2024-25 Academic Catalog

African American Studies

African American Studies (AAS) brings together an interdisciplinary community of scholars to offer courses leading to a minor. Our faculty is committed to exploring creative approaches to research and teaching by making the study of African Americans a central element in their scholarship and courses. Our faculty also promote research across departmental boundaries, thereby producing scholarship touching upon politics, identify, religion, and other variables. The interdisciplinary methodology of AAS informs students who work in a variety of disciplines, including history, political science, sociology, anthropology, music, economics, literature, education, and psychology. While the majority of our courses examine the history and culture of African Americans, the minor concentration also enables students to study Africans in the homeland and the Diaspora.

The interdisciplinary minor in African American Studies consists of 18 credit hours offered through several departments within the College of Arts & Sciences. The courses included in the minor focus on aspects of the African American experience. To earn the minor a student must take a total of 18 credit hours consisting of AAS 1063, at least 6 credit hours in the category of Humanities and Fine Arts, at least 6 credit hours in the category of Social Science, and a 3 credit hour elective that can be fulfilled by any course in the AAS curriculum at the 3000 or 4000 level. No more than fifty percent of the AAS minor can be completed by courses from any academic department. 

Required Course
AAS 1063Introduction to African American Studies3
Humanities and Fine Arts Requirements6
Choose 6 hours from the following:
African American History to 1865
African American History to 1865
African American History since 1865
African American History since 1865
History of African American Women
History of African American Women
African-American History and Culture
African American History and Culture
History of Modern Civil Rights Movement
History of Modern Civil Rights Movement
African Civilization to 1880
African Civilization to 1880
Modern Africa
Modern Africa
The African Diaspora
African American Leadership in the Twentieth Century
African Americans and the Law
African Americans and the Law
Introduction to African American Literature
Introduction to African American Literature
Studies in African American Literature
Studies in African American Literature
Postcolonial Literature and Theory
Postcolonial Literature and Theory
African American Music
African American Music
African Art and Culture
Special Topics in African American Studies
Special Topics in African American Studies
Other courses as approved by program director
Social Sciences Requirements6
Choose 6 hours from the following:
Modern Civil Rights Law
Modern Civil Rights Law
African American Politics
African American Politics
African Politics
African Politics
Introduction to Race and Ethnicity
Introduction to Race and Ethnicity
Introduction to Race and Ethnicity
Race, Crime and Justice
Race, Crime, & Justice
Race and the Media
Race and the Media
Race and the Media
African Cultures
African Cultures
Special Topics in African American Studies
Special Topics in African American Studies
Southern Politics
Ethnic Conflict
Other courses as approved by program director
Elective3
Total Hours18