Race and Inequality in Metropolitan America from Urbanization to #blacklivesmatter

There is nothing natural about the state of race and inequality in American cities today. Urban inequities – around residential segregation; access to housing, schools, jobs; state violence – are overwhelmingly the result of decades of choices made by individuals and policymakers. This course will examine this history. We will trace how race has shaped metropolitan America from the late nineteenth century to present day. The course will explore how institutions, government policies, and individual practices developed and perpetuated race and class-based inequalities. We will also examine examples throughout this history of individuals who fought collectively for racial and economic justice.