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12: Black Politics

  • Page ID
    362705

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    Introduction to Module

    Prior to gaining the right to vote, African Americans had already been influencing United States' politics. Frederick Douglass, for example, met with President Abraham Lincoln multiple times during the Civil War, advocating for the abolition of slavery as a central war objective. Following the war’s end in 1865, the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 granted Black men the right to vote, leading to the election of the first twenty-two Black members of Congress. Since then, Black political participation has fluctuated, reaching historic highs during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, when Barack Obama was elected president for two terms. There also continues to be tension within the African American community about which of the two major political parties, Republican and Democrat, African Americans should show allegiance to.

    Students Learning Outcomes/Course Objectives Covered

    This module will:

    • Examine African Americans' history with politics
    • Discuss how racism, the constitution, perception, and other factors impacted and continue to impact African Americans' relationship with politics

    Upon Completion of this module, students will be able to:

    • Identify and demonstrate an understanding of key concepts in Africana Studies, and interrelated disciplines.
    • Recognize and discuss social issues affecting people of African descent in the United States, across the African Diaspora, and throughout the world, with knowledge of Africa as a place of origin.
    • Distinguish key concepts in Africana Studies related to anthropology, sociology, literature, history, women’s studies, gender studies, psychology, economics, and cultural studies, as these fields intersect with the lived experiences of people of African descent from antiquity, through the slave trade, into emancipation, the Great Migration, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, the Black Lives Matter Movement, and beyond.
    • Recall, and apply theoretical language to explain key texts, leaders, and movements in the discipline, from multiple schools of thought.
    • Analyze issues related to race, class, gender, and sexuality that affect people of African descent socially, politically, and economically on local, national and global levels. Employ life-long learning beyond the classroom to create trans-generational, community-based solutions to the problems studied in this course, with future impacts for marginalized minority groups, especially African Americans.


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