ALST 320 - African American Women’s History

An interdisciplinary exploration of the complex history and experiences of African American women’s lives beginning with their enslavement in the United States through the present day. Students investigate the complexities of the social constructions of race, gender, and class as each has shaped African American women’s experiences, racial identity, and other relations of power. Coursework illustrates that African American women did not have one singular experience but their experiences differed over time and across lines of age, class, regional, organizational, and sexual orientation. Students consider issues that African American women have faced in the United States including their fight for freedom, the exploitation of their labor, their practices of leisure, institution building, social and political activism, family life and love relationships, and their subsequent re-enslavement through the prison industrial complex.

Credits: 1.00
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: None
Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents
Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges
Core Component: None

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