Black Studies:
Introduction
and Critique
CORE 120-06
Fall 2025
1:50-2:50 PM, Monday-Wednesday-Friday
John R. Howard Hall, Room 205
Email: fritzman@lclark.edu
Class email: 25fa-core-120-06@lclark.edu
Office: John R. Howard Hall, room 223
Office meetings, no appointment needed:
10:30-12:00 Monday-Wednesday-Friday
3:00-4:00 Monday
Zoom meetings, by appointment:
Tuesday-Thursday at
https://zoom.us/j/3469350737
PRELIMINARY MATTERS
Borrowed from: Arianna Falbo and Heather Stewart, 2025, "Belonging and Estrangement: Supporting First-Generation and Low-Income Students in Academic Philosophy", American Association of Philosophy Teachers Studies in Pedagogy 10: 96-125, https://doi.org/10.5840/aaptstudies202531899.
How Should You Address Me?
Call me "Professor Fritzman," "Dr. Fritzman, or "Fritzman"—whatever you are most comfortable with.
I use my last name, "Fritzman," as my first. None of your other professors do that. Do not call them by their last names!
"Mr." and "Ms." are inappropriate titles for anyone with a PhD, which includes many of your professors. If you do not know how they want to be addreesed, it is okay to ask them.
How professors really want to be addressed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bokNt-6u2Vc
What professors really think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWfacULP1o0
What Are Office Hours?
Every week, I have several hours to talk to students. You do not need to have an appointment. Just show up! And you do not need to have any specific questions.
Here are examples of what we can do in office hours:
Go over the instructions for an assignment.
Brainstorm how you might approach an assignment.
Discuss chat about your thoughts and ideas concerning the readings or class discussion.
Consider your progress in the class.
Discuss strategies for improvement.
Email Etiquette
Keep all emails professional.
In the subject line, include: CORE 120.
Include a greeting (for example: "Hi Dr. Fritzman," "Hi Fritzman," or "Dear Professor").
Use complete sentences.
Email anytime you have questions or concerns about the class, want to meet, or need support.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
W. E. B. Du Bois: "You are not and yet you are: your thoughts, your deeds, above all your dreams still live."
Gilles Deleuze: "Arguments from one's own privileged experience are bad and reactionary arguments."
Friedrich Nietzsche: "A very popular error: having the courage of one’s convictions; rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack on one's convictions!"
Rainer Maria Rilke (as quoted by J. M. Coetzee): "We are born, so to speak, provisionally, it doesn’t matter where; it is only gradually that we compose, within ourselves, our true place of origin, so that we may be born there retrospectively."
This section of Words introduces and critiques Black Studies. There are one required text:
Jacqueline Bobo, Cynthia Hudley, and Claudine Michel, editors
The Black Studies Reader
Routledge, 2004
The Black Studies Reader is available through the College Bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Routledge, and Course Reserves at Watzek Library.
Download a free copy of Microsoft's Office 365 Education— which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Teams—at https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education.
According to the learning objectives for General Education, each section of Words and Numbers will prepare students to:
Examine ideas, arguments, biases, and assumptions coming from a variety of perspectives, including their own, with an open yet critical mind.
Analyze texts and/or quantitative information, recognizing, describing, and questioning patterns, trends, anomalies, and relationships.
Present clear, compelling, and effective arguments and/or analysis, supported by evidence.
In this section of Words, we will closely read and discuss articles about Black Studies. Through critically engaging with these articles and relevant secondary literature, we will learn to see, think, speak, and write, thereby developing a noble culture (what Germans call Bildung).
In preparation for each class meeting, you should have read the assigned material. You should arrive in class with prepared questions or comments about the assigned reading.
In addition to the learning objectives stated above, another major goal of this course is to cultivate intellectual abilities which have general application. This course aims to provide the resources which will enable you to develop intellectual survival skills, question what passes as common knowledge and accepted wisdom, evaluate your own and others' positions, and formulate new ideas. Such skills consist in the ability to summarize the assigned material, and to write pieces in which ideas and arguments are articulated, criticized, defended. Such skills also involve developing the ability to think critically about the views of ourselves and others. Critical thinking consists in understanding several sides of a debate, and seeing both the advantages and limitations of an opinion. Learning to question your opinions is as crucial as arguing for them. If you only learn to give reasons for opinions already held, you merely are giving rationalizations for prejudices. You need to learn to think for yourself, developing, defending, and criticizing your beliefs.
In this connection, I am especially concerned that you develop the ability to discuss issues cogently and to write intelligent, reflective pieces in clear, grammatical English. It is important that you learn to think, in a disciplined way, about the books and issues they raise. Part of that discipline consists in being able to analyze, evaluate, and formulate arguments. This involves knowing how to identify basic assumptions, develop a line of reasoning, recognize the steps that lead to a conclusion, and determine whether an argument is sound. In this way, hopefully, you will develop intellectual curiosity and the competencies to reason logically, evaluate critically, communicate effectively, imagine creatively, and appreciate aesthetic and creative expressions of humanity.
You are encouraged to share your questions and observations with the rest of the class, and to engage critically with the material, myself, and each other. By participating in class discussions, you will encounter directly differing interpretations of the material, become aware of the history of these views, and be encouraged to develop your own critical perspectives. In interacting with the material and each other, you will acquire a knowledge and appreciation of self, society, human cultures, and the natural world. I intend that you discover what has been written and said concerning, in the words of Socrates, "the most important things"—questions about human character and the conduct of life. Such skills will enable you to succeed in subsequent courses and in endeavors outside of the classroom. Those abilities also will contribute to your development as educated citizens in a democratic society.
You will write a Précis for almost every reading assignment and a Research Exercise that teaches research skills. There will be one Argumentative Research Project that includes a Prospectus, an Assessment (a draft that is presented in class, and a Final Rewrite.
The Précis, Research Exercises, and Class Participation will be weighted together and will count for 20% of your final grade, the Prospectus will count for 5%, the Assessment will count for 20%, and the Final Rewrite will count for 55%.
The grading scale is:
A = 93%-100%
A- = 90%-92%
B+ = 86%-89%
B = 83% 85%
B- = 80%-82%
C+ = 76%-79%
C = 73%-75%
C- = 70%-72%
D+ = 66%-69%
D = 60%-65%
F = 0%-59%.
A Précis will be due almost every class session. Each précis will be one side of one typed page—never longer—double-spaced, with 1 inch margins on the right & left sides and the top & bottom. It must be at least 3/4 of a page in length. Use a 12-point Times or Times Roman font. There will be no spelling or grammatical errors in your précis. Your name will be typed in the upper right-hand corner. In each précis, you will summarize—in your own words, without using any quotes—the assigned reading's main claims, as well as the reasons which are given to support those claims. You will not include any opinion, evaluation, or commentary. At the bottom of each précis, or on the back, you will type one question that you have about the reading. This question must written prior to, not during, class.
The Assessment is a draft of the Argumentative Research Paper that is presented in classs.
The Argumentative Research Paper must be approximately 2000 words, typed, double-spaced.
To receive credit, the Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper must each be at least 1900 words and no more than 2100 words.
It is crucial that you critically engage with the material. You might argue that a claim that an author makes is incorrect, for example, or that a criticism in the secondary literature is incorrect. Alternatively, you might argue that an interpretation advanced in the secondary literature is incorrect. Your paper must reflect an acquaintance with the secondary literature.
Watzek Library is an essential resource for the work you will do in this couse. Jim Bunnelle, the librarian for Philosophy, can help you throughout your research process. You can arrange a one-on-one appointment with Jim by emailing him at bunnelle@lclark.edu. You may also want to explore the Datebase and Reference Resources on the Philosophy subject guide for https://library.lclark.edu/philosophy.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy will be useful.
Google Scholar and the Philosopher's Index will be vital for the Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper.
The Chicago Manual of Style's Citation Quick Guide is online.
There will be an Argumentative Research Paper, 2000 words, typed, double-spaced. It will be on the same topic as your assessment.
You're welcome to consult the Writing Center, located on the main floor of Watzek Library.
Also useful is the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.
If you would find it useful to create concept maps, to help write your assessment or argumentative research papers, you can download the software to create them from IHMC Cmap Tools.
All work must be submitted when it is due. Late work will not be accepted and will receive no credit.
I will not accept late précis. You may be excuse from three précis.
However, your final grade for the course will be lowered by a full-letter grade if you do not submit four précis when they are due, the final grade will be lowered by two full-letter grades if you do not submit five précis when they are due, and you will be fail the course if you do not submit six précis when they are due.
This class will be successful only if there is a high degree of participation and attendance. Further, you will partially transition from being a student who only consumes knowledge to a scholar who also produces knowledge. So, you must be in class participating.
Your final grade for the course will be lowered by a full-letter grade if you have three unexcused absences, the final grade will be lowered by two full-letter grades if you have four unexcused absences, and you will receive an F for the course from the course if you have five unexcused absences.
Lewis & Clark College is committed to spiritual and religious diversity. You should review important dates on the syllabus to ensure that any potential conflicts between your religious practice and academic obligations will be addressed in advance. Students who will miss class in order to observe a religious holiday must notify me in advance of their absence and arrange to make up any missed work. Here is the Religious Holiday Observance and Student Absence Policy.
You may not arrive late to class. You will not be admitted if you are late and that will count as an absence.
You should be prepared to remain in class for the entire hour. Although there may be an occasion when there is a legitimate need to leave during class, this should happen only rarely. If you have to leave, you must minimize any disruption.
If you experience emergent health issues, mental or physical, communicate with me before class.
Serious illnesses and emergencies will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Prior to class, you must power down your phones and other electronic devises.
You may use a computer during class only for work that is directly related to the course.
Throughout the course you are expected to read carefully the assigned material. It is impossible to do well in this course without reading and studying the books. You should spend a minimum of three hours preparing for each class session. Read the assigned material at least twice and take notes on what you read. You are expected to attend all class sessions, come to class having read thoroughly the assigned material, and to contribute to the discussions.
Gorgias of Leontini maintained that "those who neglect philosophy and spend their time on ordinary studies are like the suitors who desired Penelope but slept with her maids." In philosophy, unlike ordinary studies, there are few right and wrong answers. There are better and worse arguments and ideas, however, usually in direct proportion to thoughtfulness and care. What is important is that you think for yourself, and that you develop and defend your own ideas. It would be an excellent idea to write drafts or outlines of your papers, and to have a comrade read them to check on spelling, grammar, development of arguments, and so forth.
You are strongly encouraged to discuss the class material, your ideas, your puzzles and difficulties with each other. A word to the wise: Find a study partner to discuss things with outside of class.
There's a Bollwood tune for every occasion. Click here.
When it comes to writing, though, do your own. That is the only way you will get the full benefit of your own efforts. I will be happy to discuss ideas with you, read outlines and rough drafts, and so forth. That is partly why I keep office hours.
A final word to the wise. It is not difficult to do well in this class, but it also is easy to do badly. Let me talk about the bad stuff first. You will receive a major grade reduction—or fail this course—if you do not read the material, seldom participate in class discussions, do not write your assessment or argumentative research paper, plagiarize, cheat, and so forth.
About plagiarizing and cheating. You must follow Lewis & Clark College's Academic Integrity Policy. You may never use ChatGPTor any other artificial intelligence or chatbot. If you plagiarize, cheat, or use AI, you will receive an "F" for the entire course (you will not be allowed to drop or withdraw from the course). It is never in your interest to plagiarize or cheat!
Now for the good stuff. With a concerted effort, you will do well in this class. To do well, you must participate in class discussions, read and study the assigned material, write the assessment and argumentative research paper, be in class (almost) all of the time, etc. I do not grade on a curve, and so there is no good reason why you should not get an "A" for the course!
Academic Support and Resources is the one-stop website for academic support offices. It has links to resources for Research and Writing, Advising and Accommodations, the Career Center, and Tutoring.
The Writing Center is available for remote consultations on Zoom all semester. There are two ways to work with the Center:
Drop in Peer Tutoring. Tutoring hours will be 3:00-10:00 PM on Sundays-Thursdays. No appointment is needed—just sign in through the website and you can usually see a tutor right away.
Appointments with the Director. You can book consultation appointments with John Holzwarth throughout the semester. Appointments are often available on short notice.
Course policy on disability accommodation. If you have a disability or learning difference that may impact your academic performance, you should request accommodations by submitting documentation to The Office of Student Accessibility. They will notify me of any accommodations for which you are eligible.
COURSE SCHEDULE
James Baldwin: "If we—and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others—do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world"
Week 1
Wednesday, September 3:
Introduction to the course.
Read:
Malcolm Gladwell, 2002, "Group Think", The New Yorker; https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/12/02/group-think.
Ethan Watters, 2013, "We Aren't the World", Pacific Standard; https://psmag.com/social-justice/joe-henrich-weird-ultimatum-game-shaking-up-psychology-economics-53135/.
Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine, and Ara Norenzayan 2010, "The Weirdest People in the World?", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 33(2-3): 61-83; https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X.
Available online at
https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~henrich/pdfs/WeirdPeople.pdf
Friday, September 5:
Jacqueline Bobo, Cynthia Hudley, and Claudine Michel, "Introduction" in The Black Studies Reader, 1-12; précis.
Sign up for Assessment (which is also the topic of your Argumentative Research Paper).
Week 2
Monday, September 8:
Luhui Whitebear (Oregon State University), Zine Making Workshop.
Part I:
Theorizing Black Studies
Section A:
Evolution of Consciousness
Wednesday, September 10:
Robert L. Harris, Jr., "The Intellectual and Institutional Development of Africana Studies" in The Black Studies Reader, 15-20; précis.
Friday, September 12:
Précis on the Topic of your Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper.
Week 3
Monday, September 15:
Johnnetta B. Cole, "Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education" in The Black Studies Reader, 21-33; précis.
Wednesday, September 17:
James Jennings, "Theorizing Black Studies: The Continuing Role of Community Service in the Study of Race and Class" in The Black Studies Reader, 35-40; précis.
Friday, September 19:
Robin D. G. Kelley, "How the West Was One: On the Uses and Limitations of Diaspora" in The Black Studies Reader, 41-46; précis.
Research Exercise for Monday: Find two articles that will be relevant to your Assessment. Provide one block quote and one in-line quote with proper citation. List the articles in proper format for bibliography.
Week 4
Section B:
Black Feminism: Acts of Resistance
Monday, September 22:
Elsa Barkley Brown, "Womanist Consciousness: Maggie Lena Walker and the Independent Order of Saint Luke" in The Black Studies Reader, 47-63; précis.
Research Exercise: Find two articles that will be relevant to your Assessment. Provide one block quote and one in-line quote with proper citation. List the articles in proper format for bibliography.
Wednesday, September 24:
Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, "Discontented Black Feminists: Prelude and Postscript to the Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment" in The Black Studies Reader, 65-78; précis.
Friday, September 26:
Carol Mueller, "Ella Baker and the Origins of Participatory Democracy" in The Black Studies Reader, 79-90; précis.
Prospectus due on Monday: Submit a 1-3 page Prospectus of your Argumentative Research Paper in which you:
(1) state your topic and, if possible, your thesis.
(2) describe the problem or issue to be treated.
(3) outline your anticipated procedure and probable conclusion.
(4) include an annotated bibliography of works to be consulted (a minimum of six books or articles, and a brief description of the relevance of each work to your project).
Week 5
September 29 - October 3:
Environmental Studies Symposium
Monday, September 29:
Due: Prospectus.
Submit a 1-3 page Prospectus of your Argumentative Research Paper in which you:
(1) state your topic and, if possible, your thesis.
(2) describe the problem or issue to be treated.
(3) outline your anticipated procedure and probable conclusion.
(4) include an annotated bibliography of works to be consulted (a minimum of six books or articles, and a brief description of the relevance of each work to your project).
Submit your Prospectus as a .docx file, attached to an email.
Title your docx file this way:
CORE120_YourLastNameYourFirstName_Prospectus.docx
for example:
CORE120_ArendtHannah_Prospectus.docx.
Wednesday, October 1:
Angela Y. Davis, "Black Women and the Academy" in The Black Studies Reader, 91-99; precis.
Section C:
Representing Black Men
Friday, October 3:
Jacqueline Shearer, "How Deep, How Wide? Perspectives on the Making of The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry" in The Black Studies Reader, 101-111; précis.
Week 6
Monday, October 6:
Phyllis R. Klotman, "Military Rites and Wrongs: African Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces" in The Black Studies Reader, 113-137; précis.
Wednesday, October 8:
Frederick Knight, "Justifiable Homicide, Police Brutality, or Governmental Repression? The 1962 Los Angeles Shooting of Seven Members of the Nation of Islam" in The Black Studies Reader, 139-152; précis.
Friday, October 10:
Fall Break.
Week 7
Monday, October 13:
Marlon B. Ross, "Some Glances at the Black Fag: Race, Same-Sex Desire, and Cultural Belonging" in The Black Studies Reader, 153-173; précis.
Assessment: .
Part II:
Conceptualizing Culture and Ideology
Section D:
Text Creation and Representation
Wednesday, October 15:
Jacqueline Bobo, "Black Women as Cultural Readers" in The Black Studies Reader, 177-192; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, October 17:
Catherine R. Squires, "Black Talk Radio: Defining Community Needs and Identity" in The Black Studies Reader, 193-210; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 8
Monday, October 20:
Laura L. Sullivan, "Chasing Fae: The Watermelon Woman and Black Lesbian Possibility" in The Black Studies Reader, 211-223; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, October 22:
Akasha Gloria Hull, "Dread Path/Lock Spirit" in The Black Studies Reader, 225-228; précis.
Assessment: .
Section E:
Interrogating Cultural Expressions
Friday, October 24:
Cedric J. Robinson, "In the Year 1915: D.W. Griffith and the Whitening of America" in The Black Studies Reader, 229-253; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 9
Monday, October 27:
Stuart Hall, "What is This Black in Black Popular Culture?" in The Black Studies Reader, 255-263; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, October 29:
Ann duCille, "Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference" in The Black Studies Reader, 265-280; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, October 31:
Class cancelled: Northwest Philosophy Conference
Week 10
Monday, November 3:
Harryette Mullen, "African Signs and Spirit Writing" in The Black Studies Reader, 281-298; précis.
Assessment: .
Part III:
Sexuality, Education, Religion
Section F:
Autonomy, Subjectivity, Sexuality
Wednesday, November 5:
Evelynn Hammonds, "Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality" in The Black Studies Reader, 301-314; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, November 7:
Alycee J. Lane, "Black Bodies/Gay Bodies: The Politics of Race in the Gay/Military Battle" in The Black Studies Reader, 315-328; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 11
Monday, November 10:
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, "Hormones and Melanin: The Dimensions of Race, Sex and Gender in Africology: Reflective Journeys" in The Black Studies Reader, 329-341; précis.
Assessment: .
November 12–14:
Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies
Wednesday, November 12:
Dwight A. McBride, "Can the Queen Speak? Racial Essentialism, Sexuality, and the Problem of Authority" in The Black Studies Reader, 343-357; précis.
Assessment: .
Section G:
Education: Pedagogy, Practice
Friday, November 14:
Cynthia Hudley and Rhoda Barnes, "Home-School Partnership Through the Eyes of Parents" in The Black Studies Reader, 359-365; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 12
Monday, November 17:
Randi L. Miller, "Desegregation Experiences of Minority Students: Adolescent Coping Strategies in Five Connecticut High Schools" in The Black Studies Reader, 367-377; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, November 19:
Deborah J. Johnson, "Racial Socialization Strategies of Parents in Three Black Private Schools" in The Black Studies Reader, 379-388; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, November 21:
Beverly Daniel Tatum, "Talking About Race, Learning About Racism: The Application of Racial Identity Development Theory in the Classroom" in The Black Studies Reader, 389-411; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 13
Section H:
Religion in Black Life
Monday, November 24:
Katie Geneva Cannon, "Slave Ideology and Biblical Interpretation" in The Black Studies Reader, 413-420; précis.
Wednesday, November 26:
In-class consultations on Argumentative Research Projects.
Friday, November 28:
Thanksgiving Break
Week 14
Monday, December 1:
Jacquelyn Grant, "Black Theology and the Black Woman" in The Black Studies Reader, 421-433; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, December 3:
Claudine Michel, "Teaching Haitian Vodoul" in The Black Studies Reader, 435-444; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, December 5:
Richard Brent Turner, "Islam in the African-American Experience" in The Black Studies Reader, 445-471; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 15
Monday, December 8:
Michael Brandon McCormack, 2022, "'The Utter Failure of White Religion': W. E. B. Dubois' 'The Souls of White Folk' and the Challenge of Dismantling Whiteness in the (Post-) Trump Era", Practical Theology 15(1-2): 38-49; https://doi.org/10.1080/1756073X.2022.2030888; précis.
Wednesday, December 10:
Concluding discussion and in-class consultations on Argumentative Research Projects.
Friday, December 12:
Reading Day.
Week 16
Saturday, December 13:
Due at 1:00 PM:
Argumentative Research Paper
Submit your paper as a .docx file, attached to an email.
Title your docx file this way:
CORE120_YourLastNameYourFirstName_Final.docx
Updated 3 August 2025