College Seminar (101-7-26)

Topic

History of Whiteness in the US

Instructors

Susan J Pearson
847/491-3744
Harris Hall - Room 338

Meeting Info

Harris Hall L04: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

This course is a history of the ideas and practices of "whiteness" in the United States from colonial times to the twentieth century. How did the idea of a "white race"

come into being and why? More important, how was whiteness systematically privileged in law and policy? In this course, we will look at racial ideology, but also at laws, policies, and practices that have made "white" a privileged social position. We cover the development of New World slavery and race-based labor regimes, laws controlling access to public spaces and good based on race, how state and federal policies controlled the unequal distribution of education, housing, and property, and we also examine how different groups have had access to "whiteness" over time.

This course proceeds from the (true!) premise that race is not biological or genetic, but social and cultural. The course argues, that race, moreover, is created not simply by the ideas that people have about one another, but by the structures that systematically produce differential treatment based on skin color and genealogy. Our task is to examine how some of those systems have developed in U.S. history and to trace out how they impact the world we live in today.

The course is reading- and writing-intensive. Students should come prepared to engage in careful, meaningful, and sometimes difficult, discussions.

Class Notes

History Major Concentration(s): Americas
History Minor Concentration(s): United States

Class Attributes

WCAS College Seminar

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Only History majors and minors can currently enroll in this class. Weinberg First Year Seminars are only available to first-year students.
Drop Consent: Department Consent Required