Getting Beyond Racism?
FYSEMR 75G
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Has America fundamentally turned the corner on a history of anti-Black racism? Or are the burdens of racial prejudice and discrimination a permanent injury in U.S. institutions, politics, and culture? We will tackle key debates on racism as a durable--or diminishing-- aspect of African American life experience. The center piece of our collective intellectual journey will be the scholarship of William Julius Wilson. Wilson stands as the most influential scholar of race in America for the latter twentieth and early twenty-first Century. You will engage three of Wilson’s key works as a foundation for examining evolving and especially contemporary debates on the state of racial inequality and racism in the United States. Throughout the course we will bring in important insights from two pivotal figures: W. E. B. Du Bois the great American sociologist of race in the early 20th century, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, the signal leader of the American Civil Rights Movement.
Note: Please be sure to read the assigned readings for the first class meeting before arriving. Our discussions will begin then and there.
Class Notes
First-Year Seminars are available only to first-year students. You may apply to both Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 First-Year Seminars via the FYS lottery between July 6 and August 6, 2026 at 11:59PM-midnight.
As part of your application, you must provide a brief statement on why you are interested in each seminar. You will be notified of lottery results for both fall and spring seminars at 5 pm on August 11. If you are unsuccessful in the lottery, you may still join any seminar with open seats. A list of open seminars and instructions on next steps will be available on the First-Year Seminar Program website August 11 at 12 Noon.
Not Available for Cross Registration
