Course Description
Examination of the educational experiences of African Americans from slavery through the present, paying attention to both formal and informal education.
Athena Title
HIS AF AM ED
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ESSE 4515
Prerequisite
EDUC 2110 or AFAM 2000 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1. Students will understand the major contours of the history of African American education 2. Students will understand the differences and similarities in the development of education for black and white students 3. Students will analyze the strategies employed historically by the black community to gain access to knowledge 4. Students will assess the role of schools in perpetuating inequality and in extending equality 5. Students will be able to discuss current trends and problems in black education within their historical context 6. Students will improve their skills in historical analysis and critical writing.
Topical Outline
1. Childhood and education in pre-diaspora African 2. Black education in slavery a. The salve system as educational institution b. Learning in the quarters community c. “Stealing” literacy 3. Black education north of slavery 4. The antebellum legacy of the black struggle for literacy 5. The black educational response to Civil War, Emancipation, and Reconstruction 6. Origins of the black teaching force 7. Origins of black higher education 8. Terrorism, share-cropping, lynch-law and black learning 9. The black response to retrenched access to education 10. Progressive Education and segregated schools 11. Civil rights activism, black teachers, and the ambiguities of progress 12. Desegregating versus equal education: the irony of liberal reformism 13. Resegregation and the twenty-first century black response to retrenched access to education.
Syllabus