AFR 239 African American Journeys

3 hours 

In this course students explore the history, impact, and legacies of African-American political and economic struggles, the racial implications of U.S. laws and policies, and the changing social status of Blacks, in order to understand their journey from chattel slavery to the U.S. presidency. Students will analyze the ways that tensions between state's rights and federalism, white supremacy and racial equality, and individual rights and economic need emerge and re-emerge throughout U.S. history. The course not only examines African American enslavement, the Abolitionist movement, the Civil War, Reconstruction, racial segregation, migrations from the South, and the long Civil Rights movement, but also the impact and legacies these experiences and accomplishments have on current struggles and achievements of men, women and youth of African descent.