HIS 366 - Black Leadership, Organization, and Movements in Historical Perspective (3)

This interdisciplinary history course is dedicated to critical examination of Black political leadership and policy setting, i.e. how Black leaders and organizations catalyze movements that set, or attempt to set, the public agenda across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It does so by focusing on the theory and practice of the political behavior of individuals and institutions contextualized by constraints and opportunities presented by national politics. We operate from the thesis that African Americans have sought to influence the process of national agenda setting. That influence would eventually lead to the acquisition of public goods which would improve the general condition of the “Black community.” Our approach begins with agenda setting and moves to a historical review of various periods of Black political development. We then examine more closely Black political leadership in a number of various settings and historical periods.