Race, Power and Political Participation

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Despite, or perhaps because of the history of enslavement, exclusion, and continued discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, many Americans have organized and mobilized in search of a more perfect union. These struggles can be seen within the Civil Rights Movement, Black Panther Party, Chicano Student Movement, American Indian Movement, Immigrant Rights Movement, and the recent Black Lives Matter protests. Through analysis of political movements and moments in American history, this course will examine the concept of political power, the avenues often excluded groups take to participate in politics, and what it means for those groups to successfully transform American democracy. Along the way we will read works from authors such as the American Founders, W.E.B. Du Bois, Huey P. Newton, G. William Domhoff, Frances Fox Piven, James Baldwin, and others.