Race in America

Catalog description

Are races a biological fact or a social construction? Did racism in the United States end with the abolition of slavery and Jim Crow? How does racism influence the lives of all Americans regardless of color? This course answers these and many other questions by providing an examination of race and ethnic relation in the Americas. Through the use of critical race theory and other frameworks, students will study theories, historym and research on the social, political and economic production of racial and ethnic hierarchies. Examples of topics that will be covered include the historical origins of slavery, anti-Semitism, nativism, and other examples of discrimination and race, Affirmative Action programs, white, Christian, and other privileges, and modern civil rights movements such as Black Lives Matter. Students will be encouraged not only to think about academic questions related to race and racism, but to be able to identify examples of it in their day to day lives.