HIST 242 African American History through Film
This course examines and interprets African-American history through the lens of film. Moving chronologically and thematically, it traces African-American life and culture from the colonial era through the present day, delving into topics such as slavery, emancipation, Jim Crow, the Great Migration, the long civil rights movement, and their contemporary legacies. Across our study, we will focus on how African Americans and others defined and contested the meaning of freedom. To make sense of those dynamics, we will consult a series of films as well as cutting-edge scholarship, primary sources, music, images, and other texts.