This seminar is an introduction to some dimension of the history of a nation, region, people, culture, institution, or historical phenomenon selected by the respective instructor. Students will come to understand, and develop an appreciation for: the origins and evolution of the people, cultures, and/or political, economic, and/or social institutions of a particular region(s) of the world. They may explore how human encounters shaped individual and collective identities and the political, economic, and social orders of the region/nation/communities under study. Instructors prioritize critical reading, engaged participation, and focused writing assignments.

The African American Liberation Struggle, broadly conceived, is the enduring, multi-faceted, and complex freedom struggle waged by Africans in the Americas from the period of enslavement down to the present. Our focus will be a narrow and specific location and time within that broad and centuries-long liberation/freedom struggle: the US from 1940 to 1980. Commonly referred to as the Civil Rights (1940-1966) and Black Power (1966-1980) Eras, the modern African American Freedom Struggle has yielded a rich and stimulating body of work. We will critically examine some of the best of that work in an effort to better understand the origins, development, meanings, and consequences of the modern African American Liberation Struggle, especially the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement. We will also give special attention to “The Music”: the connection between African American music and the African American Freedom Struggle. To conclude, we will critically examine a few works on the more “recent” period in an effort to better understand key continuities and discontinuities between the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement, on one hand, and the “Post”-Civil Rights— “Post”-Black Power Movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, on the other. There will be a final essay.

This seminar will be taught synchronously, via remote instruction. It will meet regularly during the scheduled class times, and students will need to attend those meetings to succeed in the class.

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills