Course Info: CSI-0248

Course	CSI-0248 Reading, Writing, Citizenship
Long Title	Reading, Writing and Citizenship: African-American Educational Campaigns
Term	2015F
Note(s)	Satisfies Distribution Textbook information
Meeting Info	Cole Science Center 101 on M,W from 4:00-5:20
Faculty	Amy Jordan
Capacity	25
Available	16
Waitlist	0
Distribution(s)	Power, Community and Social Justice
Cumulative Skill(s)	Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research
Additional Info	Students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.
Description	The fight for equity in education is one of the most critical and enduring themes in the African American struggle to fully exercise their citizenship rights. This course explored the ways in which local African American communities fought to create educational spaces for their children and for future generations. The class began with the dynamic struggle of Boston's African American community to desegregate public education during the pre-civil war decade and traced the varied strategies of educational leaders to broaden educational opportunities through the Reconstruction, Jim Crow and Civil Rights/Black Power eras. Readings covered efforts to strengthen the academic programs in segregated Black schools and to increase African American students' access to secondary and post secondary education. The second half of the course explored more overt strategies for educational advancement, such as the student led boycotts of the 1950s and 1960s. This course also required students to become familiar with resource materials found in the library research databases and in the W.E.B. Dubois Special Collection located at UMASS. Students were required to engage in class discussions, and in-class writing exercises. Students were also required to complete two short critical essays and one 12-15 page research paper. Two of the three essays required independent primary source research.