three students talking and smiling

Through our minor in African-American studies, you’ll gain a better understanding of our nation as a whole and African-Americans’ contribution to it.

You’ll explore how race, power, and resistance have shaped American society more broadly. You’ll also gain a meaningful and informed sense of events like Ferguson and Charlottesville, which swirl around our national consciousness and shape our politics and culture every day. In that sense, being an African-American studies minor can make you a more informed citizen.

This minor can also make you a more marketable potential employee after college. As studies from the “Wall Street Journal,” Monster.com, and others have shown, employers want to hire people who are diversity-conscious. This is true across disciplines, from the humanities to STEM fields. Employers want employees to be knowledgeable of contexts and experiences outside of their own.

This minor works well with majors in:

What You Will Learn

At its roots, African-American studies instills students with:

  • critical thinking skills
  • intellectual dexterity
  • cultural competencies that will be valuable later in life
  • historical and modern contributions of African Americans to American life, culture, and politics

Program Requirements

Questions?

If you want to learn more about this minor, contact one of our program faculty.

Total Credits

16

Classes

Required Courses

All students in this minor must take the following three courses for a total of seven credits.

  • HIST 210 Introduction to Black History
  • HIST 410 African American Studies Capstone
  • ENG 215 Introduction to African American Literature

Electives

You will take a total of six credits in classes from the following subjects:

  • Architecture
  • Communication Studies
  • Criminal Justice and Criminology
  • English
  • History
  • Political Science
  • Psychological Science
  • Sociology
  • Telecommunications

For a complete list of all the courses you will take and their descriptions, please see our Course Catalog.

View Catalog

Enroll in this Minor

To enroll in this minor, please contact academic advisor Lucas Pint.

Contact Advisor