Racism, Political Economy, and Public Policy in Modern U.S. History

Catalog description

How has modern U.S. public policy been shaped by issues of racism and inequality? This course investigates the histories of public policies around housing, access to meaningful education, labor markets, imprisonment, environmental justice, and more. Through studying such public policies since the mid-20th Century, students analyze how these policies have shaped inequities of race, class, and gender. We also investigate how historical analyses of these policies have provoked debates around reparative justice, and what this history means for the future of public policy and transformation of political economic systems.