Journalism 380 - AfroAmFreedmStruggle&thePress

Our subject is the history of the Black freedom struggle across the 19th and 20th centuries, and we will study it through the lens of communications and media, with an emphasis on the news media. Why? Communications and media play a critical role in political and social change. They help to create community, shape public opinion, expand and constrict public memory, inform current political discourse, and influence political action and public policy. The narratives that survive from our past shape our perception of who we are and how our world works. But there are also narratives that get shoved aside and ignored. One goal of this course is to revive some of those discarded stories and present a broader, deeper, and more complicated view of American history with a particular focus on the Black experience. Additionally, we will consider the way African American history has been retold and re-imagined over time by political actors and others who were eager to make use of it in our nation's political discourse. (Gen. Ed. HS, DU)

Open to Journalism majors only.