Dr. Christopher Malone Director, Pforzheimer Honors College NYC Campus Associate Professor, Department of Political Science 212-346-1146 cmalone@pace.edu |
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Department of Political Science
Race and American Political
Development
“We hold
these truths to be self-evident; that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights, that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness- That to
secure these rights, Governments are instituted among
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed...” Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of
Independence, 1776.
“The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. And so it is, in prestige, in achievements, in education, in wealth and in power. So, I doubt not, it will continue to be for all time, if it remains true to its great heritage, and holds fast to the principles of constitutional liberty. But in view of the constitution, in the eyes of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.” Justice John Marshall Harlan’s dissenting opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Thomas Jefferson set the tone for American democracy when he penned the words of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. In broad strokes he sketched out the principles that most agree forms the basis of any "liberal" society: liberty, equality, individualism, consent, limited government. In short, Jefferson laid the foundation for our American Social Contract. If only things were that easy. As Justice Harlan's dissent in the famous Plessy case of 1896 indicates, white supremacy has always challenged the fundamental tenets of American liberalism. The reality is that, for most of its history, the American Social Contract was founded upon another type of contract - upon what the philosopher Charles Mills called a "Racial Contract." Chattel slavery during the first century of U.S. history, and state-sponsored, legalized segregation during the second, has transformed any study of the history of the American Social Contract into the history of an American Dilemma. That "dilemma" forms the subject matter of this course. Specifically, we will look at the politics of race in America as it has developed over most of its history. We will seek to understand how the issue of race has impacted upon the various institutions of American government, how individuals and governmental institutions have responded (or have not responded) to racial conflict, what solutions to the problem of racial conflict were proposed and settled upon at certain points in U.S. history, and what its legacy has been as America enters the 21st century. All along, however, we will strive to keep the larger question in mind - namely, what the politics of race at its core says about our American Social Contract.
Course Requirements
Required Texts
Online Class Attendance. For the purposes of this
online class, our "class week" will begin on Fridays and end
on Thursdays. This means that the first day of class is
Friday, September 7th. The course schedule will be as
follows:
In order to be in "attendance," you must post at least 3 messages per week. The first message will consist of a Weekly Summary Assignment in which you summarize the readings for the week and post it to the Discussion Board. The second and third messages will be part of a Weekly Class Discussion Assignment in which you post an initial response to weekly questions, and then a second response to anything a classmate has said in an initial response. Participation.Participation is different from attendance. Attendance means that you showed up for class that week and on time. Participation means that you contributed to class discussion in a meaningful way by demonstrating you knowledge and your interest in the subject matter of the course. In other words, merely agreeing or disagreeing with what is said by me or a fellow student is not considered substantively participating. Length of Responses. I expect that all of your online work will be "correct" in the sense that it will follow the proper rules of writing such as spelling, grammar, syntax, etc. This is not "email" writing: save the slang and the email shortcuts to language (e.g., using "u" when you want to say "you" or 4 when you want to say "for") for your email buddies. I will be grading your online work for proper rules of grammar. Your Weekly Summary Assignments of the readings should be no less that 200 words. Each of your Class Discussion Assignments should be no less than 100 words each. Exams/Term Papers. You will be asked to write two exams/term papers for this course. One will be a midterm and the other will be a final. Each will be 6-8 pages in length typed, double-spaced, 1" margins. I will give you specific questions to answer well in advance of the due date for each.
Grading
Class Schedule
The following is listing of the class schedule and readings
for the semester:
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