US Civil Rights / Black Power

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines the emergence and African Americans’ participation in the US Civil Rights and Black Power Movements from the 1930s to the 1990s. Situating these movements within the Long Black Freedom Struggle, this course will center on black people’s experiences as grassroots organizers, protesters, political leaders, theorists, and cultural workers It will also chart the significant events, organizations, and political debates that helped to form and transform the black freedom struggle during this period. The course will pay particular attention to the ways gender, sexual, cultural, and economic politics affected these movements and examine debates over the boundaries of blackness, state power, and visions of freedom. From this vantage point, we will begin to consider issues that have long plagued activists and theorists alike, including building solidarity, creating viable organizations, and developing strategies for enacting long-term social change, equity and people’s power.