Racism in America, Part One

Class Syllabus as of 12-7-2020

When: Thursday mornings, January 7-February 25 (8 weeks). 10:00 AM-12:00 PM

Where: Zoom; a link will be furnished to class participants the day before each class session.

Coordinators: Sheila Brush

sbrush1968@gmail.com; (H) 401-885-7078; (C) 401- 499-7079

Mark Guyer

msguyer@comcast.net; (H) 401-228-7337; (C) 401-528-9705

Course description: Events in recent years, including police killings of African Americans and the Black Lives Matter movement, have led many of us to recognize our under-appreciation of the reality and impact of systemic racism and the effects of our own backgrounds on our conscious and unconscious attitudes. A better understanding of racism requires historical context that we either didn’t get in school or that goes beyond what we were taught. In this course, we will start to take a fresh look at US history, study common practices and events in the history of people of African ancestry in the US, and become better acquainted with the men and women who have led the struggle for social and legal justice. This class will cover the period 1619-1954 and will be followed by a spring semester course that will focus on racism in America from 1955-present.

Goals:

• To begin to develop a fuller understanding of the development and pervasiveness of systemic racism over the course of US history

• To begin to develop a fuller understanding of the impacts of systemic racism

• To increase our knowledge about some of the Black leaders who led their communities in fighting racist laws/practices

• To hear the Black experience as told by Black voices

Format: The class will comprise presentations by participants, as well as by outside speakers. We could not find a single appropriate, affordable book to use as a study guide for the entire course, although we have found a good resource for the first four classes. We are providing (a) a list of suggested short readings/viewings for each class; (b) a longer, but necessarily incomplete, list of relevant books, shorter readings, web sites, video materials, and podcasts for participants to explore; and (c) a reasonably detailed timeline including significant events and personages, for the years the course covers. Importantly, suggested readings include material by American authors of African heritage about their experiences. Participants should plan to read at least some of the suggested resources before each class and are encouraged to read additional materials to enrich class discussion.

Guidelines for Member Presentations: Due to the many significant and interesting topics available to choose from for each class, and also due to the size of the class, we have decided to increase the number of participant presentations in each class by limiting each presentation to 10-15 minutes, followed by 10-15 minutes of discussion (ie, a total of 25 minutes for each presentation with discussion.) If everyone is careful to stick to this timeframe, we should be able to address 2 topics in each class hour. In that way, we anticipate that almost every class member will have the opportunity to do a presentation.

If you would like the other class members to read some material, think about some questions or do any other preparation before your presentation, please be sure to give them at least a week’s advance notice.

Presentation Topics: The Course Calendar includes a large number of suggestions for presentation topics -- many more topics and ideas than we could cover in any one session. These suggestions are to give you ideas, but please choose a topic that is interesting to you. If you have an idea for a topic that we haven’t suggested, let us know and we will find the most appropriate place to schedule it. Please select a topic you are really interested in early to help us plan the sequence of presentations and discussions, and email us as soon as you know what you would like to do. Dramatic readings and debates are good alternatives to discussions and presentations.

Because the presentations will be shorter than usual for an LLC class, they are likely to be most appropriate for presentation by a single person; however, if you prefer to present with a partner, that is fine.

Technology: We will accommodate screen sharing for members who want to use PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides or to show some images. And if you’d like to practice screen sharing in advance, we’re happy to set up a Zoom meeting a couple of days before the class so that you can do that. Also, if you do not feel comfortable with screen sharing, you can send us your presentation so that we can advance the slides for you.

If you need assistance with creating your PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation, the LLC Technical Committee is ready to help you!

As noted above, we will send the Zoom link for the class the day before each session.