POL 375 RACE AND ETHNICITY IN POLITICS

This course is designed to build the foundation for examining and understanding the ways in which race and ethnicity are intricately linked to the American political system. Students will explore and critically examine the historical perspectives of various racial and ethnic minority groups – Blacks (African Americans), Latinos, Asian Americans, and American Indians – in the United States. The course is meant to explore the ways in which race and ethnicity have shaped the foundations of the American political system, and the means by which these constructs have structured racialized attitudes regarding various dimensions of politics and policy. While the course material incorporates time periods stemming from European exploration in the Americas, the emphasis will be on the period from the founding of the United States as a nation up through the mid-1960s.