AFR 300 Landmark Cases: The Black Experience from Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board of Education
3 hours
This course foregrounds the Black struggle for justice by closely analyzing the landmark cases Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which found that racial segregation did not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which found that it did. Students will examine the legal logic of these decisions and the political, social, and cultural contexts in which they emerged. To contextualize the importance of the role law in society, students will retrace the ways in which African Americans struggled within and against social practices denying their human worth, while also creating cultural spaces that allowed for resistance and independence.
Prerequisite
ENG 201, junior standing or above
Notes
This course is part of the John Jay College Option: Justice Core II (300-level) in the Struggle for Justice and Equality in the U.S. area of the Gen Ed Program.