African American Studies

African American Studies is a study of the history of black people in the United States, with content being taught chronologically in an inquiry format. In order to broaden student perspectives and create an equity mindframe, students are introduced to what it means to be African American. They will investigate the struggles and triumphs within the African American community over time from 1619 to the present, at times focusing on specific individuals, but otherwise focusing on group dynamics. While students will use all the historical thinking skills, in large part, the key skill students use in African American Studies is continuity and change over time as students are challenged with understanding a diverse group of people over the course of hundreds of years.

African American Studies

• Unit 1: Origins of African Diaspora

• Unit 2: Freedom, Enslavement, and Resistance

• Unit 3: The Practice of Freedom

• Unit 4: Movements and Debates

The major purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of the role and contributions of African Americans to the growth and development of the United States. Students will study the significance of pre-colonial and indigenous cultures and their role over time in shaping and influencing modern American society. The history, experience, and perspectives of African Americans and African American culture will be studied through a humanities and inquiry-based learning approach to understand the importance of these peoples to US society in history and today.

• To improve literacy and encourage critical thinking.

• To understand the historical roots of current world issues, especially as they pertain to race relations.

• To recognize that democratic ideals and political systems are often achieved at a high price, remain vulnerable, and are constantly changing due to social unrest and demand.

• To relate current issues to their historical, geographical, political, economic, and cultural context, and gain the skills needed to participate in democratic society.

• To consider multiple accounts of events in order to understand international relations and events from a variety of perspectives.

• To produce citizens that are capable of making educated decisions based on a better understanding of the political and social system that have shaped our modern world.

• Students will improve their ability to learn independently by drawing generalizations from related articles, literature, primary sources, data & graphs, political cartoons, video sources, and diagrams.

• Apply lenses from multiple disciplines to evaluate key concepts, historical developments, and processes that have shaped Black experiences and debates within the field of African American Studies.

• Identify the intersections of race, gender, and class, as well as connections between Black communities, in the United States and the broader African diaspora in the past and present.

• Analyze perspectives in text-based, data, and visual sources to develop well-supported arguments applied to real-world problems.

• Demonstrate understanding of the diversity, strength, and complexity of African societies and their global connections before the emergence of transatlantic slavery.

• Evaluate the political, historical, aesthetic, and transnational contexts of major social movements, including their past, present, and future implications.

• Develop a broad understanding of the many strategies African American communities have employed to represent themselves authentically, promote advancement, and combat the effects of inequality and systemic marginalization locally and abroad.

• Describe the formalization of African American studies and new directions in the field as part of ongoing efforts to articulate Black experiences and perspectives and create a more just and inclusive future.

• Connect course learning with current events, local interests, and areas for future study.