Elements from literary, composition, and reader-response theory can be successfully combined in teaching an African-American literature class to college students of the dominant culture. Helping students to decode texts is of primary importance, best done by introducing students to the cultural codes used by minority writers to shape their themes. Additionally, use of a reading journal encourages student development in both reading and writing skills, while allowing them to make connections between their personal knowledge and the text. Small group and class discussions further augment and enrich students' engagement with minority literature. Students can then share their affective responses to the texts, re-create the texts for each other, examine their criteria for placing importance on features (a word, passage or idea) of a text, and interpret the text communally. (Individual student responses from reading journals are included.) (KEH)