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.
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.
This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Social Sciences area.
Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.
This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:
- How do I understand human experiences and connections?
Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:
- Students will effectively analyze the complexity of human behavior, and how historical, economic, political, social or geographic relationships develop, persist or change.
Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:
- Intercultural Competence
- Perspective-Taking
- Persuasion