Critical Social Inquiry 0248 - Reading/Writing/Citizenship

Struggles for equity in education have always been central to African-American strategies for advancement. African-American ideas about how to make educational equity a reality, however, have varied greatly over time. This course seeks to examine how various issues in African-American education have evolved throughout the twentieth Century. The class will begin with pivotal struggles to create educational opportunities out of the turbulent political terrain of the reconstruction period. We will consider key themes in African-American educational history. By exploring a range of critical perspectives on black educational history, students will begin to identify specific research projects. This course will require students to become familiar with a range of resource materials found in the library research databases and in the W.E. B. Dubois Special Collection located at UMASS. You will also have several opportunities to develop your abilities to analyze primary documents in education during classroom discussions. Reading materials will cover a wide range of areas of education, such as desegregation, vocational training, normal schools, historically black colleges, and early childhood education. You will notice many gaps in the existing literature. Much of the second half of the course will be devoted to exploring new areas of research for a final paper.

Power, Community and Social Justice Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research