Text: Edited by Niara Sudakasa, Levi A. Nwachuku and Judith A.W. Thomas Exploring the African American Experience. 3rd Edition.

Course Description:

This course is designed to give students an overview of the tremendous body of knowledge about the African-American Experience. It is intended that the course should provide a significant reorientation of perspectives an American history. Beyond this, the course aims to:

1. Expose the students to the intellectual and academic importance of the African-American Experience.
2. Expose students to the different academic experiences of the African-American in the United States.
3. Provide students with a theoretical frame-work for further research in the field of African-American studies, and
4. Give students an understanding of the contributions of African-Americans to the overall development of the United States and the world.

The course will adopt a multidisciplinary approach.

General Course Information:

A. Quizzes, examinations, class attendance and participation in class discussions all carry weight in grading students. Make-ups are not given for quizzes or examinations except if a student is hospitalized when a quiz or an examination is given.
B. A student who absents him/herself more than three times is strongly advised to drop the class.
C. November 1995, Lincoln University adopted the statement on academic integrity. The terms, attached to this syllabus, will be enforced in this course.

Grading system:
Quiz 1 40 points
Quiz 2 40 points
Midterm Exams. 60 points
Quiz 3 40 points
Quiz 4 40 points
Final Exams. 40 points
Post-test 40 points
Total 300points.

SCHEDULES & ASSIGNMENTS
Fall 2007
Weekly Schedule for African American Experience (SOS151)

Week 1
Chapter 1) African-American Studies: Significance and Meaning Revisited
By L. A. Nwachuku
(AV compliment: Eyes on the Prize excerpt: Black Power movement at Howard University)

Week 2
Chapter 2) African American Visitations
By C. Achebe
(AV compliment: McNiel & Leher excerpt: 1989 discussion on Identity)

Week 3
Chapter 6) The European Slave Trade
By L. A. Nwachuku
(AV compliment: Sankofa)

Week 4
Chapter 8) The Political Economy of Slavery in the United States, 1607 - 1865
By G. J. Hunter
(AV compliment: BBC: How to Make a Million from Slavery)

Week 5
Chapter 9) Introduction to Afrocentric Thought and Action
By D. Z. Poe
(AV compliment: M. K. Asante Jr. -500 Years Since Sankofa)

Week 6
Ivan Van Sertima article (handout)
(AV compliment: Ivan Van Sertima at Lincoln University)

Week 7
Chapter 15) Language and Empowerment in the African-American Community
By J. A. W. Thomas
(AV compliment: Speech excerpts by: Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X)

Week 8

Week 9
Chapter 20) Black Politics and Democratic Theory: The Tension Between Enfranchisement and Empowerment
By R. Walters
(AV compliment: Eyes on the Prize S2E3: Power 1967 - 1968)

Week 10
Chapter 21) The Civil Rights Movement in the United States, 1954 - 2003
By F. C. Walton
(AV compliment: Tony Brown's 1972 Black Summit and Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Union 2006)
Chapter 22 ) Pan-Africanism: A Survey
By Chieke Ihejirika

Week 11
Chapter 27) Africanisms in African-American Culture
By R. Sekoni
(AV compliment: Daughters of the Dust)

Week 13
Chapter 33) Epilogue: Africa and African-Americans: The Future in Perspective
By L. A. Nwachuku and D. Z. Poe
(AV compliment: Kwame Ture at Lincoln University)

Week 14
Summary and Review for Finals

Week 15
Finals