IAHIS 3545 Art of Black American Protest
This course examines the role of art and visual culture in Black American protests. Beginning with images from the Jim Crow era, the course focuses on the discursive roles of visual representations from the period between the civil rights movement and the present, with special attention to the street art produced in the context of the most recent activism spearheaded by such organizations as Black Lives Matter. With regard to creative expressions, the term "protest" here is understood across a wide connotative range, from covert critique of injustice to explicit visual statements closely connected to political activism. Readings, images, media clips and discussions illuminate the social, political and historical bases of Black American protests, while images in a variety of media and careers of artists are examined to demonstrate how they embody the complexities and contradictions of those discourses.