African American History I

Fulfills the U.S. History requirement for History Majors. This course introduces undergraduates to African American history from the Middle Passage to the Civil War. Lectures, readings, and class discussions will call on students to analyze central topics in the field, including the meanings of African ancestry, shifting identifications, and the creation of a people; the intertwining of slavery and freedom in the colonial period; everyday life in the early republic; continuities and discontinuities in battles for freedom; and political organizing and resistance. Through a consideration of intellectual, labor, political, and social histories, the course invites students to examine and reinterpret narratives of black history "from slavery to freedom."