Explore the politics of literary and cultural forms in the long nineteenth-century (1789-1914) campaigns for rights and reforms. These included campaigns for the abolition of slavery, Chartism, women’s suffrage, anti-vivisection, temperance, and animal rights. 

In this context the module explores writing by and about black writers and activists of this period as well as their legacy in representations in contemporary films about Dido Elizabeth Belle and Gullah culture in 1902 and influences on Beyoncé’s music.