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Course Profile – AAS  2200: Politics and Black people

Program: African and African-American Studies

Course description: One of the more popular courses offered by the African and African-American Studies department this semester, it examines historical and present-day black politics as a vehicle for positive change for America’s black population. The course may also be taken for political science credit and satisfies a multicultural requirement. It is worth three credits.

Syllabus: Derrick Hudson, associate professor of international relations and African studies, is teaching the course this semester. He emphasizes black politics after the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. “After voting was firmly established, there was a shift in black political power,” he said.

Hudson said that he focuses on the gradual elections of black mayors into offices across the country following the act.

This semester, he will be talking about former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, whose memoirs will be released as Wellington Webb: The Man, the Mayor and the Making of Modern Denver in mid-February.

“This course really helps someone appreciate how African-Americans have viewed the political process throughout history,” Hudson said.

Prerequisite: Satisfaction of level-one math requirement and either ENG 1010 or completion of level-one communications requirement.