Dive Brief:
- Many African-American Studies faculty have embraced current events in their courses, whether as an entry into discussing older material or as the central elements of new classes.
- That has created challenges as professors must shepherd students through emotional and uncomfortable readings and conversations, helping them look past rhetoric for truth.
- Historians generally question the act of assigning too much importance to current events as we don’t know whether they truly will gain greater historical significance, but many expect the #BlackLivesMatter movement to rise to that level and are taking advantage of the opportunity to get students into their classrooms to think more deeply about recent events.
Dive Insight:
At many schools, the students taking these focused African-American Studies courses are majority white. This racial composition of a class leads to different discussions than would otherwise take place and it requires certain additional work from faculty. Giving white students the chance to explore the latest tragedies in the lives of black Americans, however, is an important opportunity that can be safely afforded in academia. Higher education is about expanding one’s horizons, literally rubbing shoulders with a diverse group of students and figuratively doing so with previously unconsidered ideas. Like many other social and political movements, #BlackLivesMatter should take its place on campuses nationwide.