AFR 123: Justice, the Individual, and Struggle in the African American Experience
OER FOR AFR 123
AFR 123 provides first-year students with an overview of the African American struggle for freedom, justice and equal opportunity from colonial times to the present. By studying the African origins of African Americans and the impact of slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, black migration and urbanization, the Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Black Lives Matter movements, the course connects ideas of personal freedom and justice to the lives of today’s students. The concept and manifestation of racial discrimination and oppression will be explored. While examining these issues, students will develop critical inquiry, effective writing and communication, peer collaboration, and planning and goal setting skills.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Describe their own relationship to significant issues of justice by reflecting on the history of African Americans in the United States.
- Evaluate evidence and arguments critically.
- Identify problems and propose solutions relating to justice through evidence-based inquiry.
- Assess the effect of their own role in collaboration with people of diverse backgrounds, with special reference to the African American experience.
- Demonstrate effective planning and reflection to accomplish specific course outcomes — preparation for class discussions, group activities, completion of a research paper and other writing assignments, and a field trip report.
- Engage with co-curricular activities (e.g., field trip, student organizations, community service) that support academic and personal growth.
Performance Outcomes:
- Demonstrate improved critical thinking skills in their ability to perform specific tasks of analyzing, evaluating, understanding and synthesizing knowledge.
- Demonstrate improved research skills by their ability to locate, retrieve, evaluate and utilize information found ethically and legally from a variety of information sources.
- Formulate meaningful and purposeful questions and answers to thorny issues related to freedom, justice and equal access and opportunity for people of African descent. o Employ effective online communication strategies developed over the course of the semester.
