AMST 300 - Critical Legal Studies

This course will focus on critical legal cases to U.S. race relations from World War II to the present. the syllabus is divided into five units. We examine: 1) Public school desegregation in a Midwestern Black community; 2) Public school desegregation in a Southwestern Mexican community; 3) American Indian sovereignty; 4) We then turn to the Vincent Chin case to consider hate crimes as one of the many forms of backlash against affirmative action programs. We will end the class by asking how racism reproduces itself in the 21st century; 5) Affirmative Action Backlash. Prerequisite(s): American Studies Major or permission of instructor. (4 Credits)