Course Description

This course explores African American history from the abolition of chattel slavery to the present. In addition to examining Black people’s centuries-long striving for community, identity, and solidarity across local, national, and global contexts, we pay special attention to differences and diversity—particularly gender distinctions within African American communities.

We will consider the contours of Black life, thought, and resistance in the late 19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries, and the ways African American communities resisted state-sanctioned policing and violence. Students will gain new insights into lynch victims and lynch mobs, working people and employers, the rich and the poor. More importantly, students should understand how these relationships are interconnected with U.S. culture, the economy, politics, power, and tradition.

Our intention is not simply to “add more color” to the historical painting, but to revise the painting altogether.