Fall Semester 2008
POLS -3980-African Americans and the American Political System
Tuesday/Thursday 2:30 to 5:15PM
Instructor: Dr. Zaphon R. Wilson
Office: University Hall 224
Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 10:00AM – 12 Noon
By Appointment
Phone: 912-344-2593
Email Address: wilsonza@mail.armstrong.edu
“I am sick and tired of being sick and tired”---------- Fannie Lou Hammer
“The arch of the moral universe...is long, but it bends toward justice” ----Martin Luther King, Junior
“Just because you are invited to dinner, that doesn’t make you a diner” -------Malcolm X
Introduction
African Americans in the American Political System, focuses on the role and participation of African Americans in the political life of government and politics in the United States. This course will emphasize how the continuing struggle for African –American political empowerment and “universal freedom” helped to shape the current American political environment, as well as the social and economic conditions of the African American community.
The central purpose of this course is to interpret the political behavior and activities of African Americans as this particular racial group interacts with other groups in the United States’ political system; and with institutions that formulate and implement public policy.
Course Objectives
Listed below are the key objectives of the course:
To develop with the student definitions and conceptual introductions to African
American politics.
To create a critical understanding of the development of African American
politics as a field of study, examine approaches used to study African American
politics and the different methods taken to achieve African American political,
economic and social liberation.
To study with the student key forces and determinates in African American
political behavior.
To explore with the student the role, significance and impact of African
American elected officials and African American political organizations on
the political traditions of freedom, self-governance, and personal responsibility
celebrated in the mythology of the United States.
2
The course will be taught in a lecture/discussion format. Students are encouraged to participate in class discussions. Attendance is required. All assignments are to be read before class. The professor reserves the right to add or delete from the reading list and to institute pop quizzes.
Final Grades will be determined by the following calculation:
1. Three (3) exams – 25% each 75%
2. Book Review – (5 page maximum) 25%
All students are required to take the exams on the scheduled date unless
he/she provides a written, university – approved excuse. All other written
assignments must be turned in on time. NO EXCEPTIONS
3. The Professor Reserves the right to add or delete assignments as he sees
fit.
Required Texts
Locke and Wilson, (eds). African American Politics: The Struggle for Liberation.
(Tapestry Press, 1997)
Walton and Smith, American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal
Freedom (Longman Publishers, 2008)
Suggested Texts
Carol Swain, Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans
Interests in Congress (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993
Adolph Reed (Ed), Without Justice for All (Westview Press, 1999)
Hanes, Walton, Reelection: William Jefferson Clinton as a Native-Son Presidential
Candidate (Columbia University Press, 2000)
Topical Outline and Reading Assignments
Listed below is an overview of the course schedule. Please use it as a guide, rather than a legal contract. We will most certainly vary from this plan. All journal articles, papers and book chapters are available on reserve at the University Library.
Content of the Course
I. Introduction to the Course – African Americans in the United States
Constitution A Theoretical Framework
A. Position of African Americans in the United States Constitution
What is African American Politics?
Framework for Analysis
Readings:
U.S. Constitution
Locke and Wilson, Hill, The Study of Black Politics: Notes on Rethinking
the Paradigm, pp 3-9
Locke and Wilson, Smith, “ Ideology as the enduring Dilemma of Black
Politics’ pp. 21-31
Parenti, A Constitution for the Few, in Democracy for the Few
II. Political Science and African -American Politics
The Politics of Uncertainty
Frames of reference and African American Politics
The Pluralist Model
The Melting Pot Model
Race relations Model
The Colonial Model
Was Frederic Douglass Right?
Reading:
Barker, et al. Black America and the Political System: The Politics of Uncertainty,
pp. 1-26
Locke and Wilson, “The Right to Criticize American Institutions”
Frederick Douglass pp 9-11
III. American Democracy and African American Subordination
The Nature of the Problem
Wealth and Want in American Society
Black wealth and The American Dream
Extra Credit Opportunity Friday 9/15 Constitution Day Celebration
The Atlanta Exposition
Readings:
Barker et al, The Nature of the Problem pp 32-53
Locke and Wilson, “The Atlanta Exposition Speech,” Booker T. Washington,
pp 45-48.
Locke and Wilson, The Politics of Accommodation, pp-32-44
Reconstruction and the Politics of African American Disenfranchisement
The Nature of the System
A. Political Philosophy and American Politics
B. V.O. Key and the understanding of Race in American Politics
Readings:
Barker, et al. Chapter 3 The Nature of the System
V.O. Key Jr. Southern Politics in State and Nation 1949 –Chapters 26-29
(Reserve)
Locke and Wilson, Marcus Garvey and the Resurgence of Black Nationalism,
Pp48-59
Exam I - Items 1 – IV
V. Civil Rights and the Struggle for African - American Universal Freedom
The Quest for Political Power
Voting as a Limited Resource and key factors of Black Political empowerment
in the South.
MLK and The Letter from a Birmingham Jail as Political Literature
Readings:
Barker, et al Chapter 4 The Quest for Political Power
Walton and Smith, Chapter 7 (reserve)
Locke and Wilson, Martin Luther King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”pp
80-88
Locke and Wilson, William Tucker, “For a Twentieth of the Cost: Francis
Galton and The Origin of Eugenics” pp 89-103
VI. African – American Interest Group Politics
Change through Politics a familiar Lament
The American Two Party System
Bill Clinton and the Politics of New Liberalism
Readings:
Barker et al, Chapter 7 and 8 Interest Groups and Political Parties
Klinkner, Bill Clinton and the Politics of New Liberalism in Reed Without
Justice for All (reserve)
Locke and Wilson, Glenn Loury, “The Struggle to Return to Self - Help”
pp182
Locke and Wilson, The New Black Politicians: From Protest to Empowerment,
pp105-129.
VII. African -American Voting Behavior
Who Votes in the United States?
Theories of Political Participation
African American Public Opinion
Readings:
Barker, et al, Chapter 9 “ Black Voters and Electoral Politics”pp
234-250
Walton and Smith, Chapter 5 Public Opinion in American Politics and the African
American Quest for Universal Freedom
Locke and Wilson, Race Matters, pp 144-153
Midterm Take Home Celebration
VIII. African – Americans and United States Institutions
A. The U.S. Presidency and Black Politics
B. Black Politics and Presidential Elections
C. Black Politics and the Policy Process
Readings:
Barker, et al, Chapter11, “The Presidency and the Policy Process: The
Poverty of Black Politics” pp303-335
Walton and Smith, Chapter 12, The Presidency and the African American Quest
for Universal Freedom
IX. African –Americans and the U.S. Congress
Blacks in Congress.
A. Blacks and the History of the US Congress
B. The 21st Century and Black Congressional Behavior. Is coalition building
Possible?
Readings:
Barker, et al, Chapter10 “African Americans and the Congressional Arena”
pp 254-294
Walton and Smith, Chapter 11, The Congress and the African American Quest
for Universal Freedom pp. 168180
Suggested:
Carol Swain, Black Faces, Black Interests
X. African-Americans and the Supreme Court
Is the Supreme Court Colorblind or is it driven by public opinion too
A critique of Black Supreme Court Justices
Readings:
Barker, et al, Chapter 5and 6
Locke and Wilson, Higginbotham, Jr, “ An Open Letter to Justice Clarence
Thomas from a Federal Judge”pp153-165
XI. African - Americans and Urban Politics
The Rise of Urban Political Machines Big Cities
Black Mayors and Cities in Crisis
Readings:
Chuck Stone, “Urban Regimes and the Capacity to Govern: A political
Economy Approach”. Journal of Urban Affairs, 15(1), pp1-28
Cynthia Horan, “Racializing Regime Politics”. Journal of Urban
Affairs 24(1) 2002 pp19-33
XII. Black Nationalism
The Rise of Nationalism as a portrait of the Black experience
Garvey, Du Bois and the New Black Panther Party
Readings:
Locke and Wilson, John McCartney, “Marcus Garvey and the Resurgence
of Black Nationalism” pp48-59
Peniel Joseph, “Black Power’s Powerful Legacy”, The Chronicle
Review. July 2006
Locke and Wilson, “Two Roads to Freedom” pp 60-79
XIII. African - American Conservatives
The Rise of new – new conservatism in Black political thought
Why are African -Americans Conservative on some issues and liberal on others?
Readings:
John McWhorter, Authentically Black: Essays from the Black Silent Majority
(2003)
Chapter 1 and 9 (reserve)
Locke and Wilson, Steven Lawson, “ The New Black Politicians: From Protest
to Empowerment” pp105-129
XIV. The Future of African- American Politics
Toward a Non-Racial Class-based Politics: Is race still relevant in a Globalized
world
“Is” all Politics Local in the Twenty-first Century?
Readings:
Barker, et al. Chapter 12 “The Author’s Speak Out” pp 340-359
The Wrap up and Overview
Book Review Essay Due last day of CLASS
Final Examination -
Acceptable Books for Review
McWhorter, Authentically Black, 2003
________, Losing the Race: Self- Sabotage in Black America, 2002
Robinson, Quitting America, 2004
Hacker, Two Nations: Black and White, Hostile, Separate and Unequal, 2003
Walters, White Nationalism, Black Interests: Conservative Policy and the
Black Community, 2003
Collins, Black Feminists Thought, 2000
Dyson, I May Not Get There with You: The True Marin Luther King, Jr., 2003
Collier-Thomas, Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil
Rights Movement, 2001
Smith, We Have No Leaders, 1996
Wilson, When Work Disappears, 1996
Bell, Faces at the Bottom of the Well, 1993
____, And We Are Not Saved, 1989
Carter, Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby, 1992
Reed, The Jesse Jackson Phenomenon, 1989
Reed, Without Justice for All, 1999
Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 2007
Classics
Cox, Caste, Class and Race, 1970
Cruse, Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, 1984
Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie,
DuBois, The Philadelphia Negro, 1899
Higginbotham, In the Matter of Color: Race and the American Legal System,
1978
Higginbotham, Shades of Freedom
You may select a book on your own with the approval of the instructor