ONLINE: This lecture-based course examines the contested fight for racial justice at Duke University from the enrollment of the first Black undergraduates in 1963 to the takeover of part of the central administration building less than six years later. The course will look at the history of race at Duke, the background of Duke’s first Black students, how racial attitudes shaped the way these students were received at the school and the immense challenges the university faced in comprehending — and responding to — their needs. Participants will explore the crucial role Black and white student activism played in Duke’s struggle for racial justice. Students will see that Duke could not pursue national prominence until it began to confront its Jim Crow past. Focusing on Duke, the course will expose dynamics present at other historically white schools as they pursued racial change. Guest speakers will include Professor William Chafe as well as key Duke activists from the 1960s. | Lecture + Q&A.
Max enrollment: 200.
Class sessions are recorded.
