The goal of this class is to develop critical thinking skills by focusing on the aspects:

“Applying Disciplinary Knowledge” — meaning the mastery of key historical, sociological, economic, artistic and political frameworks.

“Written Source Analysis” — the ability to conduct close readings and comparisons of texts, including a critical understanding of context, point of view and bias.

“Data Analysis” — being able to “identify and describe trends in data.”

“Visual Analytics” — everything from how to read and analyze a map, to understanding “perspective, purpose and context” in art.

“Argumentation” — how to “articulate a defensible claim,” “support an argument using specific and relevant evidence” and “use reasoning to guide the audience through a well-supported argument.”

I am excited to bring this class to Outschool. In addition to my education- my undergraduate (History- Hampton University) and graduate (U.S. History- Southern Methodist University) and my classroom experience (teaching college lower-division level African-American History) I also bring a wealth of interdisciplinary study and experiences to this space. I look forward to sharing my passion for understanding African American experiences through history, literature, music, cinema, food, sport, and institutions.  

Homework Offered
This is a fast-moving course with a substantial amount of reading. We spend almost three hours per week in class and learners should plan to spend six to nine hours per week reading, taking notes, completing quizzes and working on assessments. Homework completion is key for those who plan to take the AP exam in May, those seeking an assessment or letter of recommendation and those who want to gain the most from this learning experience. 
4+ hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
Learners seeking a semester assessment must declare this before the end of the third week of class.  Learners seeking credit for a full years class using the instructional hours method will be offered an additional hour of required, non-synchronous material which will bring the class from 124 hours to over 150. 

A written report and a letter grade will be provided after each unit. A final grade will also be provided at the end of the course which will be based on participation, work submitted and improvement. 

Learners can expect written feedback for every unit assessment submitted.

Grades Offered
Only Learners who request grades by the third week of classes will be provided with a letter grade.

Learners should be familiar with U.S. History and African- American History.
Learners should be familiar with MLA and/or Chicago style guidelines.

Material for this course will be drawn from commonly used resources to include:
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois
< The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
< “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr.
< Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World by David Walker
< Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
< “Discourse on Colonialism” by Aimé Césaire
< Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself by Harriet Jacobs
< “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” by Langston Hughes
< “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass
< Notes on the State of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson
< “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
< The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson
< The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano
< Atlanta Exposition Address/Atlanta Compromise by Booker T. Washington
< “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay
< Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali by D.T. Niane
< “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X.
< The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon 
< “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” by Kimberlé 
Williams Crenshaw
< “On How We Mistook the Map for the Territory, and Re-Imprisoned Ourselves in Our Unbearable Wrongness of 
Being, of Desêtre: Black Studies Toward the Human Project” by Sylvia Wynter
< Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
< “Message to the Grassroots” by Malcolm X.
< “The Negro Art Hokum” by George Schuyler
< “The Black Campus Movement and the Institutionalization of Black Studies, 1965–1970” by Ibram H. Rogers
< “Black Studies and Global Perspectives: An Essay” by St. Clair Drak