AIH276 - African American History From Slavery to Black Lives Matter
Unit details
| Year | 2025 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 1: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Unit Chair: | Trimester 1: Matthew Richards |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Corequisite: | Nil |
| Incompatible with: | Nil |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour on-campus lecture per week 1 x 1-hour on-campus seminar per week |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour online lecture (recordings provided) 1 x 1-hour online seminar per week |
| Typical study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site. |
Content
Students in this unit will learn about the history and culture of African Americans, a significant minority group in the world’s superpower.
Throughout the unit, we will address two related questions:
1. how is it that in a nation based on the world’s first and most expansive assertion of democracy and rights there is such glaring inequality based on race?
2. how have African Americans shaped their own experiences given these circumstances?
Topics will include:
- the Atlantic slave trade and the experience of slave transportation
- labour, religion, family, and community from the colonial era to the “antebellum” period
- the role of free black people and slaves in the American Civil War
- the meanings of freedom and the early roots of the civil rights movement
- mobility and violence during the era of Jim Crow segregation
- leadership and grassroots organising in the Civil Rights movement
- Black Power and Black Feminism and
- “post-racial” America up to Black Lives Matter.
The primary and secondary materials, including in assessments, will enable students to follow interests in black culture, eg music and fiction, and/or politics including issues such as mass incarceration and police brutality.
Learning Outcomes
| ULO | These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can: | Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs) |
|---|---|---|
| ULO1 | Describe the history of African Americans in colonial America and the United States, right up to the very recent past, and identify key historical events and ideas that contribute to continuing racial inequalities today | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities |
| ULO2 | Identify the kinds of data and evidence one can use to determine event and ideas, past and present in African American history | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities GLO3: Digital literacy GLO4: Critical thinking GLO8: Global citizenship |
| ULO3 | Analyse and explain in oral and written form the tensions between myths about United States exceptionalism and the persistence of racism and inequality | GLO2: Communication GLO4: Critical thinking |
| ULO4 | Analyse and explain in oral and written form the forms of resistance and/or accommodation individuals and groups use in response to oppression | GLO2: Communication GLO4: Critical thinking GLO5: Problem solving |
| ULO5 | Identify, analyse and evaluate the legacies, in the United States and beyond, of slavery and other forms of racialised violence | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities GLO8: Global citizenship |
Assessment
| Assessment Description | Student output | Grading and weighting (% total mark for unit) | Indicative due week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1: Quizzes | 800 words or equivalent | 20% | Ongoing |
| Assessment 2: Essay | 1200 words or equivalent | 30% | Week 6 |
| Assessment 3: Essay | 2000 words or equivalent | 50% | Week 11 |
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
Learning resource
The texts and reading list for AIH276 can be found via the University Library.
Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Unit Fee Information
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current Students website.