Undergraduate Minor
Overview
The undergraduate minor in African American Studies is designed for students interested in understanding the broad dimensions of the discipline of African American Studies and critical interdisciplinary scholarship. The undergraduate minor requires six (6) courses of which two are required:
- AAS 100: An Introduction to African American Studies
- AAS 200: Theories and Methods in African American Studies
Students enrolled in the undergraduate minor must complete four (4) courses, two of which must be at the advanced level, within or among the following areas:
- Arts, Aesthetics, and Expressive Culture
- Ethics, Politics, and Society
- History, Culture, and Theory
Sample Curriculum Pathway
First Year
- AAS 100: Introduction to African American Studies
- Course which substantially engages the history, culture, or ideas of slavery and race in the making of the modern world
Second Year
- AAS 200: Theories and Methods in African American Studies
- Elective course
Third Year
- Three courses within or among area(s) of concentration
- Elective course
Fourth Year
- Elective course
- AAS 399: African American Studies Atelier
African American Studies, Minor Requirements
Requires 18 hours in the minor.
| Course Number | Course Name |
|---|---|
| AAS 100 | Introduction to African American Studies (3) |
| AAS 200 | Theories and Methods in African American Studies (3) |
| Select twelve hours of electives (at least two at the 300 level) from among the following areas: | |
| I. Arts, Aesthetics, and Expressive Culture | |
| II. Ethics, Politics, and Society | |
| III. History, Culture, and Theory |
I. Arts, Aesthetics, and Expressive Culture
| Course Number | Course Name | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| AAS 207 | Black Popular Culture | 3 |
| AAS 220 | African American Cultural Criticism | 3 |
| AAS 294 | Black Art in the US and Great Britain since 1945 | 3 |
| AAS 370 | Special Topics in Arts, Aesthetics, and Expressive Cultures in African American 3 Studies | 3 |
| HMN 223 | African and Caribbean Literature | 3 |
| ENG 301 | Individual Authors (when topic is Toni Morrison) | 3 |
| ENG 302 | Ideas in Literature (when topic is Black is Beautiful: African American Poetics 3 and Aesthetics 1919-2019) | 3 |
| ENG 356 | Literature of the Caribbean | 3 |
| ENG 381 | Studies in African-American Literature (when topic is appropriate) | 3 |
| ENG 387 | African-American Fiction (when topic is appropriate) | 3 |
| ENG 389 | African-American Poetry | 3 |
| REL 376 | Race, Religion, and Film | 3 |
| THE 376 | Multicultural American Drama | 3 |
II. Ethics, Politics, and Society
| Course Number | Course Name | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| AAS 310 | Organic Leadership: Lessons from the Black Freedom Struggle | 3 |
| AAS 330 | Politics of Black Religion | 3 |
| AAS 340 | Ethics of Black Power | 3 |
| AAS 350 | Politics of Black Liberation | 3 |
| AAS 380 | Special Topics in Ethics, Politics, and Society in African American Studies | 3 |
| ANT 335 | Anthropology of Space and Place in the U.S | 3,4 |
| SOC 364 | Power, Politics, and Protest | 3 |
| SOC 384 | Special Topics Seminar in Crime and Criminal Justice (when topic is 3 appropriate) | 3 |
| POL 213 | Economic Inequality and American Politic | 3 |
| POL 223 | African American Politics | 3 |
| POL 226 | American Constitutional Law: Civil Rights and Liberties | 3 |
| REL 246 | Religion and Race | 3 |
| REL 338 | Religion, Ethics, and Politics | 3 |
| REL 374 | Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms | 3 |
| REL 375 | Race, Myth, and the American Imagination | 3 |
| WGS 364 | Women of Color, Feminisms, and the Politics of Resistance in the U.S. | 3 |
| WGS 383 | Race, Gender, and the Courts | 3 |
III. History, Culture, and Theory
| Course Number | Course Name | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| AAS 106 | Atlantic World since 1500 | 3 |
| AAS 105 | Africa in World History | 3 |
| AAS 110 | Introduction to Africana Philosophy | 3 |
| AAS 120 | Introduction to Black Women’s Studies | 3 |
| AAS 205 | Black Cultural Studies | 3 |
| AAS 210 | African American Intellectual Traditions | 3 |
| AAS 266 | The History of the Slave South | 3 |
| AAS 271 | African American History to 1870 | 3 |
| AAS 300 | Black Feminist Theory | 3 |
| AAS 272 | African American History since 1870 | 3 |
| AAS 315 | African American Social and Political Thought | 3 |
| AAS 320 | Philosophy and Race | 3 |
| AAS 322 | Critical Theories of Race | 3 |
| AAS 324 | Race and the Modern World | 3 |
| AAS 341 | Africans in the Atlantic World, 1750-1815 | 3 |
| AAS 355 | Africana Political Philosophy | 3 |
| AAS 375 | Black Lives | 3 |
| AAS 387 | Black Radical Tradition | 3 |
| AAS 378 | Race, Memory, and Identity | 3 |
| AAS 376 | Civil Rights and Black Consciousness Movements | 3 |
| AAS 391 | Themes in Africana Philosophy | 3 |
| AAS 392 | Seminar in African American Studies | 3 |
| AAS 396 | Independent Study in African American Studies | 3 |
| AAS 397 | Directed Reading in African American Studies | 3 |
| ANT 111 | Understanding Culture Through Ethnography | 3 |
| ANT 325 | Roots of Racism: Race and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S. | 3 |
| ENG 387 | African-American Fiction (when topic is appropriate) | 3 |
| HMN 200 | Introduction to Humanities: Themes in Literature, Culture, and Film | 3 |
| REL 107 | Introduction to African Religions | 3 |
| REL 345 | The African-American Religious Experience | 3 |
| REL 348 | Race, Memory, and Identity | 3 |
| REL 373 | Special Topics in African-American Religious Traditions | 3 |
| REL 393 | Topics in Religions of Africa | 3 |
| SOC 359 | Race and Racism | 3 |
| WGS 322 | Feminist, Womanist, Murjerista Theologies: Constructive Perspectives on 3 Christian Thought | 3 |
Spring 2025 Courses
Take a look at our spring 2025 undergraduate courses.