assistant special collections librarian at the University of Kansas. She has extensive training and experience working with art, rare books, manuscripts, early photographs, and ephemera. In addition, Nora was the head of Reference and Instructional Services at Nova Southeastern University’s Alvin Sherman Library and oversaw their gallery.