Introduction to African American Studies

Catalog description

An introduction to African American Studies as an interdisciplinary field rooted in both historical inquiry and contemporary analysis. The course examines the historical and contemporary experiences of African-descended people in the United States within the broader African Diaspora, beginning with precolonial African civilizations and the transatlantic slave trade and tracing the development of African American communities. Major themes include slavery, abolition, Reconstruction, Civil Rights, Black Power, Pan-Africanism, Black Lives Matter, religion and spirituality, Black feminist and Black queer thought, and the arts as a means of survival and political expression. Attention is given to the history of the development of Black Studies and Africana Studies in the 1960s, drawing on frameworks such as Afrocentricity and intersectionality and engaging the work of scholars such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, and Kimberlé Crenshaw to emphasize resistance, liberation, and the global significance of African American thought. Special focus is placed on how African Americans’ struggles for freedom have shaped U.S. democracy and global human rights movements. Students connect historical and theoretical knowledge to contemporary issues of justice, equity, and social transformation. 54.00 hours lecture. (Letter grade only)