Week 1: Foundations of Black Studies

• Defining Blackness and the African Diaspora
• Black radical intellectual traditions and philosophies 
• Afropessimism and Afrofuturism frameworks

To Do:

• Introduce both assignments and discuss their connection to the course themes and objectives.

Additional Resource(s):

• Measuring Race and Ethnicity Across the Decades: 1790-2010
• How America Invented Race | The History of White People in America

​Week 2: African Origins and Civilizations

• Pre-colonial African histories and cultures
• Disrupting myths of African inferiority
• Oral traditions, spiritualities, cosmologies 

To Do:

• Assign Part 1 of the Ethnography: Passive Observation
• Students choose a public setting relevant to the Black experience and conduct a one-hour observation.

​Week 3: Enslavement and Middle Passage

• Histories and systems of racial slavery
• Transatlantic slave trade and resistance movements 
• Maroons, abolitionists, and revolutionary liberation struggles

To Do:

• Students write up field notes from their passive observation and submit them.
• Discuss the observations in class and relate them to the week's topics.

Week 4: Reconstruction and Jim Crow

• Post-emancipation realities and struggles 
• State-sanctioned racial violence and terror
• Cultural resistance and politics of respectability

To Do:

• Assign Part 2 of the Ethnography: Interview
• Students identify a person to interview and develop a set of questions related to the Black experience and the course themes.

Week 5: The Great Migrations and Urban Life

• Push and pull factors of the Great Migrations
• Formation of Black urban enclaves and communities
• Harlem Renaissance and artistic/cultural expressions

To Do:

• Students conduct the interview and write up a description and analysis of the conversation.
• Discuss the interviews in class and relate them to the week's topics.

Week 6: Civil Rights and Black Power

• Non-violent resistance and armed self-defense 
• Black feminist interventions and womanism
• Pan-Africanism and internationalist solidarities

To Do:

• Assign Part 3 of the Ethnography: Observation without notes
• Students choose a setting relevant to the Black experience and conduct a 45-minute to one-hour observation without taking notes.
• Assign the Race, Gender, and Class in the Media project
• Students select a media text relevant to the Black experience and begin their analysis

Week 7: Contemporary Black Experience

• Structural racism and racial inequalities
• #BlackLivesMatter movement and movement remakings 
• Intersections of Blackness, gender, sexuality, disability

To Do:

• Students write up field notes from memory for the observation without notes and submit them.
• Discuss the observations in class and relate them to the week's topics.
• Students continue working on their media analysis project.

Week 8: Black Popular Culture

• Music genres as oral histories and resistance 
• Film, television, and media representations
• Sports and athletic resistance and expression

To Do:

• Assign Part 4 of the Ethnography: Second Interview
• Students identify a person whose work or activism is relevant to their own interests and the course themes, and develop a set of interview questions.
• Students finalize their media analysis and begin creating their video response.

Week 9: Theorizing Racial Capitalism

• Plantation economies and racial regimes of labor
• Racial wealth gaps and economic injustice 
• Poverty, underemployment, and mass incarceration

To Do:

• Students conduct the second interview, record it, and create a log of topics and key quotes.
• Discuss the interviews in class and relate them to the week's topics.
• Students complete their video response for the Race, Gender, and Class in the Media project.

Week 10: Transnational Black Studies

• Diasporic connections and cultural exchange
• Global anti-Blackness and solidarity movements
• Afro-Indigeneity and decolonial futures

To Do:

• Students submit a final reflection on the Ethnography assignment, discussing how it has informed their understanding of Black Studies concepts and methods, and how they might apply these insights in their future work or activism.
• Students share their video responses for the Race, Gender, and Class in the Media project.
• Discuss both assignments in class, relating them to the broader themes and goals of the Introduction to Black Studies course

Assignments

Assignment 1: Ethnography (Four-Part) (Adapted to Black Studies)

1. Passive Observation:
   • Choose a public setting relevant to the Black experience, such as a historically Black neighborhood, a Black-owned business, or a cultural event celebrating Black heritage.
   • Observe and record the interactions, spatial arrangements, and cultural expressions in the setting, paying attention to how they relate to the themes discussed in the course, such as Black urban life, cultural resistance, or contemporary Black experiences.
2. Interview:
   • Identify a person whose experiences and perspectives are relevant to the course, such as a Black community leader, activist, artist, or scholar.
   • Develop interview questions that explore the person's lived experiences, their thoughts on key issues affecting Black communities, and their insights on the topics covered in the course, such as the impact of enslavement, the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, or the intersections of Blackness with gender, sexuality, and disability.
3. Observation without notes:
   • Choose a setting that is relevant to the Black experience, such as a Black church service, a spoken word poetry event, or a Black Lives Matter protest.
   • Observe the setting without taking notes, paying attention to the ways in which Blackness is celebrated, expressed, or resisted in the space.
   • Write up field notes from memory, reflecting on how the observations connect to the course themes and the insights gained from observing without notes.
4. Second Interview:
   • Identify a person whose work or activism is relevant to the student's interests and the course themes, such as a scholar studying the African diaspora, an artist exploring Afrofuturism, or an organizer working on racial justice issues.
   • Develop interview questions that delve into the person's work, their perspectives on key issues in Black Studies, and their thoughts on how the course concepts and frameworks inform their practice.
   • Analyze the interview in relation to the student's own interests and learning goals, and reflect on how the insights gained can shape their future engagement with Black Studies.

Assignment 2: Race, Gender, and Class in the Media (Adapted to Black Studies)

• Select a song, film, television show, or other media text that is relevant to the Black experience and the themes of the course.
• Analyze the text's portrayal of Blackness, paying attention to how it represents the intersections of race, gender, and class.
• Consider how the text reflects or challenges dominant narratives about Black people, and how it connects to the histories, theories, and frameworks discussed in the course, such as the legacies of enslavement, the impact of Jim Crow, or the politics of respectability.
• Examine how the text's production, circulation, and reception are shaped by the larger social, cultural, and political contexts in which it is situated, such as the music industry, Hollywood, or the media landscape.
• Create a video response that synthesizes the analysis and incorporates insights from the course materials, such as readings on Black popular culture, media representations, or the role of the arts in Black resistance and expression.