“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”--Fannie Lou Hamer
This two-quarter program, combining history, sociology, and social movement studies, will analyze Black-led movements for freedom, justice, equity, autonomy, and self-determination from the nineteenth century to the present. We will explore these movements in many places, from the Pacific Northwest, throughout the United States, and internationally including especially the Caribbean. We willbothcritiquemyriad forms of structural oppressionandstudythe ways people have sought to dismantle and transform them. As legendary historian Robin D. G. Kelley articulated: “Freedomis the operative word because the movements and activists we consider emerge out of, or struggle against, the conditions of incarceration...which is not limited to the formal jail or prison.”We will study abolition movements againstchattelslavery in the nineteenth century in the U.S. and Caribbean, legal segregation in the twentieth century,and the carceral state today. Specific movements will include organizing for agricultural and industrial labor, Civil Rights, Black Power, anti-colonial Third World liberation, Pan-Africanism, prisoners’ rights, as well as food and environmental justice. We will examine how Black peoplehavechallengedconditionsof oppressionand formed movements to overturn the various historical and current “prisons” that dominate and subjugate target populations. Further, we will explore intersecting analysesof oppression by considering the position ofBlack women under white supremacy and patriarchy andunique oppressionsexperienced byBlack LGBTQ groups.
We will explore sociological scholarship on the studies of social movements to help frame our learning, through theoretical concepts and analyses of movement case studies. In addition to exploring Black social and cultural history, we will alsointerrogatethepracticesofhistory by questioning whose stories get told in mainstream narratives. Furthermore, the program will explore the links between activism andtheacademic work of radical theory, including postcolonialism and intersectionality. Transformative Justice will provide deeper framing for our studies, by offering visions and practices that aim to heal the root causes of oppression and violence—balancing our critical studies withgenerativeexplorations of what an alternative world looks like. In this vein, we will explore Black-led efforts for food sovereignty as examples of how these communities prefigure the worlds they desire.
The program will include many experiential learning opportunities, including local field trips, collaborations with other programs, workshops, potlucks, cultural foods labs, and guest lectures.Learning modalities will consist of presentations, seminars, music analysis, and films. The program will be reading and writing intensive, focusing on strengthening students’ academic skills in the humanities and social sciences.We will read the works of scholars and authors such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Robin D. G. Kelley, Barbara Ransby, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Octavia Butler, Hazel Carby, and others. In spring quarter, students will have opportunities for deeper learning in the form of independent academic research projects or community-based learning opportunities, including internships, in areas related to program themes. This program is reading and writing heavy and thus designed for intermediate or advanced level students who already have some foundations in the humanities or social science. However, first year students with adequate preparation are welcome to join.
The programwill seekto moveusbeyond traditional binaries (e.g. activism vs. academia; accommodation vs. resistance; integration vs. separatism; North vs. South; reform vs. abolition; survival vs. revolution); challenge mythsabout social movements; centerlocal leaders who rose from the grassroots; and reveal broad and fluid visions of emancipation. We will explore the ways social movements for justice have not been about tearing down but building more inclusive worlds. For Black movements, at their best, shed light on the unsustainability of an unjust society while offering a blueprint of a future that has integrity and works for all.
Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:
Winter:
6 -Black History: 1800-1950
6 -Sociology: Black Studies
4 - History and Theory:Social Movements
Spring:
4 - Black History: 1950-Today
4 - Sociology: Transformative Justice
8 - Independent Project
Registration
Enrollment open to all, but previous experience with history, sociology, and studying social movements is highly encouraged
Academic Details
history, sociology, social movements, law, social work, helping professions, public policy, nonprofit sector, food justice
$40 each quarter will cover entrance fees for one day field trips ($20) and supplies needed for research ($20).
Students have the option of completing an 8 credit original academic research project in history or social movement studies related to program themes.
Students have the option of participating in community-based learning in collaboration with organizational partners in the community (faculty will support students in connecting with these projects).