This article has been updated to reflect new information and for clarity.
Over the past few weeks, many people have been looking for sources to find more information about the history and subject matter of racial injustice in the United States. To aid those who want to learn more, we’ve compiled a list of courses that provide a comprehensive look at some of the topics that are part of our national conversation.
AFST 275: The Criminal Justice Process and Black Americans
This three credit course is “a study of the organization, role and responsibility of law enforcement agencies, e.g., the police, district attorneys, trial courts, grand juries, and correctional and rehabilitative systems.”
Siju Oshin, a senior psychology major said that this course “really focuses on policing and as a class we split into groups and had to do presentations regarding cases of Black people that were killed at the hands of the police which made me aware that there were a lot of cases that never made the mainstream news.”
AFST 360: Studies in Black Fiction
This course includes critical examinations of selected works of fiction by and about Black people based on a particular historical period, theme, type or direction. Selected works may be from one or more of the three areas of concentration (Africa, United States, Caribbean and Latin America). Topics to be announced each semester offered.
Olivia Smith, a junior linguistics major said that “the assigned reading material was amazing, great variety from my core favorite James Baldwin to introducing me to the work of Christina Sharpe. I highly recommend all of the reading we did.”
“Though sometimes the pieces were personally hard to move through, it was critical work that expanded the way I view Black theory on the mental effects of slavery, but also its lasting economic effects,” Smith said. She added that Professor Belilgne was great at handling the transition to online courses.
Collective List:
AFST 206/HIST 218: Introduction to African-American History: A Survey
AMST 413: Policing and Prisons in U.S. Society
AMST 375: Studies in Asian American Culture
ANTH 211: Cultural Anthropology
GWST 322/MLL 322/AFST 347: Gender, Race and Media
GWST 327/AFST 354/HIST 323: African American Women’s History
HAPP 390/AFST 390: American Health Care System and the Black Community
HIST 322/AFST 353: African American History Since 1865
PSYC 255/SOWK255/AFST 255: Psychology of the Black Experience in the United States
SOCY 204: Diversity and Pluralism
SOCY 310: Social Stratification and Inequality
SOCY 321: Race and Ethnic Relations
SOCY 394: Race, Social Inequality and Institutional Structure
