AFR 381
From Civil Rights to Black Power Fall 2009
Division II
Cross-listed AFR 381 / HIST 381
This is not the current course catalog

The Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ended an era of black activism that used the courts to overturn exclusionary practices of American education, opening a new civil rights era that introduced new strategies and tactics of protest. This course introduces students to the themes and issues of the black freedom movement as it transpired after 1954 and continued into the 1980s in the United States. Focusing on African Americans’ demands for the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and placing their perspectives at the center, the course will follow a chronological format that covers the architecture of racial segregation and the culture of Jim Crow and examines the persistence of activism and resistance. Finally, the course will follow the many iterations of the freedom movement, including direct action, black power, and coalition building.