Afro-American Studies 327 - RACE &CONFLICT:/BLCK/MDLE/CLS

Class conflict within black America has always been controversial. Some scholars argue the historic roots of the black American common experience due to white American racism and discrimination. While others argue with increasing economic differentiation, the black ?community? has a growing economic and class divide. This course will explore the conflation of race and class, the various phases of the development of the black middle class, and the growing effects of intra-racial gentrification and the rise of black suburbanization on the tenuous position of racial solidarity in the U.S. We will use film, ethnography, fiction, as well as historic and contemporary studies to explore class conflict and community change in the urban/suburban U.S. Students will have weekly short writing assignments as well as a final paper.

Instructor Permission.