AFAM 100NBlack Freedom Struggles

3 credits · African American Studies · Penn State

This course focuses on Black freedom struggles in the United States and selected examples from other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Themes addressed may include enslaved Africans' resistance to capture and enslavement as well as post-Emancipation attempts to combat white supremacy, racial and gender inequality, labor and sexual exploitation, and political disenfranchisement. Resistance strategies include but are not limited to forging of prophetic religious tradition, marching, boycotting, forming strong families and communities, collective organizing, making art, and serving in the military in the late 19th through 21st centuries. This course will address key moments, movements, and texts in the history of Black struggles for freedom in various realms including the legal, political, religious, literary, and educational. It will also cover major (as well as lesser-known) artists, activists, writers, orators, scholars, community organizers and teachers involved in Black struggles for freedom. Students will acquire a strong basic knowledge of freedom struggles in the United State, the Caribbean, and Latin America. They will also begin to understand the relationship of black resistance to broader anti-racist, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles. Assigned readings, films, and lectures will foster critical thinking, speaking, and writing skills.