Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for HST 251 Winter 2025


Course Number:
HST 251
Course Title:
African American History since 1877
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Examines the broad range of experiences of African Americans from Reconstruction to the present. Explores the relationship of Blacks to the wider society as well as the inner dynamic of the Black communities including identity issues, key individuals and organization in the struggle for social justice, especially the destruction of legal segregation. Devotes attention to the rural South and the urban North as Blacks used a variety of means to empower African American communities through the civil rights revolution. History courses are non-sequential and may be taken in any term and in any order. Prerequisites: WR 115, RD 115 and MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

  • Articulate and interpret an understanding of key historical facts and events in the history of African Americans from Reconstruction to the present.
  • Identify the influence of culturally based practices, values, and beliefs to analyze how historically defined meanings of difference affect human behavior.
  • Identify and investigate historical theses, evaluate information and its sources, and use appropriate reasoning to construct evidence-based arguments on historical issues.
  • Construct a well-organized historical argument using effective, appropriate, and accurate language.

Social Inquiry and Analysis

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to apply methods of inquiry and analysis to examine social contexts and the diversity of human thought and experience.

General education philosophy statement

This course requires students to focus on African American history since 1877 from a variety of different perspectives, considering the ways in which the experiences of people in the past have been shaped by factors like social class, gender, race, religious belief, and ideology. Students must also evaluate relationships between different cultures, whether defined in terms of political identity (such as interactions between the people of two or more nations) or in terms of cultural groups within a larger society. One of the key goals of this course is to provide a perspective on the contemporary world that is grounded in a robust and accurate understanding of the past, ultimately in the name of encouraging a greater sense of social responsibility.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assess by using any combination of the following:

  • Exams
  • Essays
  • Oral presentations
  • Research projects
  • Book critiques
  • Service Learning
  • Class participation and discussion
  • Other creative assignments

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

Competencies and Skills:

Analyze and evaluate primary and secondary sources:

  • Connect evidence to its relevant historical context
  • Analyze and evaluate written, artistic, or other evidence
  • Assess the motivation and purpose of evidence

Evaluate different interpretations of past events and construct your own interpretation:

  • Identify a historians thesis and supporting evidence
  • Evaluate the arguments used to support different interpretations of historical issues
  • Develop your own thesis and historical interpretation and use evidence to support it

Think critically about the relationship between past and present events and issues:

  • Recognize and identify historical roots and parallels to current issues

Compare and contrast the experience of diverse groups in society:

  • Listen to and appreciate the experience of students from a variety of  backgrounds
  • Assess the contributions and experiences of various groups in society

Demonstrate college-level communications skills with an emphasis on writing (and may include listening and speaking):

  • Communicate effectively in writing about a historical topic
  • Communicate in writing an understanding of historical process and an evaluation of how concepts or values change over time

Clearly articulate thoughts and ideas to a particular audience which may include:

  • Working collaboratively with other students to evaluate and understand historical events
  • Working collaboratively with others in discussions, debate, or role plays
  • Presenting information in oral presentations

Themes, Concepts, Issues:

  • Building social institutions and organizations

  • Violence: race riots, lynching, policing

  • Mass incarceration

  • Cultural developments: music, art, literature, religion, education

  • Government and politics, disfranchisement

  • Organized action, civil rights strategies

  • Historical interpretation

  • Jim Crow

  • Inter- and intra-group ethnic relationships

  • Pan Africanism

  • Adaptation and resistance

  • Religion and religious leaders

  • Economics

  • Civil rights gains in legal, political, economic arenas

  • Gender and sexuality

  • Racial pride

  • Backlash against civil rights gains 

  • Segregation and integration

  • Institutional racism

  • Black Power

  • Nonviolent Resistance

  • Black Nationalism