AAST 283 - African American Business History

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
With the rise of an African American billionaire class the questions about capitalism’s effectiveness at ending racism have come to the fore. Black celebrities like Killer Mike and Jay-Z have been praised for their ability to pressure corporations to engage issues of racial justice, yet for many African Americans little has changed. In this course we will investigate the central question “Can capitalism save us?” through an examination of African American Business History. Students will engage secondary source material from the period of enslavement through the end of the Twentieth Century to discern the way Black people have engaged the financial sector. Throughout the semester we will engage several queries: 1. What were the business strategies employed by Afro-Americans and how did they change over time?; 2. Why were some strategies more successful than others?; 3. How did racial segregation supplant/support African American markets?; and 4. Are any of these methods applicable in the Twenty-First Century?

This course is appropriate for new students.