Course Catalog

This course will trace the history of African Americans in the United States, from Reconstruction to the Twenty-First Century. We will pay particular attention to the many mechanisms through which people and institutions impacted African Americans’ lives and maintained racially-based segregation and inequality, including systems of labor, access to goods, and use of violence. We will also closely examine the ways that African Americans – both leaders and “average” people – responded to inequality and shaped their own lives. Throughout, we will ask: what has it meant to be black in United States history? Fall semester, odd-numbered years.