HIS 309 Black Power Beyond Borders AFR

Where, when, and what was the civil rights movement? What were its goals and who deserves credit for its successes and failures? This course will expand the traditional narrative of the American Civil Rights Movement geographically, temporally, and in terms of the actors involved. We will debate the current understanding of the Civil Rights Movement as (1) both efforts in the United States and social and political struggles who inspired and
were inspired by the Black Freedom Struggle in other parts of the world, (2) the relationship between events in the 1950s and 1960s with events both earlier and later, (3) how grassroots struggle of countless individuals related to the perceptions of leaders within representative movements. We will probe how to best understand the movement of ideas and actions across time, social movements, and national borders. Topics will include the transnational dimensions of anti-slavery movements, white supremacy, and Pan-Africanism; Marcus Garvey’s UNIA; the influence of Gandhian nonviolent civil disobedience on the Black freedom struggle; African American responses to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia; the racial dimensions of the First and Second World Wars; African American engagement with decolonization in Africa and revolutionary change in China, Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere; and the global legacy of Black Power. African Americans’, Appalachians’, Women’s+ (AAAW+) Perspective. Noncredit for students who completed HIS 386 Black Power Beyond Borders.