The Race and the American Story course is available for undergraduate students at several universities around the country and will soon be offered abroad as well.
The course centers on primary sources from multiple genres:
- Political documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Supreme Court decisions;
- Poetry and literary essays by Phillis Wheatley, Frances Harper, Anna Julia Cooper and Zora Neale Hurston;
- Journalistic, anthropological, and sociological essays by Ida Wells, Alexis de Tocqueville, Thomas Jefferson, and W.E.B. Du Bois;
- Speeches by Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Barack Obama. One of the culminating course assignments is a music playlist that reflects conversations about race in American history.
Who is it for?
The course is designed to appeal to students with interests in history, politics, philosophy, African American studies, economics, and literature. It is also designed to provide an essential primer on American history and civics for anyone concerned with the status of American citizenship and society.
