AST 102 Black Culture in U.S. Society
African American poet Langston Hughes wrote, “I, too, am America,” but what does it mean to be Black in the United States and how has that changed throughout time? This interdisciplinary course examines historical and contemporary issues of Black identity, culture, and community from Reconstruction to the present, considering how Black culture has shaped American culture more broadly. Paying particular attention to the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality, students will engage with a variety of texts to examine a range of Black cultural expressions (art, literature, TV/film, music, sports, fashion, etc). Some topics might include: the Harlem Renaissance; jazz and zoot suit culture; selected literary works of James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, Ta-Nehisi Coates (and others); the Black athlete and the intersection of sports and politics; Black TV sitcoms like Blackish and films like Get Out; the evolution of hip hop/R&B from the 1970s Bronx to Beyonce’s “Formation”; and the long Black protest tradition from the civil rights movement to Black Lives Matter.
Course Type
SH