Black Liberation Movements

I am interested in having students understand the social justice principles of Africana cultures, societies, histories and movements in an experiential, project-based learning context. I look forward to learning more about this topic from my colleagues in the program.

Africana Studies 200, Black Liberation Movements: A Comparative Approach/HLS 111, Introduction to Black Leadership examines Africana thinking on leadership within the context of the dynamics of Black Liberation Movements across the globe from their first iteration in 16th century BCE to the present day. Students will engage in close readings of African ethical texts, and other primary sources addressing African social contracts and ethical leadership emerging from anti-colonial/anti-slavery liberation movements in Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas. The course-strand HLS 111 explores various dimensions of ethical leadership personified in the lives and teachings of numerous Morehouse luminaries, as well as, Black leaders from Africa, early and late, and within the African diaspora. The scope of the dual course moves from the ancient pre-colonial African past through the Maafa enslavement and colonialism to the anti-colonial movements of the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries to the present post/neocolonial moment; from the first recorded social justice activist, Khun Anpu to tda Back Lie Mae ee one diverse genealogy. How do we study this African liberation genealogy? Through project-based learning, students will examine how Black people have selected leaders who in turn have selected values from ethical traditions leveraging them in struggles for social justice. Finally, the course examines how African historical experiences help us to understand present-day social contracts of modern-day nation-states: the United States, the African Union, and the CARICOM States among others.

Samuel Livingston

Associate Professor of Africana Studies

Department of Africana Studies and History

Morehouse College