2020-2021 Academic Year

Spring 2021

HIST 211 Civil Rights Movement: N & S
Cross-listed with AFST 220-04.This remote course will be taught synchronously on the days and times indicated. The post-World War II movement for African Americans’ civil rights is often considered solely in terms of Southern-based groups and events. This class will explode the myth that the civil rights movement was confined to the South by exploring the national character of inequalities, segregation and the movement for Black freedom. With special attention to the years 1945-1975, this class will consider how segregation formed differently in Birmingham versus Alabama, how the fight for school de-segregation included battles in both Little Rock and New York, and how gender shaped protest politics and tactics of the movement across the nation. Key topics will include Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and ideas of leadership; key campaigns in Birmingham, New York, Detroit and elsewhere; important groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and how ideas about masculinity and femininity shaped the movement. An important thread throughout the class will be understanding how racial inequalities came to be “baked into” the structures and systems that shape life in the United States – from housing to education to employment. We’ll learn about structural racism through the prism of Black resistance to it.

HIST 211 Civil Rights Movement: N & S
Cross-listed with AFST 220-06.

AFST 220 Civil Rights Movement: N & S
Cross-listed with HIST 211-01.This remote course will be taught synchronously on the days and times indicated. The post-World War II movement for African Americans’ civil rights is often considered solely in terms of Southern-based groups and events. This class will explode the myth that the civil rights movement was confined to the South by exploring the national character of inequalities, segregation and the movement for Black freedom. With special attention to the years 1945-1975, this class will consider how segregation formed differently in Birmingham versus Alabama, how the fight for school de-segregation included battles in both Little Rock and New York, and how gender shaped protest politics and tactics of the movement across the nation. Key topics will include Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and ideas of leadership; key campaigns in Birmingham, New York, Detroit and elsewhere; important groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and how ideas about masculinity and femininity shaped the movement. An important thread throughout the class will be understanding how racial inequalities came to be “baked into” the structures and systems that shape life in the United States – from housing to education to employment. We’ll learn about structural racism through the prism of Black resistance to it.

AFST 220 Civil Rights Movement: N & S
Cross-listed with HIST 211-03.

WGSS 302 Race & 2nd Wave Fem in the US
Cross-listed with HIST 311-03.Race and Second Wave Feminism in the US examines the US's Second Wave feminist movement through the prism of multiracial and anti-racist feminist activism. Oftentimes, the Second Wave is thought of in terms of white-dominated groups, and many believe that key feminist organizations like the National Organization for Women (NOW) were founded by and served only white women. In fact, African American feminist powerhouses like Shirley Chisholm and Pauli Murray helped to found NOW, and women of color organized some of the earliest Second Wave groups.This class will focus on Chicana, American Indian, African American and multiracial feminist thinking and activism. Topics covered will include national organizations, such as the National Black Feminist Organization and Women of All Red Nations; grassroots groups, such as the Combahee River Collective; significant figures, such as Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Barbara Smith; key campaigns like that against sterilization abuse; and the significant debates that defined the movement, such as the question of reform versus revolution. This course will also consider the centrality of oral history to the history of women.

HIST 311 Race & 2nd Wave Fem in the US
Cross-listed with WGSS 302-03.Race and Second Wave Feminism in the US examines the US's Second Wave feminist movement through the prism of multiracial and anti-racist feminist activism. Oftentimes, the Second Wave is thought of in terms of white-dominated groups, and many believe that key feminist organizations like the National Organization for Women (NOW) were founded by and served only white women. In fact, African American feminist powerhouses like Shirley Chisholm and Pauli Murray helped to found NOW, and women of color organized some of the earliest Second Wave groups.This class will focus on Chicana, American Indian, African American and multiracial feminist thinking and activism. Topics covered will include national organizations, such as the National Black Feminist Organization and Women of All Red Nations; grassroots groups, such as the Combahee River Collective; significant figures, such as Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Barbara Smith; key campaigns like that against sterilization abuse; and the significant debates that defined the movement, such as the question of reform versus revolution. This course will also consider the centrality of oral history to the history of women.