Course Description
An examination of the history of African American women from the colonial period through to the present. Topics covered include enslavement, the relationship between Black and white women from the antebellum period through second-wave feminism, and Black women in the civil rights and Black Power movements.
Athena Title
African American Women's Hist
Pre or Corequisite
Any HIST or AFAM or WMST or AFST or POLS or INTL or RELI or ENGL course
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of Black women by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of the African American women has shaped social and cultural identities, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
Topical Outline
- 1. Slavery at Sea (The Middle Passage)
- 2. Slavery, Race, Class, and Sex
- 3. Black Women Post-Emancipation
- 4. Gender and Jim Crow
- 5. Intersectionality
- 6. Black Girlhood
- 7. Race, Gender, and Sexuality
- 8. Criminalization of Black Girls and Women
- 9. Black Women, WWII jobs, and the WPA
- 10. Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement
- 11. Black Women in the Black Power Movement and Black Panther Party
- 12. Sexuality Violence Against Black Women and Their Resistance
- 13. Black Women and Intimacy
- 14. Black Women and the Informal Economy
- 15. Black Motherhood
- 16. The Black Family
- 17. Black Women’s Internationalism
- 18. Black Women’s Leisure
- 19. Black Feminism
- 20. Black and White Women and the Feminism Movement
- 21. Black Women in Politics
