A survey of the black experience from the African homeland to initial capture, enslavement and emancipation – 1619 - 1865.

Examines the lives of African Americans from emancipation to the present.

Literature by people of African descent receives selective attention: African, Latin American, Caribbean, African American works are explored. Genres: political tract, novel, essay, autobiography, folk literature considered at various historical junctures.

Racism, its social connection to human physical difference (i.e. race) studied. References made to African/European relations, development of racist thought, major sociological models used in United States, re: race relations.