AFR 367
Black History is Labor History Spring 2025
Division II W Writing Skills D Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed HIST 367

Class Details

This seminar explores labor history in relation to black people, spanning the colonial period to the early twenty-first century. It racializes the history of work by tracing the long story of black labor in the U.S. from the plantation to the plant. Whereas the bulk of the course will analyze black labor and labor movements in the twentieth century, specifically focusing on the push for economic inclusion and mobility amid employment, societal and union-related racial discrimination, we will examine what involuntary black labor meant in the context of slavery and the construction of a capitalist economy. Likewise, we will devote attention to black workers with regard to such topics as antiunionism, deindustrialization, economic inequality, Fordism, informal economies, Jim and Jane Crow, labor radicalism and violence, New Deal and welfare, the rise of civil rights unionism, and slavery and capitalism, among other themes.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 25
Expected: 15
Class#: 3469
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: Students are expected to participate actively and will write two comparative essays (5-7 and 6-8 pages) and two primary source analyses (1-2 pages), all of which will be letter-graded and returned with comments. In addition, students will write a final research paper (10-12 pages) in consultation with the instructor and will be required to submit a topic proposal and outline, an annotated bibliography, and a peer-reviewed draft of the final paper.
Prerequisites: Recommended for students with sophomore standing or above and first-year students who both have taken a 200-level history course and have received instructor permission to enroll into the course.
Enrollment Preferences: HIST and AFR majors followed by students with sophomore, junior, or senior standing. If the course is overenrolled, students will be given a questionnaire and only first-year students who have completed a 200-level history course will be enrolled.
Distributions: Divison II Writing Skills Difference, Power, and Equity
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
HIST 367 Division II AFR 367 Division II
WS Notes: Students will be required to write two comparative essays (5-7 and 6-8 pages) and two primary source analyses (1-2 pages), all of which will be letter-graded and returned with comments. In addition, students will write a final research paper (10-12 pages). Throughout the semester, these writing assignments will total roughly 22-30 pages. Students can expect to have line-edited feedback on their papers with substantial and timely, writing-related suggestions for improvement.
DPE Notes: This course racializes the study of labor history, focusing on black people and their experiences in the United States from the plantation to the plant. It challenges students to confront and to redefine what it means to labor, grasping how slavery, segregation, and systemic inequalities amid black people's pursuit of citizenship, equality, and freedom have shaped their economic, political, and social conditions and identities.
Attributes: HIST Group F Electives - U.S. + Canada

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