THE LONG BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE PRESENT
Explores the generations-long effort by African Americans and allied forces to achieve full citizenship in the U.S. and equitable footholds in American society. Forged in a history of enslavement and in many ways ongoing, this freedom struggle encompasses the history of abolitionism to the struggle for civil rights to the fight for Black Power to the effort to make Black Lives Matter. Introduces the history of African American people in the U.S. from the end of the era of slavery to the present day; explores how that history has been shaped directly by the actions and activism of Black people and their allies; considers how that history intersects with, shapes, and is shaped by other historical moments and movements; provides opportunities to think more actively about issues of belonging, citizenship, difference, and interpersonal and structural power; develops skills in historical analysis and argumentation.
Prerequisites & course information
Requisites: None Course Designation: Core GenEd - Civics & Perspectives Ethnic St - Ethnic Studies Breadth - Humanities or Social Science Level - Elementary L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Spring 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Identify important events, movements, and people, in African-American history since 1865 Audience: Undergraduate 2. Evaluate and formulate arguments about how racial dynamics in the United States and strategies for achieving racial equality have changed over time Audience: Undergraduate 3. Determine what constitutes reliable and valid evidence when it comes to the history of inequality and social movements in African American history Audience: Undergraduate 4. Interpret, compare, and contrast primary sources Audience: Undergraduate 5. Think critically about how the narratives about the past are constructed and told Audience: Undergraduate 6. Explain how racial conflict, inequality, and movements against the same in the past have shaped American society in the present Audience: Undergraduate 7. Discuss their social position relative to history, as well as how other people’s pasts and experiences perhaps don’t align with their own Audience: Undergraduate 8. Identify ways to operate in a pluralistic, multicultural society – one in which their own experiences are not the assumed default Audience: Undergraduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Identify important events, movements, and people, in African-American history since 1865 Audience: Undergraduate 2. Evaluate and formulate arguments about how racial dynamics in the United States and strategies for achieving racial equality have changed over time Audience: Undergraduate 3. Determine what constitutes reliable and valid evidence when it comes to the history of inequality and social movements in African American history Audience: Undergraduate 4. Interpret, compare, and contrast primary sources Audience: Undergraduate 5. Think critically about how the narratives about the past are constructed and told Audience: Undergraduate 6. Explain how racial conflict, inequality, and movements against the same in the past have shaped American society in the present Audience: Undergraduate 7. Discuss their social position relative to history, as well as how other people’s pasts and experiences perhaps don’t align with their own Audience: Undergraduate 8. Identify ways to operate in a pluralistic, multicultural society – one in which their own experiences are not the assumed default Audience: Undergraduate
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027