History 280DE - Topics in North American History: 'The Social and Cultural History of U.S. Democracy since the Great Depression'

The institutions of political democracy do not operate in a vacuum. They are shaped by the distribution of wealth, the durability of social solidarities, spaces for public deliberation, and protest. Since the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, how have those excluded from or forced to the margins of US democracy fought for consideration of their lives, perspectives, and sovereignty? How have Asian American, Black, disabled, Indigenous, Latine, poor, and young people; gender, religious, and sexual minorities; immigrants; women; and workers used art, direct action, faith coalitions, grassroots organizing, popular culture, and public space to build solidarities and push for change?