From Out of the Margins of History: Infusing African American Culture into the African American History Syllabus

Abstract

This article will provide the context and application of African-centered concepts into an undergraduate course entitled “The African American Experience.” African American history and culture had been relegated to the margins of American history for decades when in fact without African American history, the true history of America could not be told. The syllabus described in this work uses African American phenomena as the basis of understanding the entire course. Every level including the projects, Course Outline, and instructions affirm African and African American principles. Including these principles directly into the course serves not only to teach students additional information, but places the culture out of its often-subordinated place in the larger America. This course syllabus challenges the argument that African and African American phenomena have no place in academia. It takes us from a place only a few decades ago where there were no African American History courses on college campuses to today when the history can be recognized and placed in its rightful position in the academic sphere.