CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – This coming spring, the Austin Peay State University Department of Sociology will examine the history and implications of the Black Lives Matter movement in a new class called “Black Lives Matter and Contemporary Race Relations.”
Jonniann Butterfield, the chair of the Sociology Department at APSU, said, “We thought it was important to home in on the Black Lives Matter movement as it has sparked a national narrative surrounding race.”
The course description is as follows:
Using a sociological lens, this course takes a theoretical, empirical and historical examination of race relations in America. Special attention will be paid to the social movements aimed at securing legal and social equality for Black Americans, including the Black Lives Matter movement. Students will examine how inequalities in education, healthcare, religion, and policing informed historical and current mobilization efforts for equality and justice.
Butterfield told Clarksville Now the class will use a historical perspective on race relations, beginning with slavery and early racial categorizations.
“As a social science course, the course will use empirical data to illustrate how former and current power structures shape inequalities in education, health, homeownership, and criminal justice as these inequalities spur folks to mobilize,” said Butterfield.
The protests this summer gave way for the Black Lives Matter movement to be seen by a more mainstream audience. This class is designed to help APSU students interpret the cultural and historical underpinnings of the protests.
For more about the class, contact Butterfield at butterfieldj@apsu.edu.