The Black Urban Experience

Catalog description

An interdisciplinary study of African Americans and urban life. Drawing on the methodological approaches of history, literature, and folklore primarily, although not exclusively, this course will examine the African American experience in United States cities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Where appropriate, comparisons will be made with non-United States cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, or London. Topics chosen from: urban slavery, free blacks in Northern cities, race riots, "great migration", Caribbean migration, urban economics, urban politics, the urban novel, the black family in the city, the blues, contemporary urban folklore.