Race and Politics in the United States

Description of Course Goals and Curriculum

The course is divided into two parts: the first half of the semester focuses on the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and other pre-2000 events while the second half focuses on the Obama and Trump presidencies. Concepts that are covered in the first half continue to come up throughout the course, such as the intersection of partisanship and race, the idea of selling out, and group identification and voting patterns within the African American community. As a result, it is important to keep these concepts in mind when approaching the material in the second half of the semester. All of the concepts discussed in the course are also readily applicable to current events and the lecture and precept discussions will challenge you to make connections between the readings and outside events.   For the readings, the professor will include papers that offer a variety of viewpoints on an issue, ex. is opposition to racially liberal policies due to racial resentment or principled conservatism? It will be important to identify the contributions and shortcomings of each viewpoint and how they relate to the issue. The second half of the semester will also include papers discussing various political science experiments and there is an emphasis on the experiment design and figures. The lectures will familiarize you with the vocabulary and approach to interpreting the experiments before you are tested on them during the final. Takeaways from the course include having a more nuanced understanding of how race interacts with a politician’s platform, voter preferences, and other political topics.

Learning From Classroom Instruction

Each lecture consists of an overview of material from the previous lecture and then a discussion of the class’ assigned readings. This discussion will include background on the reading’s topic, ex. important events or figures, and then the key sections of the readings. There will be discussion questions interspersed to connect the material to relevant current events and to explore possible interpretations of the material. To prepare for lecture, it is helpful to skim the readings before lecture and to list the main vocabulary and concepts. It may also help to note any confusing sections or parts that you can ask the professor to clarify during or after lecture. To prepare for potential discussion questions, it may be helpful to relate the readings to current events or brainstorm pertinent examples not discussed in the readings.   The main takeaway points of the readings will be highlighted during lecture, so it is fine if you only had time to briefly go over the reading or was unsure about what to focus on. In addition, keep track of recurring concepts that the professor will point out during lecture because they may be used in future discussions or exam questions. Attending lecture is crucial because the professor will link the readings to the broader themes of the course and also does not post the lecture slides after class.   For precept, the main purpose is to engage with the readings with your classmates, such as by returning to a discussion question from lecture in more detail. Two students will be assigned as precept discussion leaders to summarize a portion of the week’s readings and to prepare questions. In addition, it is an opportunity to clarify anything from lecture or the readings or to bring up any connections that you have made with the readings. Students will be asked to actively participate, and it is often helpful to prepare by bringing questions that you have about the material or identifying weaknesses in the reading that may not have been fully explained.  

Learning For and From Assignments

The assignments for the course include a midterm, a take home final, a final paper, and a precept discussion leader.  Both exams are timed and have a mixture of short and long essay questions. The short essay questions are designed to assess your knowledge of various vocabulary and concepts and your ability to provide supporting examples. To prepare for these questions, it is good to review the vocabulary provided at the end of each lecture and to be able to provide a definition. The long essay questions tend to focus on a concept in-depth by asking you to pick a viewpoint and expand on it using examples from readings. An alternate type of long essay question uses one of the experiments from a reading and asking you to discuss the independent/dependent variables or a figure. To prepare for these questions, it is helpful to write a brief summary for each reading and to understand the figure axes/variables for each experiment. In addition, the notes from lecture or precept will help with remembering the key points for each reading.  The final paper is more in-depth than the long essay questions by focusing on one of the broad themes discussed in class and incorporating outside resources. The prompts touch on vocabulary and discussion questions from class but require additional analysis and explanation. In general, each of the topics will have ample amount of outside resources so it is more helpful to pick a topic that you are interested in writing or feel like you would be able to explain more fully. If the topic you’re interested is touched on earlier in the semester, it may also be helpful to start writing your paper then (instead of closer to Dean’s Date) because the concepts are still fresh. Office hours are useful to clarify the points in your argument or determine what resources to use as evidence.   For the precept discussion leader assignment, you will prepare a short 5-10 minute presentation which will include a summary of your assigned weekly readings and 1 outside resource. The outside resource can supplement the readings by providing an article, anecdote, statistic, or other medium that relates to the concept. The resource will need to be sent by a specific day and time before precept so it is helpful to begin planning a few days in advance, especially if you would like to go to office hours to discuss it. Based on the readings and the outside resource, you will pose 2 discussion questions. In general, these questions are open-ended and meant to elicit a range of possible opinions or explanations. The main difficulty with leading this discussion is classmate participation because they may not be too familiar with the subject or have not had much time to reflect on the question. In these cases, the preceptor will be helpful in providing support and keeping the discussion flowing, ex. by prompting the class with intermediate questions. 

External Resources

Office hours (scheduled through WASE) are helpful for any questions about concept or vocabulary to prepare for exams. They can also be used to prepare for the final paper, or precept discussion questions by going over any potential topics, resources, or questions. It is helpful to brainstorm beforehand and prepare some notes in order to identify what areas need additional guidance. Other resources that may help with the final paper include the Writing Center to help with your paper’s argument structure and the librarians to help find additional resources.  Although not stated in the syllabus, it is useful to keep up to date with current events, such as by routinely checking various news websites. This is because discussion questions will often draw on these events, ex. Black Lives Matter movements or the Democratic debates. The concepts from the class are readily applicable to everyday news and it makes the class very rewarding because you learn how to make these connections. 

What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection

This class does not require any previous experience with POL or AAS classes although it will be helpful to have experience with humanities or seminar classes due to the class’ discussion-based nature. In addition, some of the concepts and methods, ex. analysis of voter data, may be familiar to those who have taken previous POL classes. Aside from possibly needing to google vocabulary and spending additional time with the readings at the beginning of the semester, the class is well suited for students of any background. It does not require much time outside of class as well, aside from keeping up with the weekly readings. The main weeks where the workload is greater than normal is the week you are assigned as precept discussion leader and the weeks leading up to the major assignments. As a result, this class would be suitable for a lighter 4th or 5th class load. Finally, the class is very eye-opening because the topics are deeply rooted in the American political system and how certain groups are affected by the political process.